I took a short ride for exercise this morning, covering 31 km in 54 minutes with the velomobile, including traffic lights, negotiating other road users etc.
The Mango is far from the quickest velomobile available nowadays, and mine is fitted with slower puncture proof "winter" tyres because I really don't like fixing punctures in the rain, but for the same expended effort it still consistently goes about 15-20% faster than my road/racing bike or my two wheeled recumbent, a touring model which is a little slower than the road bike.
Add in the low maintenance (leading to low running costs), the weather protection and three wheels making winter cycling much safer and there's so much to like. This is the most efficient transport mode in existence and it's also very practical. It's also fun, of course.
Today's bike ride included a stop at Groningen Airport Eelde to attend today's protest organised by @extinctionrebellionnl
While normal capitalist businesses are expected to turn a profit or they will go out of business, our local airport receives millions of euros in subsidy each year.
Not only do airlines benefit from not paying any tax at all on the huge quantities of fuel that they burn, but each passenger flying from the airport also benefits directly from this subsidy that we all pay. Fliers don't come even close to paying the full cost to society of their flights, let alone for the destruction that they're causing for future generations.
To the greatest extent possible I do my work by human power, but there are limits to how much I can control.
This morning I made a delivery to someone who lives in a village in Drenthe so that delivery was made 100% by human power as I rode there and back in my velomobile.
Parts ordered by people who live thousands of km away are a different story. I can then only control the first few km. So I go as far by bike as I can and then those parcels continue their journeys by commercial shipping companies.
I reached 70000 km with my Mango velomobile today. I have other bikes to ride, and other things to do, so it's taken me just over 12 years to cover that distance at only about 5800 km per year.
Anyway, short 12 year experience review:
It's fast, comfortable, safe, practical for everyday use, lots of fun, keeps you warm and dry in bad weather (e.g. today), let's you pretend headwinds don't exist, has needed hardly any maintenance beyond tyres and very occasional chains (the drive chain is entirely enclosed, as are the brakes), has plenty of storage space inside which is also out of the weather, uses no fuel beyond the food you were going to eat anyway, and it's an absolute bargain: total cost at this point is just a few cents per kilometre.
To paraphrase Mark Twain, "Get a velomobile. You will not regret it!" (The other part of the quote is funny but really makes no sense for such a safe vehicle).
This week's "Sunday" bike ride was on Saturday. The weather forecast for tomorrow is horrible, but the sun was shining today.
@jhembrow and I both left home at about the same time, but she went on a direct route for cross-stitch supplies while I went in a different direction to meet @twilwel for a cross-country ride. We then took an indirect route to the same destination so that all three of us could ride and stop for coffee together.
It's described as "the largest radiotelescope in the world which can operate at the lowest frequencies that can be observed from earth" and it's about a thousand km wide, which makes it a nice example of peaceful international scientific cooperation.
Pour aller au lycée, ce prof fait 60 kilomètres A/R par jour… en #vélomobile
Thibault a abandonné sa voiture il y a plus de 2 ans pour ses trajets domicile-travail et opté pour ce spectaculaire #vélo.