Relaxed Body E-Bike Off-Road: Alina’s First Trail Ride, Mud, Climbs, and All

Why We Took a Comfort E-Bike Onto the Dirt

I get asked some version of the same question almost every week: can a comfort e-bike handle anything rougher than a bike path? People see the upright handlebars and the relaxed riding position on the Relaxed Body and assume it was built for smooth pavement and nothing else. I understand why. But I'd rather show you than argue about it, so we took one onto a dirt trail and let a rider take it for a first run with the camera rolling.

That rider was Alina. It was her first time riding the Relaxed Body on trails, and she narrated the whole thing as she went, from the first pedal stroke to stopping by the trail sign at the end. I've gone through the footage carefully, and in this article I'm going to walk you through what she rode, how she used the bike's controls, what she noticed, and what I think it means for you if you're weighing this bike for your own rides. I'm keeping her honest moments in, too. There's a muddy climb where she isn't sure she should be going that way, and there's a point where she mixes up her gears and her pedal assist out loud and corrects herself. Those moments tell you more about what a first trail ride really feels like than any polished spec sheet could.

What this test was, and what it wasn't

Let me set expectations. This wasn't a mountain bike test. Nobody was hitting jumps or bombing technical singletrack. It was a mixed dirt trail: some bumpy rocks, a few sharp downhill turns, a muddy stretch that climbed, smooth hard-packed sections, and long scenic runs with trees on one side and mountain views on the other. In other words, it's the kind of trail a lot of our riders actually have near home. A park trail, an unpaved path along open land, the dirt connector between two paved routes. If that's the riding you're curious about, this ride is a pretty fair preview.

Before she even clipped in, Alina was told there was a dusty, sandy section somewhere along the route, and she decided to steer around it. I want to point that out because it's a good instinct. Loose sand is the surface that humbles almost every bike and rider combination, and choosing your line before you're in trouble is a real trail skill. It also means I can't tell you how the Relaxed Body handles deep sand, because we didn't ride it there. I'm only going to tell you what we actually saw.

The first thing she noticed: her chest came up

Within the first minute on the bike, Alina said she actually felt more relaxed on this one, and that it felt more comfortable because her chest was more upright. That's not a small comment. It's the entire reason the bike has the name it does, and it showed up in her body before she'd even hit the first turn.

At the end of the ride she came back to the same point in more detail. She loved that the handlebars sit a little higher, so she could ride with her chest up and feel more upright than she does on other bikes. If you've spent time on bikes that pitch you forward, you know the difference she's describing. Your weight shifts back onto the seat and off your hands. Your neck doesn't have to crane to look ahead. Your shoulders can drop instead of bracing.

On pavement, that's a comfort feature. On dirt, I'd argue it's also a control feature. When you're sitting tall, your eyes are naturally up and scanning the trail ahead instead of staring at the ground right in front of your wheel. That gives you time to see a rock garden, a rut, or a muddy patch coming and pick your line early. And when the front wheel does hit something bumpy, there's less of your body weight loaded into your wrists, so the jolt goes through you rather than straight into your arms. Alina never said anything about her hands or wrists bothering her during the ride, and given the number of rocks and bumps she rolled over, that tracks with how the upright position spreads the load.

If that relaxed, chest-up posture is the thing you're after, it's worth browsing our comfort electric bikes as a group, since that riding position is the common thread through the whole category. And if you're shopping for someone who wants that same easy, upright feel with an emphasis on stability and confidence, our electric bikes for seniors collection is built around a lot of the same priorities.

Why a first ride is the right test

I like that this was Alina's first time on trails with this bike. Experienced riders can make almost anything look easy because they compensate without thinking about it. A first ride shows you the learning curve. You get to watch someone figure out which assist level feels right on a climb, decide when to hit the throttle, and get comfortable enough by the second half of the trail to start looking around at the scenery instead of the ground. That arc, from careful to comfortable, is exactly what most new owners go through, and it happens faster when the bike puts you in a position that doesn't fight you.

