I’m very luck to live just a few minutes from Hodgemoor Woods in Buckinghamshire. It’s a perfect place to get lost in nature. I’ve cycled its bridleways and permissive trails (where bikes are allowed) in heatwaves and snow. Its history is fascinating: some 600 Polish soldiers and their families displaced by the Soviet occupation of their country lived in a camp here for years after the second world war.

The woods are owned by Buckinghamshire County Council and managed by the Forestry England arm of the Forestry Commission. But the Hodgemoor Riding Association plays a key role renovating existing trails and creating new ones. Since 1999, the association has raised over £300,000 towards this valuable work. I don’t ride a horse, but as cyclists benefit from the trails I joined the association in 2014, as encouraged on its website. I applaud its work.

I rarely come across another cyclist when I’m riding through the woods, let alone an e-bike. So it was a surprise to see the following article on the association’s website a few months ago:

This is complete nonsense. Electrically assisted pedal cycles are treated the same as any other type of pedal bike. And Forestry England, which runs Hodgemoor Woods, has stated very clearly that ‘we welcome e-bikes in the nation’s forests’.

The association hasn’t removed this completely incorrect legal advice, but instead proposed the following motion for its annual general meeting: ‘The Hodgemoor Riding Association opposes the use of any vehicle with a motor in Hodgemoor Woods and appeals to the Forestry Commission and Forestry England to respect this principle’. It linked to a document that was as ill-informed and illogical as its earlier article.

The opinion of any sane-minded user of woodland, whether or not a nature-lover,
would be against allowing any two-wheeled visitors going even faster than pedal bikes now
or allowing any two-wheeler with a motor. E-bikes are indistinguishable from motorbikes of
a similar power, for danger to walker, danger to horses, disruption to wildlife, damage to
path surfaces and for riding off the surfaced trails

The media reflect public opinion against the lawlessness and danger of e-bikes.
There is strong support for requiring e-bikers to take a test and license the rider and the
bike. 65% of respondents felt that users should pass an official test before using e-scooters
in public, according to GOV.UK (2023 report)

Where to begin? I can only assume that the author has never ridden or even seen an e-bike in real life, To use the author’s language, any ‘sane-minded’ person would be able to tell that an e-bike and a motorbike are totally different creatures, An e-bike is limited by law to a maximum speed of 25kmh (15.5mph) and the motor will cut out automatically when this speed is reached. The motor only operates when the rider is pedalling. When I’m on an e-bike, I never achieve the same average speed as on my non-assisted pedal bike on the same course because I can go quicker on the traditional bike because it’s lighter than the equivalent e-bike. And it’s hard to ride a bike quickly in Hodgemoor, as you typically have to negotiate twisting trails and tree roots – and mud, in all seasons other than a heatwave summer.

The reference to e-scooters is completely irrelevant. You cannot ride a privately owned e-scooter legally on British roads. They have no relevance to e-bikes, which are permitted on roads and in forests alike.

The writer, continuing the rant, says he ‘wonders if Forestry England has been lobbied by a pro-e-bike movement or sucked into a trend which is out of control of the government’. On the contrary, Forestry England sensibly recognises that the very conservative rules governing e-bikes make them as safe as normal pedal bikes. Indeed, on a road 15.5mph is a relatively modest speed – almost 20 percent slower than the (lowest) 20mph speed limit for cars, which has caused an ill-informed backlash from the tabloid press.

Motorbikes are totally different from e-bikes. As Duncan Dollimore, head of campaigns at Cycling UK points out:

A motorbike has more power, is heavier, and can travel faster, hence the motorbike presents risks which EAPC compliant e-bikes do not, There is no evidence to suggest that someone cycling at 15.5mph on an e-bike present greater risks or dangers than someone cycling at 15.5mph on a conventional cycle. You could argue that the e-bike might be a bit heavier, but that’s like arguing that a 12 stone man presents more risks, danger and damage than an 11.5 stone man.

I suspect the author of the Hodgemoor Riding Association rant against e-bikes has had a bad experience with an e-scooter, or a motorised bike that doesn’t comply with the UK law’s definition of an e-bike:

• The motor must deliver no more than 250 watts of continuous power.
• Pedal assistance must cut out at 15.5 mph (25 km/h).
• The motor can only assist while you’re pedalling – no twist-and-go throttle systems unless they’re limited and compliant,

Fortunately, the association’s AGM took a far more reasoned approach, and rejected the motion to oppose e-bikes. The AGM minutes recorded that:

‘The meeting concluded that actually [e-bikes] were no more disruptive and damaging either to woods themselves or to other users than horse-riders, pedal cyclists and even dog walkers. Overall, an attitude of tolerance dominated.’

This is a sensible outcome, especially as the riding association does not own Hodgemoor Woods, and does not have the power to ban e-bikes. It can now focus on what it does so well: maintaining the trails through this wonderful place.

I’d like to thank Duncal Dollimore from Cycling UK for his guidance on the laws on e-bike use in Forestry England trails. I commend Cycling UK as the essential voice of cycling in Britain.

PS: my earlier blogposts about Hodgemoor called it Hodgemoor Wood. That seems to be the official name but the plural Hodgemoor Woods is almost universally used, so I have used it in this post.