Six Hilly Miles to the Beach on the EVRYjourney E-Bike: A 60+ Rider's Real-World Test Ride

A Ride Diane Had Been Waiting Months to Take

Diane has been test riding bikes for us for a while now. She's ridden e-bikes, she's ridden e-trikes, and she's given us straight feedback on every one of them. But there was one ride she kept bringing up: a trip from our headquarters down to the beach in San Clemente. She'd been wanting to do it for months. So when the team finally said, "Why don't you take an e-bike down to the beach?" she didn't hesitate. In her words, she was all over it.

She chose the EVRYjourney e-bike for the trip and brought along her friend Lisa, who was also the person behind the camera. Lisa did double duty that day. She filmed the whole thing, and she navigated, because Diane will be the first to tell you she doesn't know her way around San Clemente. You can hear Diane ask "Which way, Lisa?" more times than I could count, and Lisa nearly always had the answer. Diane called her an insanely talented videographer and a patient, knowledgeable guide. I'd agree on both counts.

Some context on Diane, because it shapes everything that follows. She's in her 60s. She's 5'4". She lives in San Diego, on a hill. She owns a road bike and a mountain bike, she trained for marathons years ago, and she loves being outdoors. This is not someone new to exercise. She's also honest about where she is now. She told the camera she doesn't trust her body on hilly adventures the way she once did. "Which is sad," she said, "but hey, it is what it is." That mix of experience and realism is exactly why her take on an e-bike is worth your time.

Diane wasn't only riding for fun, either. She's been shopping for an e-bike or e-trike for her own life, and this ride was part of that decision. Every comment she made on camera was coming from someone actively trying to figure out which kind of electric ride fits the way she wants to live. That's a different lens than a reviewer ticking boxes, and it shows.

The plan was simple on paper. About three miles out to the beach, three miles back, roughly six miles round trip. The catch was the shape of those miles. Getting to the beach is mostly downhill. Getting back is mostly uphill, and Diane described the return as close to three miles of climbing. Add a headwind for long stretches (a storm was moving into Southern California that weekend, and you can hear the gusts on the audio) and you have a route that would test any rider on any bike.

It was also Veterans Day, which explained why so many people were out on bikes, on foot, walking dogs, and crowding the beach. Diane took a moment on camera to thank everyone who has served, and she closed the video the same way. I'll echo that here.

The pre-ride check

Before rolling out, Diane did two things I wish every rider would do. First, she confirmed the battery was fully charged. Her reasoning was blunt: she did not want to be pedaling all the way back up the hill on her own. Second, she and Lisa checked the tires to make sure there was enough air. That's the whole routine. No elaborate checklist, just the two checks that matter most on a ride where the hardest part comes last.

The battery point turned into a thread that ran through the entire ride. Diane kept an eye on her charge the whole way and made choices about when to lean on the motor based on what she knew was waiting on the trip home. I'll get into that below, because it's one of the most practical lessons in the video.

First impressions

Diane started out in pedal assist level one, the lowest setting, and within a few pedal strokes she was surprised. "This bike to me is fast," she said. "I just pedal a little bit and it goes." She said some version of that again and again over the next hour-plus, and every time it's worth remembering she was sitting in the lowest assist level. Very little effort from her, and the bike was already moving along nicely.

She couldn't resist commenting on the look of it, either. "Isn't she pretty? I love these colors," she said, and she pointed out that even the tires had a distinctive color. Looks aren't the reason anyone should buy an e-bike, but I won't pretend they don't matter. If you love the way your bike looks, you'll ride it more. That's been true for as long as I've been doing this.

What makes this ride worth writing about is that it covered nearly every situation a recreational rider runs into. Busy streets with traffic. A stretch where the bike lane simply disappears. Quiet neighborhoods full of short, steep hills and dips. A packed sand-and-decomposed-granite trail along the ocean. And a long climb home. By the end, Diane had used every pedal assist level from one through five, the throttle, and the bike's gears. If you've wondered how those features actually come into play on a real ride, this one answers it better than a spec sheet ever could. If you'd like to browse while you read, our full lineup of electric bikes is a good place to start.

We gave Diane a choice of bikes for this ride. She picked the EVRYjourney, and her main reason was the pedal position. The EVRYjourney uses forward pedaling, which puts the pedals farther out in front of you instead of directly under the seat. Diane explained it like this: when she's riding, her feet are a bit more forward than they'd be on a traditional bike, where you're pushing straight up and down. For her, that's simply a more comfortable position, and she's ridden enough bikes to know her preferences.

At the end of the ride she added a detail a lot of riders over 60 will care about. With the pedals farther forward, she said, the ride didn't put as much strain on her knees. She had just finished six-plus miles with plenty of climbing, and that was one of the first things she brought up when she summed it all up.

