Waiting for hip surgery can be a long, painful, and limiting experience – and then you have the procedure. Ottawa’s Janet Stewart recently went through this rite of passage. She is grateful her Pedego Boomerang allowed her to remain in motion and connected to her friends.

“It’s a horrible feeling when you are a really active person to gradually give up every sport you engage in. I got to this point where I couldn’t even walk to the end of my block which is five houses. The one thing I could still do was cycle. But I couldn’t cycle very long because it put a lot of pressure on my hip. So, I started thinking about an ebike,” she says.

“My girlfriends were newly retired and going cycling. I was so envious because they were posting on Facebook where they were going. They were going 20 km and I knew I couldn’t keep up. I could only go five and I was done. I couldn’t go out and play with my friends.”

Falling in Love with Biking Again

After seriously trying out several ebikes, Janet fell in love with her mineral blue Boomerang, now aptly named, Bella.

“When I sat on a Pedego, within the first few minutes, I could feel the difference,” she says. “It was day and night so much better than all the others I’d tried. Because I couldn’t lift my hip, I could step through. That was so important. No other step-thru bikes were that accessible. It had such a comfortable seat, and I could really sit up straight to support my back and tailbone. I also loved how it looked!”

Very quickly, Janet and her husband Joe fell in love with biking again. Their first ebike riding season only had five weeks, but they took advantage of every opportunity and even took a trip up to Le Petit Train du Nord trail in Quebec.

In the 2022 ebiking season, while waiting for hip surgery, Janet did more than 2000 km of ebiking despite having to walk with a cane. She rode with friends, her husband (Joe’s ebike is a black City Commuter named Roy) and solo.

“I would hobble over to Bella with my cane, fold it up, put it in my basket, get on and go! The difference between hobbling along and then getting on a bike and flying wherever I wanted to go gave me this beautiful feeling of freedom.”

She enjoyed more biking trips – to the Niagara region, again to the Laurentians, including the hilly Mont Tremblant area, and Prince Edward Island. She also explored her own city of Ottawa soaking in the scenery and enjoying the motion.

A Biking Season Full of Accomplishment

After a brisk late fall day of riding, Janet finally decided to put her bike away for the season. She did so full of such a sense of contentment and accomplishment. She also had stronger legs.

“The more I cycled the stronger my legs got. I started using less and less pedal assist to keep up this training with my legs. I knew eventually I would be getting the surgery.” she says.

Janet used cycling to train and exercise for the nine months after she got confirmation of her surgery. When winter hit and Bella was stored, she kept pedaling on her stationary bike.

Heading into the 2023 riding season, Janet is recovering well from her surgery. She looks longingly upon the beautiful weather arriving to Ottawa and tries to remain patient for time on Bella. She can already do the cycling motion on her stationary bike. Yet, she needs to make sure bones have securely grown around her implant to hold it stable because any sudden stop could mean a dislocated hip.

“People say “It’s so great. The pain is gone. You will be walking in no time.” But no one ever defines no time. Helping her pass the time until she can two-wheel it again, Janet is leading a Pedego Ottawa group ride on a Pedego etrike she is borrowing. It’s a great option to get Janet rolling until she can ride Bella again a little later this summer.

We here at Pedego wish Janet a fantastic season of riding after a full recovery. We find her inspiring and love her enthusiasm. Hello fun!

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