Scot Imus was eager to return to his active lifestyle after a heart transplant in 2015, as health challenges had kept him sidelined from some of his favorite activities for more than a decade.
He bought a bike but quickly became discouraged when he realized he couldn’t ride as far or tackle hills like he used to.
“After a couple of months of that, the bike ended up like a lot of exercise equipment – in the garage,” he said. “Then, (my wife) Cathy and I took a vacation to Asheville, North Carolina, and we saw they were doing electric bike tours. We signed up, and it was a game changer for us.”
The tour used Pedego ebikes, so soon after returning home the couple visited the Pedego shop in their hometown of Carmel to purchase ebikes of their own. They enjoyed the product so much they decided to become dealers, too, opening Pedego Indy in July at 850 Massachusetts Ave. in the Bottleworks District in Indianapolis.
The location has been a great fit, Scot Imus said.
“It is a destination for people, and it has a hotel connected which (provides) strong rental potential,” he said. “Most importantly, it’s where the Monon Trail begins, and also on the other side of the block it’s connected to the 9-mile Cultural Trail, which goes throughout Indianapolis. We knew it would be very accessible for people who want to bike and who were perhaps interested in going up to Carmel for the day.”
Cathy Imus said many of the shop’s customers are visitors to Indianapolis.
“(E-biking) is a great way to introduce people to the city, because they can rent bikes for an hour or a couple of hours or even for the day and go out and just ride around,” she said. “They can go north up to Broad Ripple, Carmel or Westfield. You can take a bike for a day and can get pretty far.”
Scot Imus recently retired as executive director of the Indiana Food & Fuel Association, and working in the Pedego shop – his title is chief fun officer – gives him an opportunity to help others discover the lifechanging potential of ebikes, which use an electric motor to power the bike or give an extra boost while the rider is pedaling.
“Studies have shown that people with an ebike use them more than a regular bike,” he said. “It’s a lot more fun, because a lot of anxieties, such as (traveling) too far, are taken away.”
Cathy Imus, who plans to retire at the end of the year from her role as vice president of public affairs for the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, said she’s enjoyed helping create and connect a community of bikers in Indianapolis, including many who never expected to ride again.
“When you see somebody take their first ride on a Pedego, they smile and laugh,” she said. “It’s such a nice feeling to reintroduce the joy of biking and the fun of biking to people who haven’t done it in years because they just didn’t think they could. Then they get on the ebikes and they have a ball.”
Pedego Indy is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The shop offers ebike rentals and sales and books area tours. Learn more at pedegoelectricbikes.com/dealers/indianapolis.
