My first E-bike trip in Germany

When I joined my company as a working student in 2020, the most exciting and common topic among my German colleagues was E-bikes. My company offers JobRad – a kind of bicycle leasing. After hearing all the discussions, I wanted to have an E-bike. But you know, student life: so much time and energy to discover and experience new things, but no money 😂 What a dilemma!

In 2021, I had a full-time job, but as a contractor for a leasing company (ANÜ – Arbeitnehmerüberlassungen in German). At that time, the leasing company did not offer JobRad. In 2022, I officially became a permanent employee in my company, but then a €9 ticket and a €49 ticket came up, allowing me to travel across Germany by public transportation, which put the E-bike on the back burner.

Recently, after some motivation from my husband, we both decided to get E-bikes from Jobrad. We got our E-bikes in March, and I was so excited about all the ideas of riding on the highway near my place, going to hiking areas for picnics, and so on. But again, life is full of unexpected surprises; I caught a cold and was sick for 4 weeks. My E-bike patiently waited for me in the garage.

I have recovered from the cold for a few days now, and luckily the weather was sunny. Finally, we had our first e-bike trip.

According to komoot, the trip was 14.5 km, which should have taken around one hour. In reality, it took us two hours because we encountered some unexpected events on the trip, one of which was me fighting with my bicycle light 😂.

While we were riding, my husband noticed that the light on my E-bike was on. Because the E-bike was new to me and after one month of not touching it, I forgot how to turn off the light 😂. After pressing every button on my E-bike, I got confirmation from my husband that the light was turned off. Everything was fine until I had to climb a steep hill. I wondered why my bike was so heavy. Looking at the display screen, I realized the motor was turned off. This meant I had turned off the motor completely, which also turned off the light. Not that I turned off the light correctly 😂. With the help of my husband, the light now turns off without turning off the motor 😆.

We rode continuously, passing various grill places, through the forest, and completed our first trip at 12 pm. It was so much fun. For next time, I’ll remember how to turn off the light 😁.