Thomas Lapeyrie Speaks About His Recovery & Rides an eMTB - Video

May 7, 2018
by Orbea  

At the start of the 2018 season, Orbea Enduro Team rider Thomas was hospitalized. In this video, he speaks about his current recovery process and plans for the season.

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You can follow Thomas on his web site.



MENTIONS: @orbea


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Member since Apr 11, 2012
97 articles

28 Comments
  • 41 2
 I had a back injury about 12 years ago and couldn’t sit on a bike for even five minutes. I tried all types of therapy but after two years I could barely walk or sleep. I was skin and bones, lost nearly all my muscle. Surgery was successful and I rehabilitated my body over the next couple years. I live in a mountainous area and an e-bike would have helped me get back on the trails sooner, and be able to ride with my friends sooner.

Now I’m in my forties, I’ve been keeping my back strong but some days after an epic ride my knees hurt and I have to chill. Even if we never get hurt, we are all going to get old. I hear all the fit, healthy riders trash talking e-bikes and speaking out at trail use meetings and it makes me sad they are being so narrow minded. I know how much investment it takes to earn the big climbs and long rides. I had to earn it all twice because of my injury. But it’s riders like us, the hard core passionate riders, that may find some day we need an e-bike. So please keep an open mind when you speak out about them, because if you are not careful, you may end up bannishing future you from the trails.

Thomas, thanks for sharing your story and showing us how important it is to take care of ones mind and body.
  • 14 1
 I'm of the mind that e-bikes were simply marketed wrong, not that they are wrong.
See so much marketing went towards "you can do more laps with less effort" which isn't why I ride bikes, but if the marketing was more "people who once couldn't ride, now can" I think the general opinion would be different.
Stoked you're riding mate, and this video is really nice
  • 4 14
flag JohanG (May 8, 2018 at 15:20) (Below Threshold)
 A couple guys can use it for rehab so we should let thousands of them go tear up trails. You've convinced me. (When I was coming back from a hip injury I used a road bike.)
  • 8 0
 @JohanG: “Thousands of them go tear up trails”. The last three years iv been riding around Cumberland, Pemberton, Squamish, Fernie and Revelstoke, so some pretty big Mtn biking places across BC and I think I’ve seen one E bike in all that time. The degradation from the amount of regular enduro bikes ranges, Bronson’s, altitudes is massive compared to ebikes. I ride a 2016 altitude. It’s good to hear technological advances can make life easier for ppl who need it
  • 7 1
 @JohanG: The impact is exactly the same dude. No more not less than regular dudes ripping on modern trail/ enduro bikes.
We're not talking dirt bikes with a throttle here. If that's your impression then, unfortunately, you're ignorant and need to ride one.
  • 15 0
 Incredible. So awesome to see relentless refusal to give up. Also so many different avenues to visit when training/rehabbing. Best of health and luck to Thomas this year and for years to come Smile
  • 6 0
 This is interesting, rehabbing can be arduous and take heaps of patience. It sucks that it so long to get fit and how fast the body de-conditions as soon as you stop. If he continues to race, internationally, how is he going to deal with flying?
  • 10 3
 Why are ebikes are important to the sport? Injury rehab is one answer. Get well Thomas.
  • 8 3
 Actually that's one of the first legitimate uses for the things that I've realized, kinda pissed about it, but it really does seem effective.
  • 16 3
 @youknowitsus: I have an ebike. I was misdiagnosed with bronchitis, when I had (walking) strep pneumonia. I kept getting weaker, and the Dr kept giving me steroids and inhalers. I ended up in the hospital with Stage IV congestive heart failure (20% EF). I nearly died. Almost a year later the Dr wants me to keep my heart rate below 130 bpm. That would mean no cycling without the uphill assistance. I love the freedom of the bicycle, and have been on a mountain bike since I was first introduced to it in 1981.
  • 7 5
 PB would have you believe you are destroying the trails/environment/KOM's.
  • 6 0
 @Thustlewhumber: Only the younger readers. What's the difference between a 130 lb rider with a 45 lb ebike and a 145 lb ride and a 30 lb "acoustic" bike?

KOM? Who cares. I ride for pleasure, and don't have Strava. The ebike riders I know are just happy to enjoy a ride. Besides, the ebike only helps on the ups, not on the downs.
  • 3 0
 that's why i ride one, torn 2 ligaments in both ankles and torn a PCL and ACL (different knees), without the assistance of a motor i wouldn't be able to ride as it reduces the strain while i regain the strength, but the downside is the extra weight which antagonizes my torn rotator cuff when having to manhandle the bike.
  • 3 8
flag ybsurf (May 8, 2018 at 13:43) (Below Threshold)
 @Geochemistry: I just hope people with ebike don't use strava seriously if you have bike assist don't try to race anything just ride your bike and have fun leave that to regular bikers. I'll be pissed to lose one of my mom to a ebike.
  • 4 0
 @ybsurf: @ybsurf: I'd be upset if I lost my mom to an ebiker too. Stay strong.

(ps. You do know Strava has an "ebike ride" category, so if someone on an ebike is misrecording their rides, you can just flag their activity.)
  • 1 0
 @mattwragg: haha yeah I only have just one "mom" good to know about ebike category on strava
  • 2 1
 @ybsurf: actually that's the best thing about ebikes...make strava irrelevant.
  • 10 5
 There is a tremendous difference between using ebike for a legitimate injury and using it because one might be weak lazy slob. Any person that needs an E-bike for recovery is obviously justified. No one can demonize that.
  • 7 0
 On t’a jamais dit que t’as la même voix que Vincent Cassel!!
  • 2 0
 I'm on the couch right now with a moderately displaced broken fibia and 8 weeks off the bike. And wondering to myself, how would an e-bike help my post injury rehabilitation? I understand it could help me get to the top of my favorite trails again, but won't the extra weight of the bike be a detriment to ALL the other aspects of riding?
  • 2 0
 You'll have to take it a little easier, working on finesse over force. It is a little tougher on the shoulders when throwing the bike around (I ripped my shoulders up as a whitewater guide, three surgeries so far), and don't expect to fly as far when you send it. On the positive side, the added weight on an ebike is low, helping keep the wheels hooked-up in turns.

As far as detrimental, how can being on a bike, enjoying a wilderness trail be bad, even if you're on a single-speed Huffy? Okay, their coaster brakes do suck.
  • 1 0
 Its amazing how quickly the body deteriorates without exercise and how long it takes to get back to strength. I broke my heel more than 5 months ago. Two months of complete non weight bearing. Another 6 weeks after that before i could lose the crutches. my whole leg had lost so much muscle..6 kilos in weight. But an injury like that gives you time to reflect, to understand yourself better, physically and mentally, and to appreciate everything you can do, on and off the bike. I think the video captures that really well. Five months on, I've just got back on the mountain bike for my first ride. it was a lame 20 km ride mostly on tarmac, but it was one of the happiest rides..
  • 4 1
 Here they go again, having fun whilst getting fit and roosting those trails - pesky ebikers, all it needs is a smiling Matt Wrag as the cherry on the cake
  • 1 0
 Really nice and emotionant to see also the other side of the sport... it not only makes athletes great when they win, also when they fall and are able to cope with it and come back again renewed and with very big lessons learn is a GREAT GREAT VICTORY. CONGRATS THOMAS
  • 3 0
 A really good video in to the human side of the sport ruined by the page title
  • 2 0
 This video was legit, super well done and well shot too. You know it's us.
  • 1 0
 He was killing it at EWS last year with Sunn. He'll be back .
  • 1 1
 ...Takes so long...







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