One more note before we get into the trail itself. Alina had also ridden a fat tire e-bike before this, and she compared the two at the end. I'll give that comparison its own section later, because it's genuinely useful if you're deciding between the two styles. For now, let's ride. And if you're not sure which riding position suits your body, our rider styles guide is a good place to start thinking about it.

Here's how the trail unfolded, roughly in the order Alina rode it. I'm including the speeds and settings she called out along the way, because they give you a realistic sense of the pace. These are the numbers she read off the display in the moment, not top speeds or rated figures, and they describe a relaxed, controlled first ride rather than anyone pushing the bike to its limits.

Opening stretch: turns and a few bumpy rocks

The trail opened with a couple of turns and a scattering of bumpy rocks. Nothing dramatic, but enough to tell you right away that you're not on pavement anymore. Alina was riding in pedal assist level two at this point, and on the first downhill she called out that she was doing about 10 miles an hour.

Then the descent got steeper and the turns got sharper, and she said she was going to slow down. That's the single best decision a new trail rider can make, and I want to underline it. On dirt, you brake before the turn, while the bike is upright and the tires have the most grip, and then you roll through the turn at a speed you've already chosen. Braking hard in the middle of a loose corner is how people lose the front wheel. Alina's instinct to scrub speed early is exactly right.

A change in the surface

A little further down she remarked that it felt like a new level of dirt was coming up. Anyone who rides unpaved paths knows this feeling. The surface changes, sometimes from hardpack to something looser, sometimes from smooth to choppy, and you feel it in the bike before you can name it. Noticing that change and adjusting is half of trail riding. She kept her speed in check, rolled through, and moved on.

Next came a section with rocks in the path. She said she'd just go to the left, picked a line around them, and started climbing. Again, simple and smart. You don't have to ride straight over every obstacle to prove anything. Pick the cleanest line, look where you want the bike to go, and let it follow your eyes.

The muddy climb

This is my favorite part of the video, because it's real. Alina came up on a muddy stretch and said, a little startled, that it was muddy and asked whether it was okay to go that way. Someone off camera told her yes. She committed, and you can hear her cheering the bike on with a quick string of "go bike, go bike" as she pushed through. Then she was out of it and immediately heading downhill again, with one more surprised "whoa" for good measure.

I'm keeping this in because that hesitation is completely normal, and I'd rather you see it than pretend every rider glides through every patch of mud without a second thought. Mud is unpredictable. You don't always know how deep it is or how slick it'll be until you're in it. A few general habits help on any bike: keep steady momentum rather than slowing to a crawl, avoid grabbing the brakes hard in the middle of it, keep the handlebars straight, and stay relaxed on the bike so it can move a little under you. And if a section looks worse than you're comfortable with, walking it is always an option. There's no prize for riding everything.

The Relaxed Body got her through, and the moment passed quickly. What I noticed watching it back is that she stayed upright and composed in the saddle the whole time. Some of that is her, and some of it is a riding position that doesn't throw your weight over the front wheel when the ground gets uncertain.

The scenic middle: trees, birds, and a smooth trail

After the mud, the trail opened up. Alina called out that she was in pedal assist two, going about 9 miles an hour, with her gear on four. She was looking at the trees, listening to birds, and clearly having a good time. I'll come back to the birds in the next section, because it turned into the most memorable moment of the video.

A stretch later she hit a climb, used the throttle, and said the hill was super easy. Then she let the bike glide down the other side without pedaling at all. That rhythm, throttle or assist on the climbs and coasting on the descents, became the pattern for the rest of the ride.

The second half: views and a steady cruise

By the back half of the trail, Alina had settled in. She dropped to pedal assist one and said she was just going to cruise. She pointed out the mountains on her right and kept coming back to how pretty the view was. On one gentle downhill she was rolling at about 11 miles an hour, still in assist level one.

