June 6, 2023
Day 11 - Halbergmoos to Neuweil
Der beruhmte Daniel Fenn
Today the Bülk made its maiden flight to the USA to meet its new owner, so let’s start there. The bike made it back in one piece. The padding was a tiny bit torn a coupes places, but there does not seem to be any damage to the bike, and it did arrive as planned. Would I opt to bring another velomobiel back to the USA this way besides the one I’m riding right now? Probably not. The logistics are complicated. By the time you pay to have it shipped to you or a dealer nearby, get used to riding a bike that’s unfamiliar, deal with the complexities of touring with a velomobile in an unfamiliar area, and then getting it to the airport and packing it up, I’m not sure it’s entirely worth it. Right now shipping costs are low enough that it’s about the same price to buy a plane ticket and bring the bike back as it is to have it crates and shipped to the USA. I was here on vacation anyway, so I haven’t been viewing the plane ticket as an additional cost.
I woke up this morning much earlier than I wanted. My nose was tremendously stuffy. I tried taking a hot steamy bath to clear things up, but to no avail. There didn’t appear to be any drug stores in the area to buy a decongestant either. I was so miserably stuffy and tired that I sat down and checked by reservations and realized all of them could be cancelled quite easily without paying any penalty. I just didn’t want to keep going.
Big decisions should never be made before breakfast though. I didn’t fancy paying Hilton breakfast prices, so I wandered over to the Edeka supermarket, bought a bunch of food, and then got a sandwich and pastry from the bakery. Both items were relatively mediocre, not surprising given it was purchased at an airport bakery. I sat in my hotel room and ate and contemplated my options.
While I was contemplating, I was also engaged in an email exchange. As you’ll recall, my new bike, die Rote Rakete (German for red rocket), is essentially a prototype, being only the fourth one made. While it was being assembled, the developer was still innovating and had some new parts for future models. Since mine was done, it didn’t get those parts. It just so happens that the developer is about 50 miles from Hallbergmoos. A relatively flat 50 miles. He was very keen to make sure the first W9 velomobile in the US was fully outfitted with the latest technology. Seeing as mine will be available for test rides eventually, I could see the logic in making a visit to see him.
Nici, the partner of Daniel Fenn, the developer, generously offered to ride partway to meet me today and then leave their van before the more significant elevation gain portion of the ride so we could drive it since I was feeling under the weather today. The ride to meet her was quite an interesting one. It led along the very north edge of München. It was very flat with a total of 450ft of elevation gain and zero climbs. It also had a lot of traffic. I rode mainly on the road today aside from sections where the traffic noise started driving me crazy. In those spots I used the bike path. I give German drivers a lot of points for not trying to run you off the road, though they do accelerate very quickly when passing, especially when a car is coming the other way…. Nici also arranged for us to stop at a cafe for a pastry before meeting Daniel. I enjoyed a very nice slice of Erdbeerschnitte.
We were greeted by Daniel and Nici’s very watchful dog. I was advised not to pet it, even though it acts like it would love a hood ear scratching. I found the dog quite friendly. They also have a cat who actually does like being petted. It was nice to get some good ear scratches in since I’m missing out on doing that with my two furry buddies at home.
Daniel is quite busy right now preparing for an upcoming world championship race. He is building himself a custom-sized ultralight velomobile. I got to watch him work a bit on it today between work on my bike. He works very quickly and obviously has been building Velomobiles for a long time. The first thing he did for me was to custom align the front wheels and fix the track width. Tomorrow I should be able to make much tighter turns. He also did some realigning of the chain. I would describe it more, but I didn’t fully understand what he was describing since we conversed in German. My German is functional, but technical details sometimes go over my head. He also installed a massive idler in the rear that is supposed to make the drivetrain even more efficient. He also had me install lighter inner tubes in the front. Beyond that, he checked things over to send recommendations on to the factory for further development with future models. He also concluded that red actually looked pretty good on my velomobile. Certainly it is visible!
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Once Daniel finished, Nici once again generously offered to drive me and the bike to my hotel about 45 minutes away. It was incredibly generous of them both to take the time to work on my bike and haul me all over the region. The velomobile community has some incredible people in it and I certainly am grateful for everyone that has helped me along the way. I do my best to be helpful in turn as well.
Danke Daniel und Nici. War schön bei euch!
P.S. I didn’t cancel any hotels. My nose bizarrely clears up when I start riding, I felt sufficiently powerful today, and my nose didn’t really clog up until I got to my hotel tonight. Maybe I’ve developed an allergy to German bedding?
Today's ride: 32 miles (51 km)
Total: 375 miles (604 km)
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