Hi, my name is Linda. I am an ecotourism expert living in a region known as the Tweed Valley in New South Wales, Australia. The travel restrictions in my country due to the pandemic put my career to a crashing halt. Reconsidering my options, I started a 1,900-kilometre charity tour – and fell in love with my E-Bike.

My career, which for the past 15 years has involved travelling domestically and internationally for around 6 months of each year, gave me the perfect work-life balance. Travel is my passion, including travel on my E-Bike, both locally and further afield, slowly and sustainably. Basically anywhere I can be in nature, I am happy. I love the ecotourism business, as I learn so much about the good news stories in the world of tourism. Working in ecotourism, and auditing sustainability credentials, you discover all the good things people and businesses are doing. I learn everyday that there are many like-minded people who do have the best interests of our planet at heart.

In 2020, during quarantine, followed by lockdown and the Australian borders closing, I watched as my work evaporated for months and, probably, years to come. What to do in the meantime? I decided to buy an E-Bike. At first, my goal was to boost my own mental and physical health during my career hiatus. In order to maintain my tourism marketing skills, and to share my love for the great outdoors, I started a blog, “A Girl and her eBike”, to share my E-Bike adventures and to show how riding an E-Bike could improve one’s mental and physical health.

With my friends, Meg and Jeanette, I had the idea to go on a trip along the New South Wales coastline with our E-Bikes to raise charity funds for social and health projects. We called it the “Ocean Pool Odyssey”. Starting in February 2022, we cycled 1,500 kilometres and raised nearly 10,000 dollars for charity, before we were stopped by the dreadful floods. And then two of our E-Bikes were stolen, including mine.

As part of the fundraising for our charity tour, Electric Bikes Brisbane had provided us with items to auction off – and then, when they heard our bikes were stolen, they offered me a very generous long-term rental of a Charger Mixte to ride, so we could finish our Odyssey. As we had to wait for the flooding to subside, we could not restart until June. In the meantime, I had fallen in love with the Charger, and I knew Riese & Müller was the brand I wanted to go for with my next E-Bike.

I test-rode a few models and found the Nevo was perfect for me. Whilst I enjoyed riding the Charger Mixte, I much preferred having no crossbar, thus the step-thru Nevo seemed so much more nimble and nifty for my size compared to other models. So I ordered the Nevo. In the meantime, I continued our journey on the Mixte.

My Nevo arrived in May. I opted for the Nevo vario model with GX option. It is perfect for my riding style and environments, which are a mixture of roads, trails and even the occasional single track. It is convenient and manoeuvrable, has good suspension on trails and a solid construction, and rides comfortably on the roads. I love the smoothness of the Enviolo gearing compared to my old derailleur gears, and the carbon belt eliminates the need for the maintenance and oiling that a traditional chain normally entails. And I love the 85 Nm of torque it boasts, so far I haven’t found anything my Nevo can’t do.

In early July, we completed the Ocean Pool Odyssey. In total, we rode 1909 kilometres and raised 15,000 dollars for charity.

There is no doubt that my health has improved by riding an E-Bike. I ride several times a week, and average 400-500 kilometres a month. However, it’s not only my physical health which has improved – my mental health has, too. There is something about being out in nature that enriches the soul. The COVID pandemic forced me to change my lifestyle and now I can’t imagine life without my E-Bike.

Linda Cash on Instagram