My first long-distance ride in the velomobile was lots of fun and I didn’t explode myself, though I do still have a few sore spots. Although the day started out a bit rainy, it eventually cleared up pretty nicely. I met a bunch of nice folks and got to share some information about the TEAM. The velomobile is definitely a people magnet – at every rest stop other riders seemed compelled to come over to take a look or ask questions. The funniest thing was that whereas most people who I talk to about the velomobile seem shocked by the price, other cyclists typically shrugged and said “Not bad”. I guess when you’re used to looking at bikes that go for $3-5k or more, you have a slightly different (perhaps skewed) frame of reference.

The ride started in Tenino, about 15 miles south of Olympia. I rode the velomobile down (that stubborn, rugged individualist streak I have), but turned it into a 20 mile ride when I missed one of my turns because I was enjoying myself more than I was paying attention to street signs.

I had already decided that I didn’t want to use the BionX electric assist at all during the ride, despite it being a rather hilly course (do you see any kind of pattern here?). So I used the BionX on the way down to keep me relatively fresh and saved the rest of the battery for the ride home when I knew I would be pretty wiped out. I had really wanted to do the full 100 mile ride, but the night before I finally gave in to reason (aka, my girlfriend’s persistent nagging thoughtful warnings): it would be my first long ride in the velomobile (and of the season for that matter), I would be tacking on an extra 30 miles just to get there and back, I still had an only partially healed hole in my stomach, and like it or not, I had just plain gotten out of shape. I had been putting in some easy miles on the stationary bike after my surgery, but nothing like this. So I opted for the 50 mile route, which all together meant I rode about 90 miles on Sunday. I’m glad I didn’t go any longer.

Overall, I was really pleased with how the TEAM performed on this ride. I made it up even the steepest hills without any problem. I just dropped into low gear and settled in for the grind. Although I was much slower on the uphills than the bike riders, I could just let my head roll back and watch the sky and the trees go by (at 3 mph). It was really kind of relaxing. The downhills were actually more frustrating. With the current gearing in the TEAM I hit my maximum cadence around 22-25 mph. So even on very mild downhills all I could do was coast or put the BionX in regeneration mode to slow me down enough to where I could pedal again. I had one guy tailing me for a while – I’m not sure I can rightly say that he was drafting me – who kept right up through a section of rollers, but on a final uphill where he passed me he commented that I was able to coast a lot more than he did. I’ve been talking to Ray at bluevelo about getting a bigger chainring for the Schlumpf Speed Drive, which should increase my top speed.

The thing I was most impressed with was the comfort of riding in the velomobile. The recumbent position and the Ventisit seat cushion were simply amazing. Even though I shredded my legs, I wasn’t in nearly the sorry shape I was when I rode my Felt 80 miles last year in the Two-County Double Metric Century. On the Felt my neck, back, shoulders, butt, and wrists were extremely displeased both during and after the ride. The most obvious difference came when I hit the rough chip seal paved rural roads. On my road bike every mile of that grinding vibration was torture. In the velomobile it was rather slow and a bit noisy, but otherwise not unpleasant. One drawback for the TEAM, and I would guess most velomobiles, is the lack of ventilation. I stayed pretty comfortable, but there was no breeze to evaporate my sweat. On the other hand, being shaded from the sun is nice and I felt like I wasn’t working quite as hard as I would on my traditional bike. I have seen some people prop the lid open just a little bit to let some air in, but I’m also starting to think about how some adjustable vents might be added that wouldn’t contribute too much wind resistance. Or if I listen to some of the people I’ve been talking to, I really just need to install a stereo system and air conditioning.