Is an electric bike the way forward? | BBC Radio Solent's Lou Hannan

For example, I never owned a pair of roller skates, didn’t go into a nightclub until I was 35 (and that was during the daytime for a work project) and have never been bowling.

I think the latter point is something to do with my inability to get my head around sharing a pair of shoes…but I digress.

One of my other childhood failures was getting to grips with riding a bike.

I learnt enough to pass my cycling proficiency test (remember those?!) and even enjoyed it but being the nervous child I was, I never quite plucked up the courage to keep it up and therefore got a bit rusty.

It was last year when I got back on a bike for the first time since I was 12.

A good, ahem, 20-or-so years later, and it appears the adage ‘it’s like riding a bike’ is completely untrue.

I fell off.

However, determined not to be beaten, I persevered with the help of a lovely lady from a local cycling group, and managed a whole lap of the park.

I soon realised my problem wasn’t balance or confidence, it was stopping.

For some reason, my brain and body can’t coordinate how to stop pedalling, braking and coming to a standstill all at the same time and instead I look like some sort of sub-standard circus act as I attempt to dismount while traveling at speed.

Given electric bikes have been in the news a lot lately after Simon Cowell fell off his and broke his back in Miami, I wondered if maybe the E-bike was the way forward and mentioned it on the radio the other day.

I couldn’t believe the number of people who called in, extolling the virtues of the electric bike and even in one case, the electric trike.

The sale of E-bikes in the UK has risen to around 50,000 a year with lockdown expected to see even more of a surge.

From aiding health conditions and improving fitness to easing commutes and saving money, there seems to be endless reasons why people choose them however, I’m still yet to give it a go.

I will.

I just hope I’ll be able to stop this time!