Growing in the forest, I was used to walking miles to my friends’ houses. Occasionally, I would opt to ride by bike. I lived on top of a hill, though, and only had a fixed gear bike. Riding back home was never easy, although I could make it fun.

Several years ago, my husband and I moved to a small city and bought street bikes. I hadn’t ridden in over twenty years, but it was easy to pick it up again. It was a bit scary at first to bike along busy streets and I loved when we cut over to a trail that wound along a creek and ended up at a huge park. We moved several more times, trying to find a place we liked to be. Along the way, we got rid of our bicycles.

When we decided to move to our current town, he brought up the idea of getting electric bicycles. We liked the idea of being able to go to town for small grocery trips or to the beach the next town over. My hesitation was the high price tag.

By nature, we are frugal. We drive old cars and wear clothes until they fall apart. We decided it would be the one splurge from selling our house. My husband researched brands and styles. We wanted something that we could take around the neighborhood and on good trails and to the next town over for groceries. We picked the Hemiway. Was it worth it? Ten times over. We’ve done all those things and ride most days. It snowed two weeks ago and they even faired well in the slow (although braking on slush was a bit slippery).