Cycling this month
This month has been very successful for cycling as we had our two week Velomobile tour to Bodensee.
My total distance cycled this month was 2,300km and that brings the year’s total to 5,500km cycling and 480km walking.
And here is where I cycled this month – from the North Sea to the Bodensee…
The Veloviewer Wheel includes walks as well, so that is why the total figure is a bit higher.
But the main cycling this month was our Bodensee Tour and you can read the various posts about it here:
Day 1: Kempen to Drachenfels
Day 2: Drachenfels to Walluf
Day 3: Walluf to Speyer
Day 4: Speyer to Appenweier
Day 5: Appenweier to Bamlach
Day 6: Bamlach to Koblenz (CH)
Day 7: Koblenz to Konstanz
Day 8: Konstanz to Tettnang
Day 9: Tettnang to Bad Buchau
Day 10: Bad Buchau to Eislingen
Day 11: Eislingen to Gündelbach
Day 12: Gündelbach to Viernheim
Day 13: Viernheim to Bacharach
Day 14: Bacharach to Drachenfels
Day 15: Drachenfels to Kempen
A quick trip to Dronten
As mentioned in last month’s blog, Klaus had some issues with Emily and wanted to get her checked out by Velomobiel.nl before our two-week cycle tour in the second half of the month of June. This was proved even more necessary when Klaus’s Schlumpf Mountain Drive gave up the ghost when riding up a steepish hill on our way back from the Grensland Tour.
Our trip to Dronten was very necessary!
As has now become customary, our idea was to cycle as far as Vaassen (near Epe) after work on Friday, a journey of 140km or so. We would then cycle the next morning the 44km to Dronten, have the work done, then cycle back to Vaassen where we would stay for a second night. We would then ride home at our leisure on the Sunday.
On the Friday it was tricky for me to get away from work as it was so super-busy, but when I got a call from Klaus to say he was on his way home from work I had the excuse to go. After a quick lunch we headed off on our bikes northwards towards Vaassen.
We set off at 13:30 and headed northwards, with a cracking tailwind behind us. In fact, it was really rather windy, and and quite a blustery wind at that. Fortunately the Milan is excellent in winds, and the Quattrovelo was also very good.
We were really putting the pedal to the metal and ended up with an average speed to the German/Dutch border of 34 km/h. Not bad at all!
You can see the split times here. Lap 1 was home to Rees, Lap 2 was Rees to the border, Lap 3 was NL to our burger stop near Apeldoorn, and Lap 4 was the final push to Vaassen.
So we rode very fast most of the way. Despite Emily’s many problems (screeching noise from rear axle, mountain drive only in the high gear, missing fixing for visor and periodically-deflating air ball suspension), she was also going well. She was laden with all our luggage for the three day tour (which is almost the same amount as we have for a three week tour), which must have made the accelerations more work, but she cruised nicely. Emily benefits more from the tailwind than Millie as she was a wider backside.
Just before the border in Anholt we stopped for a piece of cake at the bakery attached to a REWE supermarket.
After finishing our cake and hot drinks we headed onward, this time with a bit more of a sidewind than tailwind.
We were soon in NL and onto roads that I had ridden once before but for Klaus were very familiar. He has made an awful lot of trips to Dronten!! I tucked in behind him, following him as he was more familiar with the route. We were still going very fast.
We stopped for chips and a burger at a place he has stopped at before, just off the cycle path near Apeldoorn.
The bikes were parked just off the cycle track.
Once we stopped I noticed that I had developed my leg heat rash again. I get this each year on the first few really hot rides – it’s hot and itchy and a bit painful, but indeed it had gone down again after two days. I think it is some kind of sweat rash, and interestingly this time was only on my bare leg, not on my thighs which had cycling shorts on.
The good news is that once this rash had gone down after a couple of days, I didn’t get it again on the longer Bodensee tour starting the next weekend. I have also had a heat rash on my arms but again managed to avoid this on the Bodensee tour by being very careful to wash the sweat off regularly.
We had a bit of a wait for our burger and chips but after we ate these we headed on fairly quickly. We didn’t want to be too late as we were both tired after a busy working week.
We soon arrived in Vaassen and made our way to our Vrienden op de Fiets Garden House again. The lady Ank who is our host is very friendly and we soon settled in. The bikes had pride of place in the carport, sheltered from the wind which was increasing.
The next morning we were up early, ate our breakfast and then it was time to head north to Dronten.