She spotted another rider up ahead and joked that it would be incredible if he turned out to be riding the same bike. Then she bumped up to pedal assist two on a stretch she described as really smooth, holding around 10 miles an hour, and enjoyed the mountain views and the plants all around.

On the next descent she went back down to assist level one to take it easy. When the trail turned uphill again, she shifted to gear three because she wanted to feel a little more in her legs while pedaling. A bit later she was back at 11 miles an hour on assist level one, moved to gear four for some extra resistance, and said it was so she could get a little bit of a workout in.

As the trail came to an end she slowed down, rolled up to the sign where the ride finished, and stopped. No drama, no close calls, just a rider who started out cautious and finished comfortable.

What the pace tells you

I want to be clear about those speeds. Nine to eleven miles an hour on a dirt trail is a calm, controlled cruising pace for a first ride. It's not a measure of what the bike can do, and I'm not going to quote you a top speed from a casual trail video. What it does show is that Alina was able to keep a steady, comfortable pace across rocks, turns, mud, climbs, and smooth stretches without ever seeming out of her depth. For most people shopping for a comfort e-bike, that's the experience that actually matters.

One of the most useful things about this video is that you get to hear a rider make decisions about her controls in real time. The Relaxed Body gives you three different ways to manage effort, and Alina used all three. If you're new to e-bikes, understanding how they work together will make your first few rides a lot more enjoyable.

Three controls, three different jobs

Pedal assist is the motor helping you while you pedal. The level you choose sets how much help you get. A low level gives a gentle boost, and higher levels give more. You still have to turn the pedals for the motor to help.

Gears are mechanical. They change how hard each pedal stroke feels and how far each stroke moves the bike. A lower gear is easier to push, which is handy on climbs. A higher gear takes more effort per stroke but covers more ground, which feels right on flats or gentle downhills.

The throttle drives the bike with the motor without you pedaling at all. Twist or press it, and the bike moves.

These are separate systems, and it's easy to blur them together when you're starting out. Alina did exactly that at one point. She said she was going to go to pedal assist four, then caught herself, said she kept mixing them up, and clarified she meant gear four while staying in assist level one. Earlier, she'd said she was going to drop to gear two so she'd have some assistance, then corrected herself that a lower gear doesn't add assistance, it just makes pedaling easier. I love that both of those slips made the final cut. If you mix these up on your first few rides, you're in good company, and it sorts itself out quickly.

Throttle on the climbs

When the trail tilted up, Alina reached for the throttle. On one climb she said she was in assist level two and hitting the throttle, and when she crested it she said the hill was super easy. On another climb a little later she said she was going to hit the throttle again, and it carried her up.

Partway through the ride she made an observation I hear from a lot of new e-bike owners: the more she rides these bikes, the more she gets used to the idea of having a gas pedal on a bike. It takes a little adjustment. Most of us grew up thinking of bikes as something you power entirely with your legs, and a throttle feels almost like cheating the first few times. Then it starts to feel like what it is, a tool. On a short, steep climb or a moment where you need to get rolling from a stop on loose ground, it's a genuinely useful one.

Gliding on the descents

Right after one of those easy throttle climbs, Alina headed downhill and said she was just going to glide and not pedal. That's good e-bike sense. On a descent, gravity is doing the work, so there's no reason to burn battery or energy. Let the bike roll, keep your hands ready on the brakes, and save the effort for the next climb. Later in the ride, on another downhill, she dropped to assist level one and said she was just going to chill. Same idea.

Low assist and higher gears for a workout

Here's the part I think fitness-minded riders will appreciate. In the second half of the ride, Alina deliberately set the bike up to make her work. She shifted to gear three on a climb because she wanted more feeling in her legs while pedaling. Later she moved to gear four while staying on assist level one, and said it was so she could get a bit of a workout in.

