Day Nine

It was so nice to sleep in a bed last night. Many velomobilists ( not that there ARE THAT many) are listed on a map. You can click on a red dot on a Map of NL and get a list of all the participating velomobilists in the area, and how far from the dot they are. Click on an individual's name, and you get their phone number, a map to their house, and a description of how many people they can put up for the night. Now tell me people are we missing it or what? It's like heaven over here.

This is just the bikeroute's way of getting bike traffic under the highway. It was so nice to experience a total lack of competition with cars for roadway. Riding my Versatile home from work in the morning can be pretty scary in some places. Today, I am riding North with Robert to Vries, then South with the Hunneliggers all the way down to Zwolle. A long ride for me. Nothing for them. Robert is kind enough to pull my trailer behind #13, since he has the same kind, and already had the trailer hitch in place. This way I should slow the group down a little bit less. I really worked hard to keep up with these guys, and started to see how fast you could take corners with some setting up. No doubt the pace was somewhat lethargic for a seasoned group of riders, but they never took off and left me behind.

In our group there were two Mangos ( the yellow VM in the foreground) Two FAW's ( one orange one natural) and Robert's and my Versatiles. In a group we got alot better reception on the bike path than I seemed to alone. At times I think people out in the boonies who had never seen a velomobile felt uncomfortable having it on their fietspad not knowing what it was. As at home, reaction to the Versatile was quite varied. Mild amusement, enthusiasm, wonder, disapproval in different degrees, and total lack of reaction.

This is Robert (facing away) with his Versatile#13 and one of the Mango riders in conversation.See the vegitation in the background? Yep, stinging nettles. That stuff is everywhere. I learned alot from Robert about better tires, elevating the seat( which I will show you later) and the smaller sprocket Flevobike made up for him to lower the gearing in his Versatile. I will probably look into one of those when the prototype rain covers for the Versatile become available. As the day wore on, one by one the riders dropped out and returned home.
Only the rider of the Orange FAW, Arjiel was with me when we finally reached Zwolle. He went to the door, and returned with Paulus, with whom I would be staying tonight. Arjiel didn't seem to mind my slow pace, or my frequent cigarette breaks to cool my flaming feet. I got sandals with SPD capability as soon as I got home. Arjiel rolls his own cigarettes with stringy looking tobacco from a pouch he just purchased. It's pretty common to do so over here. There aren't too many brands of pre manufactured cigarettes in the stores. The imported Marlboros were 4 Euro a pack.

I was going so slowly that Robert made me stop and get lunch. I had an Americanische burger met petat. The Americanische burger had of all things, a fried egg, sunny side up on the top. It wasn't bad really, and the petat (french fries) are really quite good served with mayo as they do over here. Arijel and I had a beer with lunch, and a cigarette after, while Robert, the vegetarian( not that that's a bad thing) chastized us for the harmful effects of the alcohol on my already snail like performance. It was at this stop that I took back the trailer, and Arjiel and I headed off to find Paulus' house in Zwolle, while Robert headed back home. He took some photos with an expensive looking camera, but I never did find his website to see them.

Paulus was cool. The whole situation there was. We had a beer, and he showed me where to park the Versatile, gave me a key, showed me the shower, and made me feel right at home. He explained a little bit about the group of biuldings that formed the community in which he lives. The people here all share a common garden area in the center of the biuldings as well as some common facilities, like the visitors rooms where I stayed, and the huge bike garage. All are responsible for some aspect of the care of biuldings and grounds, and the sense of community is amazing. Paulus had made dinner, but I was too full to eat from the Americanisch burger, so he shared his meal with a couple of his neighbors. I used Paulus' computer to send an Email back home, and he gave me some historical background on the city of Zwolle.

Paulus doesn't use a car. He commutes daily in his Quest, and told me of the time a strong wind blew his VM up against the curb and rolled it right over. This maneuver resulted in his head being the primary support member for the vehicle, as it ground to a halt on the cobblestone sidewalk. Hospitalization followed.

Although Paulus offered me the opportunity to stay another night, I had already decided to press on in the morning. I wanted to get to Dronten, and visit the Flevobike factory before my trip was done. I went for a walk, and got better acquainted with Snow white. When I returned to my room, I noticed that there were literally hundreds of insects perched all over every wall, that looked like mosquitos. Since not a one left the wall to feed on me while I was writing in my journal, I decided they must be something else. Turning off the lights turned out to be the catalyst for change, as the ravenous hoarde sprang to life in the darkness, and started to attack. In a matter of a couple minutes I had more mosquito bites than in the cumulative time I had spent camping, and had to go douse myself with Deepwoods Off to sleep.

Cats are quite popular here, and the structure you see affixed to the biulding provides easy access to upper apartments for them.