Fuel Economy? I get a 1000 miles to a gallon of water! That what I tell people when they ask what sort of Fuel economy I get. Then I go on to tell them I am the motor in my Quest. It is new to most people and I am really discovering that some people are not shy about asking for info. Twice this week people have followed me into my driveway to ask questions. Most people think it is an electric vehicle they are following because of the speed. I have other people hanging out their cars to take pictures of the Quest. I have not driven the Quest in Daylight without having it's picture taken. Riding a Velomobile is definitely not for shy people.
Weather forecast
Five days of nice winter riding. Cold mornings at -12 and nice afternoon commutes around -3C. O sure I had one afternoon with a 70 kph headwind but it only took me 2 extra minutes that day to get home. The Quest handled it better than I thought it would. Friday afternoon I put the Quest into the shop just as it started to snow. The old joke about six months of winter and six months of bad dog sledding looks true. I most likely have more km on the dog sled than the Quest this winter. This picture above is the weather forecast for the snow we are getting.
Even though the calender said spring is here the birds are slow to return. The ones that are back are not very impressed. Most people here are tired of winter. It's not that we have had a lot more snow. It has not been colder this year. It's just the last two winters have been mild and short. I enjoy winter and I enjoy summer.
Goodbye Winter!
Some people have other ways to express their thoughts of winter:
And this week I had a minor problem with the Quest. Some glue let go on the wiring for the front lights. It wrapped around my left toe and I had to stop right away before any damage. I put the Quest on it's side and taped the wire back in place. This was very early in the morning and I was carrying a flash light fortunately. It was a minor problem, not like Yellowmobile who had a more major problem that forced him to be rescued by his wife and stuff his Strada into his hatch of his car. I thought it would be a bearing failure but he said they were good. If anyone reads this, please read his blog let me know what you think may have caused this. Of course as soon as I read this I went out and checked mine as our Velomobiles are produced in the same month. No problems with mine.
And finally look at this picture of my friends cabin on Lake Manitoba. He hasn't been there since last fall and most likely be staying there for a while.
It was just a normal week in Winnipeg for me. It started with more snow on the Sunday when we took the dogs out to dog sled. The weather forecast was for clear and sunny but we got snow instead. But he rest of the week was sunny with some +3 high temperatures. I took the Quest every day except one where I had to pick up a new mattress. The snow is melting on the roads and bike paths finally.
Snow starting to melt finally!
I stopped a couple of times Friday on my way home to snap some photos. It was one the nicest days so far this spring.
It didn't start that way. I left for work at 5:30 am. It was still dark out. I was thinking about Matthijs in the Netherlands and his Rondje Texel ride. Their weather there is much nicer for riding than our current weather. It was -7C and foggy in Winnipeg. I could not see very far down the road. I went anyway as traffic would be light on the Good Friday holiday. I had to work on the holiday as I am a mechanic for the transit system. Light traffic was great, but I could not go too fast because of the fog. By the time I got to work my visor on "Da Hood" was covered in ice. The last kilometer I had to drive with the visor half open just to see.
Some of the people who had questions about the Quest.
After work I stopped a couple of time to take some photos to post on my blog. As it worked out I think I had my picture taken many times by people stopped to talk to me. I think Casper might feel better about the wind when he see the snow we have here still.
Snow on the bike trail starting to melt.
Almost clear of snow on this path.
We might get one more dog sled ride on Easter but hopefully the snow will melt soon.
The wife on last Sundays ride.
And finally the bad news. No Easter Bunny this year. He didn't make it. Don't show the kids this picture.
No Easter Bunny now!
Until next week:
Greetings from the center of Canada.
The week started off with a snow storm. We had 20 cm dumped on us starting Sunday and lasting until Monday. It was the wind that came Monday that really made the snow drifts bad. Our city did not plow much, just the main routes. They spread some salt and sand and are waiting for the snow to melt. I can't get down my front street yet as the snow is still too deep for my Quest.. Spring arrived this week but it still looks like winter. Last year this time it was + 20C and we riding is shorts. Everyone remembers that this year and we are poking fun at spring this year.
This sign at a church said "Whoever is Praying for snow, Please Stop"
The positive side of all our snow!
The photo shows someone lawn mower sticking out of the snow. It says the positive message: At least I didn't have to mow the lawn today. I am hoping by Monday to be back riding the Quest.
I guess we are starting to have spring fever. I know the calender says it's here. The weather does not. I think I will get the shovel out and cook supper outside tonight anyway. The bottom picture sums up how we feel with all the snow. It's time to have FUN even if I can't ride.
In this weeks blog I'm going to start by writing about other people who are having fun. The first person is Fred Larimer in his WAW. If you read Bent Rider On Line you may have read "WAW does a 360". Fred hit some ice at a high speed and did a 360 in traffic and stayed upright and didn't hit anything. Really lucky!!! Here is a link to his video. I had to watch it a few times to really see everything around him.WAW does a 360!
Needless to say I will be riding with the snow studs for a while longer.
The other person I want to mention this week is Lonnie Morse. He wrote an excellent blog on aerodynamics and recumbents. Lots of information on velomobiles. It's a longer blog but well worth the read. Here is the link for his blog: Recumbent Aerodynamics Blog
New Bracket mounted and reinforced with carbon fiber.
