International Velomobile-Meeting 2006

7th International Velomobile Meeting "2006 in Biebertal"

by Peter Noll, Gelnhausen

On Friday, September 22, 2006, it had come to the decision whether I should ride the Cab-Bike or the motorcycle to the meeting.

The argument for the motorcycle would be that I unfortunately had to go quite a while without biking and my fitness level and motivation left something to be desired.

But with my velomobile, I have a very restful mode of transport, so I decided after all that I would have an enjoyable (=slow) 90 km ride to the Dünsberg Forest Lodge.

After riding scarcely 10 meters, I experienced the first flat. Calmly, I repaired it, washed up and started the next attempt. This time, I got about 600 meters. Another flat. A little less calmly, actually swearing, I didn't fix it, but replaced the flat with my spare wheel. I thought about whether the motorcycle might, after all, have sturdier tyres. Perhaps it would be better to ride it.

Then a car came by with a Quest tied on top. I was delighted to see a VM here in Gelnhausen. But: WHAT was a Quest doing here?? Looking for me! Peter H., its owner, from Munich, wanted to ride the section from Gelnhausen to the meeting with me. If I had just looked at the Forum, I would already have known that.

 


So he had the good fortune to meet me, but what about me?? My thoughts ran to how I could accompany a Quest with my Cab-Bike -- especially when I was hoping to ride especially slowly.

In any event, the ride went astonishingly well. I did get some nasty calf- and leg pains, but I could manage. We were both figuring that about 30 km/hour on the level would be a reasonable speed, although this number was a little beyond what I felt comfortable with. In fact, on the level stretches, we averaged between 36 and 40 km/hour. I was amazed. Despite leg pain and a very rolling terrain, we reached our destination with an average of a little over25 km/h.
 


Words can't express how much I enjoyed this ride under the blue sky through unfamiliar villages and farmlands. And how much it meant to me to see so many familiar faces when we reached our destination. And many "unfamiliar," but whose names I recognized from long acquaintance on the velomobile forum.

Reinhold and Margitta unfortunately couldn't be there this time to organize the event, so Bernd, Bea and Markus had to step into their shoes. A big job, thinking just of the tasty meals.
 

Before supper, there was another surprise: Bernd had actually worked out with representatives of the Züricher insurance company that they would offer an insurance policy for the previously unrecognized vehicle, the "Velomobile."

There has unfortunately not been any actuarial experience for insurers for the "velomobile" risk, so it is to be appreciated that there is now an available policy that proves to be viable in this respect. Since an annual rate of over 1000 Euros is crazy, another route was selected: including the velomobile, for a small supplemental fee (or in comprehensive coverage) in a homeowners' policy. Individual requests for quotes are available exclusively from Mr. Martin Brücker, Wetzlarer Strasse 1, in Giessen. (bruecker@zuerich.de). Other agencies won't be aware of this possibility.

The next day, we all rode down into Giessen, into the city center, to expose ourselves -- as we do every year -- to the innumerable questions of the passers-by.
 

There were 44 (!) Velomobiles in all. That included 10 Cab-Bikes, 4 Cab-Bikes in Speedster-version, 3 Mangos, 2 Alu-Alleweder, 1 C-Alleweder (Limit), 1 WAW, 1 Leiba, 1 Leitra. The largest group was the 21 Quests. Plus 1 Kettwiesel Trike and 1Sinner Trike.


Counting them all proved to be quite difficult, since many VM's look so much alike from a distance. To improve our brain-eye coordination, we then visited the Mathematikum in Giessen.

 

This is a very famous museum for mathematics, with a goal of conceptualization and testing of many experiments. The time passed quickly in this unusual museum, to which I would advise anyone to make a visit.

On the ride back to the Forest Lodge, there was as usual a little "race" along the way. I haven't heard all the results, but I have the strong suspicion that Ymte from the Netherlands again came in somewhere ahead of the second-place finisher.

For me, the race had a special significance: up to the race, I had been struggling with pains in my legs and posterior, but after the race they had disappeared.

Before supper there was a presentation by Jüregen, Bernd and Ymte about the technical features of the Leitra, Cab-Bike and Quest steering and suspension. There was a lot of new information for me, too much to summarize briefly. It impressed me during the presentation that the individual VM-representatives help and supplement each other. Each has respect for the "competetion," resulting in a splendid sense of "us."

There aren't "good" and "bad" velomobiles, just different velomobiles for different needs and purposes.

The rest of the evening was, as always, longer than planned, since the farewells would come soon after breakfast the next morning.

The hope remains that at least some of us would meet again before another year passes, for instance at the next SPEZI (Spezialradmesse) in Germersheim on 28. und 29. April 2007.

The VM meeting weekend was a special pleasure for me this year, and I'm very glad that I could be there. Peter H. accompanied me on the ride home again.
 

From my experience on the ride to the meeting, I knew that I would certainly be able to make it home. And my legs were "loose," as they say in biking circles. My head too, as this beautiful, experience-full weekend came to a close with our arrival in Gelnhausen.