Feet flat at every stop

Forward pedaling also changes what happens when you stop. Diane is 5'4", and she showed on camera that at a stop she could just stand up, feet on the ground, without hopping off the saddle. She mentioned it at stop signs, at red lights, and at a congested spot on the beach trail. "I love that I don't have to jump off the bike at all," she said. For shorter riders, and for anyone who's had a nervous moment trying to balance at an intersection, that one trait can change how confident you feel in traffic. It's a big part of why riders who want an easy, low-stress ride often start with step-through electric bikes.

Handlebars, back, and arms

Across all her test rides, Diane has figured out that she prefers wider handlebars, and the EVRYjourney's bars suited her well. Midway through the ride she checked in with herself out loud. Her back wasn't sore. Her arms were very comfortable. That's a meaningful report from someone who'd been in the saddle for the better part of an hour by then, riding into the wind and over bumpy pavement.

A seat built for longer rides

The seat earned praise early and late. In the first few minutes she called it super comfy. Near the end she went into more detail: it's wide enough that there's a lot of cushion, so she wasn't feeling the soreness you can get on a longer outing. An hour-plus ride is a fair test of a saddle, and this one passed in her book.

Not a fat tire, and that turned out fine

Partway through, Diane asked Lisa whether this was a regular-size tire bike. Lisa confirmed it: standard tires, not a fat-tire cruiser. Diane joked that it was still a beach cruiser because they were cruising at the beach. Fair enough. What surprised her more was how well those standard tires handled the beach trail later on. On a packed mix of sand and decomposed granite, she reported no slippage at all, and the bike took the bumps and little rises without jarring her.

The EVRYjourney doesn't have suspension, and Diane pointed that out on the way home while riding over roads she described as pretty bumpy. Her verdict: she wasn't sore or getting whipped around. At one point she rolled over a pine cone on a steep climb and noted that the bike didn't waver at all.

One honest observation

Not every comment was glowing, and I appreciate that. Diane noticed that on this cruiser she was taking turns a little wider than she had on some other bikes she's test ridden. She was careful to add that it was still fine and nothing out of the ordinary, just something she noticed. I'd rather you hear that from a real rider before you buy than discover it on your first ride. It's the kind of detail worth paying attention to when you test ride anything.

The word she kept using

Then there's the word Diane used more than any other: fast. She said it in pedal assist one at the start, again on flat ground, and again at the very end. "I like this bike. It's fast." She also said she felt very safe on it, even when she used the throttle near the freeway and went from a stop to about 14 mph in a hurry. Fast and safe don't always come in the same package. For her, on this bike, they did.

Everything Diane liked here comes down to fit: pedal position, bar width, seat cushion, the ability to plant her feet. That's why we put so much emphasis on fit before anyone buys. If the EVRYjourney's mix of cruiser comfort and forward pedaling sounds like your kind of ride, look through our electric beach cruisers and women's electric bikes, and if you're not sure where to begin, our bike fitting page will walk you through it.

If you're new to e-bikes, the controls can look like a lot. Five pedal assist levels, a throttle, and a set of gears on top of that. Diane's ride is one of the clearest demonstrations I've seen of how they work together, because she used all of them and talked through her thinking as she went. Here's how it played out.

How pedal assist actually works

Diane gave a nice plain-language explanation partway through. In pedal assist, the motor responds to your pedaling. Keep the same cadence, bump the level up, and you go faster. In her words, if she's in level three with the same cadence she'd had in level two, she's going to be going a lot faster. Your legs set the rhythm. The level decides how much the motor adds on top.

She spent most of the outbound trip in level one. On flat ground and gentle descents, that was plenty. On one downhill she reached 16 mph in level one while riding the brakes. Even on a flat stretch straight into the headwind, she stayed in one. She kept coming back to how quick the bike felt at that setting.

Climbing through the levels

When the road tilted up, she worked her way through the levels. On one incline she moved to level two, "using a little bit of my own energy, but not a lot," then to level three as it got steeper. "Oh, this is so fun. I'm in heaven," she said, partway up a hill that would have been a grind on her road bike. In the neighborhoods she climbed one incline at about 10 mph in level two, held around 11 mph on another, and clicked up to three for the steepest pitches. After one of them she said, "Look at that. Conquered the hill effortlessly."

For the outbound ride and the neighborhood loop, level three was her ceiling. At one point she noted she'd never gone above three, even though the route had been pretty hilly. On one substantial hill she wondered aloud whether she'd need level four, then answered her own question a few seconds later: "No. Pedal assist three did it. Way to go, bike."

The return trip was where the higher levels came out. Leaving the beach from a dead stop straight onto an incline, she used the throttle and went into level four for the first time. Later, on the long climb back toward headquarters, she went to level five for the first time and reported about 17 mph uphill. Dropping to four on the same climb put her at about 13 mph. By the end she could say she'd used every level from one through five, and that she'd done the steepest of it with the bike doing most of the heavy lifting.

