Day Twelve

Ate lunch at a roadside Snackwagon where niether the owner, nor his young teenage son spoke English. We were still able to hook up though, and his son took the Versatile for a spin. It was neat to watch from the bystander's perspective. The multicolor paint is quite impressive. It can be a dark blue, or a purplish shade of red, depending on the way the light hits it, and even has a range of bronze under some lighting conditions. The special effect paint was an extra 350Euro.

I had about 50 KM to cover to get to Almere. The ride through Aserbos was fun, a narrow reddish fietspad just wide enough for the Versatile. I continued on to the Knaarbos, which started off OK. I saw a raptor drop a mouse, and fall from the sky after it like rock, land neatly beside it, and spirit it off once again into the sky. Then things turned nasty. The picture above shows the very deep, very loose pile of seashells that had become the surface of the fiets pad. I was in my lowest gear, struggling just to keep moving. After I finally hit pavement again, I got on LF20, another route like the zuiderzeeroute, and followed that to the city of Almere.

As I neared the city, I stopped for a break, and studied my maps to try to figure out the best place to get across the kanal and into the residential section that I needed, a teenager rode up in a Quest. It was Franz's son Guus. He lead me back to their home, where this picture was taken.While I am without question the slowest velomobile rider on Earth, Guus may well be the fastest. He had just won first place in a velomobile race. Not just in his class ( I mean this is a kid) but overall. So if he isn't the fastest velomobilist on Earth yet, he most likely will be in time.

The garage of the Van Schoot residence is a beautiful place. Four quests, a mtn bike, a folder, challeng hurricaines and a flevobike center steering recumbent,tires, tubes, battery chargers...a beautiful place. Franz got me set up for a shower, and fed me beer and a delicious dinner. He is retired, and his wife, a school teacher. The whole family speaks English very well, so I am able to learn alot about Dutch life. The Van Schoots somehow make me feel like a member of their family, and I am euphorically comfortable here. I slept on a matress on the floor in Guus' room, which is every bit as good as a bed to me.

After dinner, Franz had to go to a meeting 80KM away. Round trip that's like a hundred miles folks. He used his Challenge recumbent for transportation. Could you imagine being so fit that a hundred mile ride after dinner is no big deal? They don't have a car. They gave it away 12 years ago when it broke down. No wonder Guus rides like the wind, he's been doing it since he was 4.