That combination is worth understanding. With the assist on a low setting, the motor is contributing only a little, so your legs carry more of the load. A higher gear increases the effort per pedal stroke. Put them together and you've turned an e-bike into a proper workout, while keeping the option to bump the assist back up or use the throttle the moment a climb gets steeper than you'd like. That flexibility is one of the reasons e-bikes appeal to so many people who want exercise without the risk of getting stranded halfway up a hill with nothing left in their legs.

A simple way to think about your settings

Based on how Alina rode, here's a loose framework if you're heading out for your first trail ride. These aren't rules, just a starting point drawn from what worked on this trail:

• Smooth, flat hardpack: a low assist level and a mid-to-high gear for an easy cruise.
• Short or steep climbs: the throttle, a higher assist level, or a lower gear, whichever combination feels comfortable.
• Descents: drop the assist or stop pedaling, let the bike glide, and brake before the turns.
• Workout mode: keep the assist low and choose a higher gear so your legs do more of the work.
• Unsure about a surface: slow down first, pick your line, and decide whether to ride it or walk it.

The Snow White moment

I can't write about this ride without mentioning the birds. In the middle of the trail, Alina noticed the birds chirping and joked that she was like Snow White on a bike, or Cinderella on a bike: she makes a happy little sound and the birds start chirping, and that's just what happens when she rides. It's a silly moment, and it's also the point.

A bike you enjoy is a bike you'll ride again. When the controls get out of your way, the riding position doesn't hurt, and the climbs don't leave you exhausted, your attention moves outward to the trees, the birds, the mountains on your right. That's what happened over the course of this ride. Alina went from talking about rocks and mud to talking about how pretty everything was. That shift is what I want for every rider who buys one of our bikes.

If you like keeping track of where you rode and how far you went, we also offer a sixthreezero pedaling app that some of our riders use to log their rides. And whatever terrain you're riding, please wear a helmet. Dirt trails have more surprises than pavement does, and our sixthreezero helmets are an easy place to start if you need one.

At the end of the ride, Alina compared the Relaxed Body to a fat tire e-bike she had ridden before. This is the comparison I hear about most often from shoppers who want to ride off pavement, so I want to give her observations their own space and add some context around them.

What she noticed

Her main takeaway was about weight and speed. She said that compared with the bike with fat tires, the Relaxed Body goes faster, or at least that it's easier to get it going faster, because it's lighter, while the fat tire bikes are heavier.

She was equally clear about what the two have in common. In her words, both have a great suspension system, so the landing is soft, and both have the throttle, the pedal assist, and everything else you could need.

So the honest summary from her ride is this: similar comfort over bumps and the same set of controls, with the Relaxed Body feeling lighter and easier to bring up to speed. I'm not going to put numbers on either bike's weight or speed here, because she didn't, and I'd rather you check current figures on the individual product pages than rely on a trail-side impression for specs.

Why a lighter bike feels livelier

Her point about weight makes sense to anyone who's ridden both styles. A lighter bike takes less effort to accelerate, whether the effort is coming from your legs or the motor. It tends to feel more responsive when you change direction, and it's easier to bring back up to speed after you slow down for a corner. On a trail like this one, with a lot of slowing for turns and picking back up afterward, that responsiveness adds up over a ride.

Weight matters off the bike, too. Lifting a bike onto a car rack, wheeling it around a tight garage, or getting it over a curb are all easier with less of it. Those aren't things Alina tested in the video, but they're worth thinking about if you'll be transporting your bike to trailheads.

Why people still choose fat tires

Fat tires exist for a reason. As a general principle, wider tires put more rubber on the ground, and riders often reach for them on loose or soft surfaces like sand and soft dirt, where a wider footprint can feel more planted. Remember that Alina chose to avoid the sandy section on this trail, so we didn't test the Relaxed Body there, and I can't tell you how it compares on that kind of surface. If loose sand or very soft ground is a regular part of your riding, that's a real reason to look closely at a fat tire model.

Some riders also simply prefer the heavier, more planted feel. It's a matter of taste as much as terrain. Neither style is the right answer for everybody.