The wind was really strong now, with branches blowing around in the wind and sticks and leaves skidding over the road surface. Our route for today took us over the Veluwe National Park which had lots of trees – we thought this might be a bit interesting in this weather!
There were some very blowy sections as we had expected, and Klaus had to stop at one point to remove a branch blocking the way.
But overall the ride was fine, and we made good progress again with an average of about 30 km/h to Dronten.
When we arrived at Dronten our ways parted. I went to Intercity Bike as I had asked them to service Millie, and Klaus went to Velomobiel.nl for Emily’s works.
I arrived at Intercity Bike to meet again some people who had been on the Grensland Tour last week. The lady had also brought some cake (as it was actually her birthday that day!) so she shared that, which was very kind.
Right in the entrance way was a brand new Milan SL. It turns out that Intercity Bike will become Milan dealers in the near future. This is very interesting information!!
We had a good chat as Peter was working first on her bike, trying to source a mystery squeak/rattling sound.
After he finished with her it was time for Millie to have her service.
First I removed all my luggage and then Peter took her for a test ride. His conclusion: the tiller was too loose (which I had thought), one of my wheels seemed bumpy so perhaps a dodgy tyre (I thought it was the rim as I had had this issue despite changing the tyre) but apart from that all was well, the gears were great etc, although he needed to adjust the brakes a bit.
So it looked as though he only really needed to do the tiller and check the wheels and brakes. Not too bad!
Peter removed a block thingie from the bottom of the tiller which he said can get worn, and replaced it with a new one.
Here is the old one:
And here is the tiller separated without this part:
It was all put back together very quickly.
He then looked at the wheel and adjusted the brakes, not at the tiller end but at the end which attaches to the wheel. This is always a real pain for Klaus and I to do but Peter seemed much more adept and managed it in ten minutes or so.
He then checked whether the wheel was round – and lo, as I had suspected, it wasn’t. There was a slight bend as the wheel rotated. He decided to adjust the spoke tightness a little to try to repair this, and after the first turn of a spoke key a spoke broke! So after his lunch he replaced this spoke (I had spares with me) and then the wheel was much better, although still not 100% true.
I put all Millie’s gubbins back in her and said thanks to the guys at Intercity Bike, and then it was time to head over to Velomobiel.nl where they were still working on Emily.
When I arrived they were replacing the rear axle. There had been some damage to the axle and Allert had replaced some parts.
After this the Schlumpf was removed and a new one put in place.
Klaus has written a summary of what was involved:
Hier die Checkliste
– Hinterachse wurde getauscht, da eingelaufen
– Lageraufnahmen wurden nachgearbeitet, da die Lager teilweise stramm oder zu stramm saßen.
– Einige Lager der Hinterachse wurden getauscht, da diese nicht mehr optimal liefen. Die waren auch die Ursache für das Geräusch von der Hinterachse
– Schlumpf Mountaindrive wurde getauscht
– Ventileinsatz an der Luftfederung getauscht, da undicht
– Visierhalterung nachgearbeitet
Wie sich jetzt die Ursachenkette zusammensetzte kann ich nicht sagen. Ob nun die zu engen Lageraufnahmen Ursache für die defekten Lager und die eingelaufenen Achsen waren…who knows.
Hauptsache jetzt ist Ruhe und ich kann ruhigen Gewissens unsere Sommertour angehen.
Ich muss ehrlich gestehen, manchmal nagen schon Zeifel, ob das Quattrovelo das richtige VM für mich ist. Die Fahrt nach Dronten hat mir mal wieder gezeigt, ob der ganzen Probleme das QV passt für mich. Das Strada war schon gut. Der Milan ist schnell. Aber das QV vereint die wichtigen Aspekte beim VM für mich ein ein Konzept.
Also weiter geht’s. Drückt mir mal die Daumen, damit ich nicht allzu häufig nach Dronten fahren muss.
After all this Emily was working very well again. We had a cup of tea with the guys at Velomobiel.nl and Eva had even brought some Apple Streusel so we enjoyed a piece of that!
Klaus had a test sit in the new Alpha 7 velomobile, although found the entry extremely narrow, and he also had a close look at the model for the new Quest.
At about 4pm everything was finished and we headed off. The wind was still strong but the sky was nicer and our route back via Elburg and Veluwe was lovely.