Changing levels is simple, too. As she showed on camera, it's one easy click with your thumb. No digging through menus while you're trying to watch traffic.

When the throttle earns its keep

Diane's bike has a thumb throttle, and she was clear that she doesn't usually use it just cruising along the street. She used it for specific moments: starting from a dead stop, especially on an incline; getting through heavy traffic quickly; and clearing a stretch near the freeway where the bike lane disappears. "See how a throttle can get you out of a situation like that?" she said after one tight spot. Her explanation of why it helps from a stop is worth repeating. When a light changes and you need to go, you've got to get momentum up and rolling, and the motor helps you kick into that instead of grinding from zero.

On pure throttle she saw 19 mph and then 20 mph, which she said she believed was the top speed. On one very steep uphill she rode on throttle alone at about 16 mph. She also caught herself leaning on it when she didn't strictly need to. "Cheating by using the throttle only," she said, and went back to pedaling.

Riding with the battery in mind

This is the part I'd most like new riders to take away. Diane knew the hardest miles came last, so she budgeted. On the way out she said she wanted to watch her battery because it was uphill most of the way back, and she held back on the throttle for the same reason. Once she was close enough to home to know she had plenty left, she relaxed and used it more freely. That's exactly how to think about range: not as one number on a page but as a budget you spend according to the route in front of you. Back near the freeway on the return, she said it out loud: plenty of battery power, nothing to worry about.

Don't forget the gears

The e-bike conversation tends to skip gears, but Diane used them. Early in the ride she shifted into what she guessed was seventh gear (she couldn't quite see the indicator) and said it gave her a bit more traction as she pedaled, which she liked. On the beach trail she was in a fairly high gear with assist level one. Her closing summary put the gears right alongside the throttle and pedal assist: they all come into play, and you use them all.

You still get the workout

She likes to keep her cadence somewhere around 60 to 90, which she finds gives her a smooth ride. And she didn't hand everything over to the motor. Several times she mentioned she was using her own leg muscles, and near the end she said she could feel it a little. "I still like to get the workout in," she said. That's one of the most misunderstood things about e-bikes. You decide how much work you do on any given hill, and you can change your mind halfway up.

The first stretch took Diane and Lisa onto Pico, a major street with a decent bike lane. Diane rode close to the curb and said she had plenty of room on the bike. With that much traffic around, her motto was simple: safety first.

Where the bike lane disappears

Then came what she called her only not-favorite part of the route. Near the 5 freeway, the bike lane disappears, and on one side there's no sidewalk to fall back on, either. Her approach was practical. Stay as far right as possible and use the throttle to get through quickly. On the way back she did the same thing and was clear that she felt safe. It was just a section she preferred to move through faster without a bike lane, and the throttle let her do that. When the lane reappeared, you can hear the relief: "Yay, safety once again."

Car doors, brakes, and riding your own pace

Diane rides with her hands on the brakes whenever cars are parked alongside. She brought up car doors several times, once when a driver pulled over right in front of her in the bike lane and again when someone actually opened his door as they rode past. She's also upfront that she isn't a fast downhill rider. She rides the brakes on descents and let Lisa go ahead on the downhills for that reason. "What if somebody opens up their car door, right?" That's a good habit, not a timid one.

She was candid about a couple of gaps, too. She doesn't have a mirror, and she said more than once that she really needs to learn her hand signals, including the one for a left turn. I'm keeping that in because it's real, and because plenty of riders getting back into cycling are in the same spot. Both are easy fixes and worth sorting out before a ride like this. If you're putting your own kit together, a good helmet belongs at the top of the list.

The neighborhood hills

Once they turned off the main roads, the ride changed character completely. Quiet streets and pretty houses, Halloween decorations, a garage sale, dogs everywhere, kids doing jumps, a guy pulling a wheelie. The roads were full of dips and short, punchy inclines. On a traditional bike, Diane said, she'd be struggling and dreading them, and probably really sore the next day. On the e-bike, they were the fun part. "What a great way to spend the day," she told Lisa.

She made a point I think gets overlooked. Riding through neighborhoods lets you notice things you'd miss from a car. It reminded her of her marathon-training days, when she'd see all the little houses you never notice driving by. "This is why I started looking into e-bikes," she said. On her own, with these hills, she just isn't able to do this anymore. "And who wants to miss out on all this?" In a car she wouldn't notice it, and on her regular bike she'd be too stressed about the next climb to enjoy it.

The local bike route signs helped a lot. Diane admitted she'd never have found her way without them and said the route is well marked once you know where it starts.

