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We just got back from a voyage to the Netherlands - by train of course! 
- the train ticket cost about 5 times more than if we had been driven to the airport in Bilbao and taken a flight from there, something is wrong I think...
- of course I went to Dronten, half pilgrimage and also to get some parts for the new vélomobile. What a lovely experience seeing a workshop full of VM, she said "it is a shame we didn't plan a test drive for me in advance"! It was great to chat with Theo who was much less stressed than at the Spezi, I learnt some things. Now I also know what a flat road looks like All of you flat land drivers are really cheating, of course you don't need e-assist or more than 36T on the cassette! Dronten was just a side trip, we spent the afternoon in Zwolle which I recommend.
- we borrowed a couple of pedelecs one day and went for a 55 km ride with our friend. I turned on the assist on the way home - after lunch, in the hills north of Arnhem and into a headwind it made things easier. Except for my backside which reminded me why I had switched to a recumbent trike all those years ago Here in the Basque Country, even with e-assist, a 55 km ride is an adventure unless you are a hard core roadie, it certainly isn't a pleasant stroll in the park.
- if I can get the government bonus I am more or less decided to get a cargo bike as my daily driver. I can put all my fishing and boating stuff in, there is no parking fees or mandatory insurance to pay and the battery is easier to charge. I also own rain gear that works for a bicycle already. We saw some very interesting ones in Ghent but I can't find the manufacturer on the web (of course I didn't note the manufacturers name...). One had a 20" rear wheel and a 16" front, maybe someone knows what that is? The bin is big enough for my stuff or her grandson and yet the bike remains compact when parked in the bike garage.
- Spotted! On the way to Antwerp in the train we saw a Mango on a trailer behind a car on the motorway running next to us, black top and white bottom. The only VM we saw outside of Dronten!
-and of course we went for lunch in Germany! The return train ride was not so good, DB had a train breakdown and so we spent 2 hours in the hot sun on a platform with about 600 other people some of whom were very angry. Some people even made remarks about the quality of service... Leaving a lot of people stranded in the middle of nowhere with no information was never going to be a good idea.
The main vélomobile related things that I brought back home with me from the trip is the noise a Snoek makes on the road, very loud. I have heard Agilo being driven from outside and it is much, much quieter. At the VM meeting in Vendee all of the carbon VMs together made some noise but here in the quiet streets around VM.nl HQ you could hear the lone Snoek being test driven from quite a long distance. I saw the scale model of the Quest 3 of course - seeing it up close and in 3D rather than in a photo made a very good impression, I will definitely want to sit in one of those when it is done.
- the train ticket cost about 5 times more than if we had been driven to the airport in Bilbao and taken a flight from there, something is wrong I think...
- of course I went to Dronten, half pilgrimage and also to get some parts for the new vélomobile. What a lovely experience seeing a workshop full of VM, she said "it is a shame we didn't plan a test drive for me in advance"!
It was great to chat with Theo who was much less stressed than at the Spezi, I learnt some things. Now I also know what a flat road looks like All of you flat land drivers are really cheating, of course you don't need e-assist or more than 36T on the cassette! Dronten was just a side trip, we spent the afternoon in Zwolle which I recommend.- we borrowed a couple of pedelecs one day and went for a 55 km ride with our friend. I turned on the assist on the way home - after lunch, in the hills north of Arnhem and into a headwind it made things easier. Except for my backside which reminded me why I had switched to a recumbent trike all those years ago
Here in the Basque Country, even with e-assist, a 55 km ride is an adventure unless you are a hard core roadie, it certainly isn't a pleasant stroll in the park.- if I can get the government bonus I am more or less decided to get a cargo bike as my daily driver. I can put all my fishing and boating stuff in, there is no parking fees or mandatory insurance to pay and the battery is easier to charge. I also own rain gear that works for a bicycle already. We saw some very interesting ones in Ghent but I can't find the manufacturer on the web (of course I didn't note the manufacturers name...). One had a 20" rear wheel and a 16" front, maybe someone knows what that is? The bin is big enough for my stuff or her grandson and yet the bike remains compact when parked in the bike garage.
- Spotted! On the way to Antwerp in the train we saw a Mango on a trailer behind a car on the motorway running next to us, black top and white bottom. The only VM we saw outside of Dronten!
-and of course we went for lunch in Germany!
The return train ride was not so good, DB had a train breakdown and so we spent 2 hours in the hot sun on a platform with about 600 other people some of whom were very angry. Some people even made remarks about the quality of service... Leaving a lot of people stranded in the middle of nowhere with no information was never going to be a good idea.The main vélomobile related things that I brought back home with me from the trip is the noise a Snoek makes on the road, very loud. I have heard Agilo being driven from outside and it is much, much quieter. At the VM meeting in Vendee all of the carbon VMs together made some noise but here in the quiet streets around VM.nl HQ you could hear the lone Snoek being test driven from quite a long distance.
I saw the scale model of the Quest 3 of course - seeing it up close and in 3D rather than in a photo made a very good impression, I will definitely want to sit in one of those when it is done.