The other thing that happened was my friend who works with composites came over and he watched me put the reinforcing bracket in for the suspension. Yes I said he watched. The kit was sent to me as I am so far away from Bluevelo. The instructions from Velomobiel.nl were so good and detailed no help was needed. He did explain why the fiberglass cloth was used. I didn't know that the aluminum would react with the carbon fiber. The fiberglass keeps the two apart while still allowing a bond. It was a good experience for me.
The preparation
So after that I did another project. I have been having trouble with my Garmin 500 finding the Satellites when mounted on the wheel well. I epoxied an aluminum mount with Velcro to "Da Hood" so it was more visible to me and the Satellites. The picture with the mounted Garmin will have to wait until the epoxy hardens.
The week finished up with more fresh snow last night and a clear cold morning temperature of -27 C. I think we still have a couple more weeks of winter yet. I hope where ever you are reading this from, it warmer than Winnipeg, Canada...
This cartoon pokes fun at what us Canadians do when we have snow on the forecast. We rush out and stock up. The bigger the storm, the more beer you need? Then we stay indoors until it's over. Well that might be true for some people, most of us carry on like normal. We might leave earlier for work. We might drive the truck instead of the bike. But life still goes on despite the snow. That is what happened this week. Monday and Tuesday were snow days where we got another good dump of snow. I envy the other Bloggers from the Netherlands that write about spring!
The south end of our city where I live got about 15 cm of snow. Too much to ride. I had to clear lots of snow as one of my neighbors are away on a winter holiday and I am taking care of their place. The city was slow with the snow clearing so only Friday was a fit day to ride. That doesn't make much to write about.
I follow lots of Blogs and one of them is Stuart's Yellowmobile . He wrote about snowmen he seen in one of his rides so I had to include this one photo. You have to watch out for this one!
It's been a great winter this year for those that like winter sports. The sled dogs are in great shape, but they are so strong now I can't hold them back any more. On a walk if they see a rabbit I become like a cartoon person been dragged through the snow. I'm sure its funny to watch but not fun. WHERE IS SPRING?
Sunday was a day for the dogs. Our dog club called “Snowmotion”held a poker derby. It was fun event where
you went around a course with your dogs and dog sled and picked up a card from
a bag at different places. The cards were folded in half and taped shut. You
picked 5 cards along the 5 km course and afterwards we met for a pot luck lunch
and unsealed the cards. There was a prize for everyone with the person with the
best poker hand getting first pick. Of course everyone brought too much food to
share. I was guilty of enjoying several pieces of apple pie and other sweets. Here is a video one of the couples shot at our poker derby. They used two cameras so you get her view and his view of her crazy dogs. :)
The rest of
the week brought milder temperatures and good riding conditions for the most
part. The main roads were down to clear surfaces but the high snow banks were
still very dangerous for me. Many times I had to use the brakes hard to avoid a
car that didn’t see me and pulled out from behind a snow bank. As I write this
some of the smaller streets are getting ruts in the snow that covers them. The
ruts are tough to ride in with the Quest. I’m hoping for a quick spring thaw
but there is still more snow in the weather forecast.
The picture tells about the snow fall we have had this year but some of my readers may not translate a pictures like this. So what it said is:
February 2013 snowfall: 8.6 cm
Normal Feb. snowfall: 14.2 cm.
Snowfall since Oct. 1st: 123.8 cm
Normal to end of Feb: 83.5
Normal annual snowfall at Wpg. Airport: 110cm
So we have more snow than a normal year but a long way from setting any records. My front street is 20 cm thick of packed ice and snow. I had to use a hammer and chisel to find the concrete to measure. The city has only plowed our street a couple of times this winter. It will take a while to melt and it will be messy.
I won a
Tee-shirt in the Winter Bike to Work photo contest. If you click on this link you can see some of the photos of the winners photos of the winners. It is the same photo as I have been using above, but they wanted a winter picture and that one was handy.
Until next week, Farewell from the center of Canada....
Not much FUN in my Quest for Fun!
Sunday was our yearly dog club race. A large turnout this year with the milder temperatures. My dogs like the colder temperatures to run so we were not as fast as we normally. But we were fast enough for second place. It was me who really slowed down the the team at one spot. I had a shoe lace come undone and I lost a shoe. I had to stop the dogs and go back and retrieve my shoe and retie it. We had a dinner afterwards in a town called Oakbank where we gave out awards. I got a special award for my shoe that I lost. The dogs had to stay in the vehicles while us humans ate. The award came with a bag of dog treats and some sample food for the dogs. Some out of town people left early because of the heavy snow that was starting.
Bigger snowbanks to deal with.
Monday we woke up to more snow ( 10 cm) and lots of wind. Not very good conditions for travel. We will have bigger snowbanks to deal with this extra snow and winds. A friend of mine took this great couple of pictures that shows how bad it can get is the more open areas. Luckily Monday was a holiday for us so it was a good day to do some clean up duties around the shop.
Getting ready for some clean-up.
Our award for our race.
I had another video link sent to me. It's about Lindsay Gauld who I talked about in a previous Blog. It shows me in my Quest. Listen to the sounds when they first met me in the video. It was shot by another winter cyclist who rode the whole distance that morning with him to the celebration.
The rest of the week I spent driving to work as I finally got a cold that everyone else around me had. No riding the Quest this week. The female Husky was nice to me and let me use her couch this week. Rest, work, and more rest this week. No Fun in the Quest!!!
