The VAE, a lever for inclusive mountain biking
The Vélo à Assistance Électrique (VAE) makes bicycle touring more accessible to a wide audience, particularly on long, demanding mountain routes. By compensating for the effort required on climbs and making it easier to link stages together, it enables more varied cyclist profiles to embark on ambitious routes such as P'tites Routes du Soleil ®, Route des Grandes Alpes ® or even Route des Grandes Alpes ® Gravel, without being limited by their physical condition or level of training.
Greater accessibility for different cycling profiles
Without the VAE, long-distance mountain routes often remain the preserve of the most seasoned cyclists. Electric assistance rebalances the playing field, enabling more riders to share the same experience.
. Less-experienced cyclists: the VAE compensates for lack of endurance and lets you climb mountain passes without being blocked by physical difficulty.
. Older cyclists: they can continue to ride demanding routes, despite a possible drop in muscle power.
. Couples or groups of different levels: by modulating the assistance, everyone can adjust their effort and stay in the same progression dynamic, without performance gaps becoming a brake on the shared experience. A more fluid collective experience, where everyone can manage their own pace while remaining part of a group.
. Cyclists recovering from injury or a long break: they can control their effort and avoid overly intense stress during climbs.
Opening up to new audiences and uses
The rise of the VAE in cycle touring also encourages new practices:
. Family trips: parents can take on heavier panniers without the extra weight becoming an obstacle:
. Long-distance travel: the VAE makes it possible to envisage itineraries as ambitious as Alpine crossings, even for people who wouldn't feel capable of covering these distances on a conventional bike.
. Sustainable and gentle tourism: by facilitating car-free access to the mid and high mountains, the VAE encourages a wider discovery of territories, reducing the ecological impact of travel.
Thanks to the VAE, mountain bike travel becomes a more inclusive and accessible experience, enabling a variety of profiles to discover the pleasure of roaming on demanding itineraries. It removes certain physical barriers and opens up the practice to new audiences, promoting a more egalitarian and collective approach to bicycle touring in mountainous terrain.