Just after I took this last photo we suddenly got rained upon, but it only lasted five minutes. We had been skirting rainclouds on the ride up till that point and had been very lucky, and so a short drenching wasn’t too bad.
We headed straight into Vaassen itself to a supermarket and bought ourselves salads and other goodies for dinner, which we ate in our Garden House. Neither of us felt particularly the need to go out to a restaurant.
Our total for the day was 93km at an average speed of 28.2 km/h.
The next morning was our ride home. We took the same route as we had used for the outward journey, but this time I took some more photos!
As we reached Dieren my need for the loo was such that we stopped at an ice cream place – which also did cake.
We then rode non-stop to the town on the border with Germany (the last NL town) where we stopped for Klaus to have a paracetamol as he had a headache, and for us to drink some water. I had also made some rolls out of the remainders of breakfast so we had a little to eat.
Although the wind had died down a lot compared to the previous two days, we still had a reasonable headwind which made the going a little slower. But we were very soon on familiar roads and we did a minor detour to Bauerncafé Büllhorsthof for their much-beloved Mandarinen-Schmand Kuchen.
It was pretty warm outside so we found a shady table under a tree.
From here it was only 31km home and we zoomed along.
Our total distance was 138.77km and the average speed was 29.9 for me and 30.0 for Klaus.
Emily was running really well after her repairs, and Millie also had better brakes and her tiller felt more precise. On smooth roads the fact that my wheel was a bit more round was also noticeable.
All in all, we had a very good trip. The distances per day were about what we would do on our summer tour, so it was good to know that we were both getting into our summer fitness. Well, I am of course assisted by my motor, but still I work a bit too, burning around 1000 calories per day from the cycling alone.
Thanks to the guys at Intercity Bike and Velomobiel.nl for the bike maintenance work.
Repairs to Millie’s Deckel/Lid
Millie the Milan has white bodywork but the lid/Deckel is red. This was resprayed for me by Ludwig when I bought Millie from him.
Unfortunately in some high winds last month, whilst parked at work Millie’s Deckel flew open and banged against her bodywork and the paint was cracked. It started to flake.
I considered having it resprayed but this seemed like a lot of money. In the end I decided to see if I could disguise the paint chips/flakes, at least in the short term. So I decided to have another go at doing the vinyl wrapping.
It was much easier this time as I could bring the area I was working on into the house!
As it was already red, I only needed to add white and blue. First of all I marked out where the red bits would stay.
You can see in the bottom right quadrant the section with the bad paint. I had sanded it off a little, but the entire topcoat was lifting. Here it is zoomed in a bit:
Now I will remind my readers here that I am not very good at the vinyl wrapping. It requires patience and two strong arms/hands, and both of these are slightly lacking in me. However, the first section went well!
This was, of course, the easiest bit. I had a hairdryer to warm the vinyl first which made it easier to move around. But I had a mini disaster on the second wedge, over the paint cracked area; I didn’t lay it straight and tried to lift it up again – and it took loads more paint with it! In the end I managed something but it wasn’t as good as the first wedge.
Basically, the curvy bits of Millie are hard to wrap. So in the end I did it with two white lines and then filled the blue in; for the first wedge the entire section was white, and then with the blue on top, so it looked smoother.
But I managed it in the end, and although no great work of art it’s not too bad from afar!
You can see that the vinyl is quite reflective.
And here it is in situ on Millie.
My feeling is that this is actually a bit too much Union Jack, and that I might need to take it off again and just return to the red sometime, but we shall see.
Miscellaneous
This month, as mentioned before, I had to work much more than normal as my colleague was on holiday. She is full-time and I work 5 hours per day usually, so I ended up working some 12 hour days. This is pretty exhausting for me as I am not used to it. My Garmin smartwatch tracks my stress during the day, and here is what a normal working day looks like:
And here is what one of my working days that week looked like:
It was a relief to have two weeks off for the cycle tour and my colleague was working flat-out the whole two weeks. I still have a lot of outstanding holiday as I have done so much overtime so will visit my Mum for a few days next month and may also take a few random days off to enjoy the summer.
Cakes this month
Most of this month’s cakes were consumed on our tours so the photos have already been uploaded, but here are a few which didn’t yet make it onto one of the blog posts.
After two weeks touring eating normal food (high carbohydrate) we are returning to our low-carb/ketogenic ways, so may have to be a bit stricter for a few weeks while we readjust. So perhaps there will be fewer cake photos next month. Watch this space to see!