Commuting

I live in Eden, and work in Depew, which gives me a commute of about 23 miles. I imported my Versatile with the expectation that it would be faster than a standard bike. This did not prove to be the case. Riding in took me an hour and 45 minutes. I used to go around an hour 20 minutes on a bike. The first night in, I came to realize that my tail light was not working. This proved to be a broken wire inside the Aluminum handle on the top rear of the VM. There wasn't much room, so I ended up extending the wires, so I could get a good solder joint.

The return trip the next morning took over 2 hours, being more uphill on the way home. Every time you stop, you have to run through the gears, like on a tractor trailer. It takes significant effort and time to get the Versatile up to speed. Of course this information must be tempered with the fact that I am not particularly athletic, and the performance of the VM improves greatly when used by a rider who is.

By the time I rode back and forth the second day, I was ready for a break. I ended up riding two to three times per week, because of the physical drain, and even more so because of the 4 hour per day time commitment. Working nights, there are times when you just don't get to bed early enough to get up 2 hours early.

While I don't think I ever left home in the rain at night, I did have several occasions when I left work in heavy rain in the morning. You DO get wet. You don't get the road grit stripe up your back like on a regular bike. In very heavy rain, the upright position of your head ( from being recumbent) means drink it , spit it out or drown. I pretty much used the first two.

This is a picture of our first snow of the season...one day's accumulation. With the snow, came an end to commuting for a while. I did, however, continue using the VM for running errands, usually 10-20 miles round trip, when weather permitted.

Light snow is rideable, but does require additional effort with the loss of traction. On this particular trip, I was headed to Hamburg for Diet Pepsi. The trailer was purchased from "Bikes at Work" and has been pulled behind my first $275.00 mountainbike for years. You can stack another four 18 gallon Rubbermaid bins on top when needed, and I often substitute a large Coleman cooler for one of the bins when grocery shopping. This keeps the milk and stuff cold, as the extra weight slows you down on the climbs no matter what you pull it with.

This was taken 5 days after that first snow, when I made the 23 mile round trip journey to the pet store for 10 lbs. of parrot food, and 25 lbs. of dog food. Being as short as I am, the dog food fits behind the seat. A taller rider gets less cargo space. This was a warm day, with clear streets.

I have ridden in temperatures as low as 10 degrees F. Clothing for such weather includes a ski mask for my face, neoprene booties for my feet, a light pair of polypropylene glove liners ( brake levers remain cold) and a long sleeve jersey. You just can't wear a coat in this thing. You generate too much heat. It's toasty warm inside within minutes.