The trail by the beach

At San Clemente State Beach they found a trail running along the coast. Diane had never ridden a trail by the beach before. Our marketing manager, Taylor, had told her she'd love it, and Diane gave her credit on camera: she was not kidding. The surface was a packed mix of sand and decomposed granite, and the EVRYjourney handled it well, with no slippage and no jarring over the bumps and rolling sections. For a moment Diane was nearly speechless. "All we need are some dolphins next to us," she said, before reminding herself to get back to focusing on the bike.

Because of the holiday, the trail was busy, so this section was all about patience. Diane slowed for families and little kids, stopped to let people through, and called out "on your left" every time she passed. She picked up that courtesy in her running days, she said. She admitted it would have been fun to go faster on a less crowded day, but she didn't push it. She stayed in assist level one at around 10 mph and used a touch of throttle to get rolling again after slowing down.

Bikes walk

At the pier, signs said bikes walk, so they walked. And right there Diane said something I don't hear every day: this was honestly one of the best days of her year. "Life does not get any better than what is happening right here, right now," she said. She was clear-eyed about it, too. The first half had a lot of downhill, and she knew the bill was coming due on the way back.

The climb home

The return climbed most of the way. She used the throttle off the line, worked up through the higher assist levels, got through the freeway section again, and finished with the long climbs described above. Both of them felt they made it back faster than they'd gone out, partly because Lisa had taken a roundabout route on the way down. Diane estimated at least six miles total, probably a little more, and well over an hour on the bike. It was noticeably warmer back inland, too.

Diane said it plainly: without an electric bike, this ride would not have happened. Not for her, not that day. When you're 60 plus, she said, all those hills make it too big an adventure on a regular bike. She compared it to her road and mountain bikes the whole way. On those, she'd be going as uncomfortably fast as she could down one hill to build speed for the next. On the steepest climbs, she admitted, she might have had to walk.

She also made the point that you don't have to be her age to benefit. When she was younger, she could have done this ride on her road bike, but it wouldn't have been as much fun, because she's always struggled on hills. That's the real shift an e-bike makes. It doesn't take the effort away. It takes away the part that keeps people from going at all.

Diane promised a demonstration she didn't end up doing. She planned to switch pedal assist off on a hill to show the difference, but she hadn't given Lisa a heads-up and figured she'd slow down dramatically, maybe close to a full stop on the steep stuff. She said so honestly at the end, and admitted she'd been tempted to try it anyway. I'll take her word for how that would have gone.

The real reason she started shopping

Diane lives on a hill. Getting from her house to the beach is downhill all the way, which is easy. Getting back is almost entirely uphill, and on a regular bike she said she'd never make it. That's what started her search, and this ride was basically a rehearsal for the trip she wants to take from her own front door. Her goal is to ride to the beach without worrying about getting home, and to have a great time doing it.

E-bike or e-trike?

Over months of testing she's ridden both e-bikes and electric trikes, and she said she never thought she'd consider a trike. What she's learned is that the right choice depends on how you're going to use it. Both have their advantages. For her, right now, because she loves rides like this one, she's leaning toward an e-bike. She also thinks a bike like this is something she could put in her car to ride farther from home, the way she did here in San Clemente, though she wasn't ready to commit. "We shall see," she said.

Her experience shows why test riding more than one bike matters. She mentioned another option with handlebars that sit higher and closer to the rider, and plenty of people prefer that. Diane prefers wider bars and forward pedals. Neither is wrong. It comes down to your body and your rides. If you're weighing options with comfort and confidence at the top of your list, our electric bikes for seniors and comfort electric bikes collections are a good way to compare.

Go take a test ride

Diane ended the video by urging people to come out and test ride, and if they let you take a bike all the way to the beach, take advantage of it. She also mentioned how many people stop her while she's testing bikes in the area to say it looks like so much fun. Her answer: it is. A route with hills, dips, traffic, and a trail will show you every feature in about an hour. If you're near us, you can visit our store and ride. If you're not, our 30-day test ride gives you time to try a bike on your own streets and your own hills.

If you do, borrow Diane's approach:

• Charge the battery fully and check tire pressure before you leave.
• Pick a route with hills going both ways so you feel the difference on the climb home.
• Start in a low assist level and move up only when the road asks for it.
• Try the throttle from a dead stop and in a spot where you'd want to get through quickly.
• Use the gears, not just the motor.
• Check in with your knees, back, arms, and seat as you go, and notice whether you can put your feet down at a stop.

For me, the best part of this video isn't any single feature. It's Diane at the beach, nearly at a loss for words, saying she's in heaven after a ride she didn't trust her body to do on a regular bike. That's what an e-bike is supposed to give you. If you'd like help figuring out which one fits, our bike buyer's guide is a solid next step. And to everyone who has served or is serving: thank you.