How I'd decide between them

Here's how I'd frame the choice based on what we saw:

• If most of your riding is pavement, park paths, and hard-packed dirt trails like this one, and you want a lighter bike with an upright, chest-up riding position, the Relaxed Body makes a lot of sense.
• If you regularly ride sand, soft surfaces, or loose terrain, or you simply prefer a heavier, more planted feel, a fat tire e-bike is worth a serious look.
• If you want comfortable landings over bumps plus throttle and pedal assist, Alina's experience suggests you'll get that from either style.

If fat tires sound like your style, you can see the full lineup in our fat tire electric bikes collection. And if you want to compare across every style we make, our full electric bike lineup is the place to do it. For a deeper walk through the decision, including frame styles, riding positions, and how to think about your local terrain, our ultimate bike buyer’s guide covers it in more detail than I can here.

The bigger lesson from the comparison

What I take from Alina's comparison is that you don't have to choose between comfort and capability as much as people assume. The Relaxed Body is built around an upright, relaxed position, and it handled rocks, turns, a muddy climb, and long smooth stretches on this trail. The fat tire bike gave her a similarly soft ride with more weight. The right pick comes down to where you ride most and how you like the bike to feel under you, not whether one of them can handle a dirt path at all.

If you're thinking about taking a comfort e-bike onto dirt for the first time, here's what I'd want you to take from Alina's ride:

• Scout ahead or ask about the trail. Alina was warned about a sandy section and chose to skip it. That's smart riding, not timid riding.
• Sit tall and look ahead. The upright position she loved on the Relaxed Body keeps your eyes on the trail and your weight off your hands.
• Brake before the turns, not in them. She slowed for the sharp downhill corners, and that's exactly right.
• Pick your line. When rocks showed up, she went around them to the left.
• Keep momentum through mud and stay relaxed. Hesitating is normal. Committing smoothly, or walking it, is the fix.
• Use the throttle for climbs and glide on descents. That rhythm made the hills easy and saved effort.
• Lower assist with a higher gear when you want a workout. It's how Alina got her legs working in the second half.
• Don't stress if you mix up gears and assist levels. She did it on camera and corrected herself a moment later.

Getting the right fit

Everything Alina liked about this bike, the higher handlebars, the chest-up position, the relaxed feel, depends on the bike fitting your body. That's why I always tell people to start with fit before they fall in love with a color. Our personal fitting process matches you with a bike based on your body and the way you ride, and it's the fastest way to know whether the Relaxed Body is right for you or whether another style suits you better.

If you're mostly a pavement rider who wants that easy, laid-back feel with occasional dirt paths mixed in, it's also worth browsing our step-thru electric bikes for easy mounting, and our electric cruiser bikes if classic cruiser styling is what draws you in.

Try it yourself

Watching someone else ride only gets you so far. The real test is how a bike feels on your trail, with your body, at your pace. That's what our 30-day test ride is for. Ride it on the paths you actually use, try the throttle on your local hills, and see whether the upright position works for you the way it did for Alina. If you're near us, you can also visit our store and test ride bikes in person.

My take

Alina's first trail ride on the Relaxed Body went the way I'd hope a first ride would go. She started out careful, made good decisions on the tricky sections, got a little startled by the mud and pushed through anyway, figured out her controls as she went, and by the end she was cruising, enjoying the mountain views, and talking more about birds than about rocks. Her verdict was simple: she loved riding chest-up with the higher handlebars, the bike felt lighter and quicker than the fat tire bike she'd ridden before, and it had a soft landing and every control she needed.

If you've been wondering whether a comfort e-bike belongs on anything other than pavement, this ride is a good answer. It won't replace a dedicated mountain bike on technical terrain, and we didn't ask it to. But for the dirt paths, park trails, and scenic routes most of our riders are actually looking at, it did the job and made the ride more enjoyable along the way. That's what we build these bikes to do.