Autumn has arrived.

My velomobile was ready and I picked it up last Thursday, so the XP isn't used for commuting anymore. Not that I did mind commuting on the XP, but my velomobile is faster and offers much more protection against the elements, especially during winter time.

After my night shift from last night, I took the XP for a 2-hour ride late this afternoon. It was cloudy and pretty windy, but with mild temperatures. So mild actually, that I used my SPD-sandals for the ride and did not put on the socks I had with me, just in case. Not many riders on the towpath, but a lot of pedestrians, all enjoying the changing of the colors. I did attrack a lot of attention with my shorts and sandals, compared to the other bicyclists, most of them dressed like it was already wintertime !
Especially after night shifts, the XP is my favorite ride. The seat is absolutely the most comfortable I ever sat on. No pressure points, no reaons to stop pedalling for any discomfort except when your legs get tired .... For me, it's the ultimate touring bike. Of course, all of my rides with the XP start at home. We only have a small car, so there's no possibility to transport the XP, but what the heck, there are so many beautiful rides around the place were I live, why bother ....

National HPV Championships

Yesterday the National HPV Championships took place in the outdoor cycle track in Hulshout. Weather conditions were excellent : blues skies all over and a brisk breeze, so I decided to ride my XP to the place. It took me almost 2 hours to get there, but I missed a few exits. Not that I did mind, it was a nice ride and since it was Sunday, not much motorized traffic along the way. Most of the route to Hulshout was either on the towpath near the canal or on seperate bicycle lanes, it doesn't get any better than that !
Only a total of 17 riders showed up for the two races : the first race was a 10-round race (2 riders competing against eachother) and the second race was a 1-hour race. It took some pictures of the event, which can be seen here

Today was another nice autumn day, so I took my XP for a ride this afternoon. I tried out something new with my compact camera and the result can be seen by clicking on the "play" icon below. The camera was held in my left hand while riding the XP. Made an account on YouTube, were I downloaded the clip and imported it to this site.

The resolution from the clip on this site is worse than when you watch the clip on YouTube' site, but I can't explain why. Maybe the software is designed to do so ....

Bummer .....

Yesterday, another spoke broke in the rear wheel. This is the 4th spoke so far and I'm getting tired of it ! I rode to the bicycle shop yesterday morning to have them check my rear wheel and they instantly told me the spokes are too thin and too weak for the hub I'm using. They ordered a set of stronger ones, since they did not have the length I need in stock ( I need shorter ones since I'm using the Nexus hub ). I also noticed yesterday night that the light sensor is not working anymore, at least not the atomatic function. I've had this problem with these Shimano sensors before, it's still under warranty, so I'll trade it in for a new one. Luckily, I could still manually switch it to the "on" function, so I did not have to ride home without any light. The front light has an auto switch mode too, but the rear light cannot be connected to it, so I'll have to use the Shimano sensor to turn them on/off both ....

Still alive and kicking ....

It's been a while since I posted something, but not much important happened these last few weeks. About three weeks ago, I had to have another spoke replaced in the rear wheel, since I broke another on. Used the XP mostly for commuting, since my velomobile has not been put together yet. Fortunately, the weather conditions were mostly good ( meaning : no rain or showers ), so I really enjoyed riding the XP to work.
I did change the rubber grips on the handlebar though. During summertime, I noticed that the regular ( straight ) grips I had before became very slippery once I started to ride and sweat and that it took some effort to keep my hands on the grips. I replaced them with curvy ones, which offer more grip to keep my hands from slipping off. They were cheap no-brand grips ( Scorpions ?),but they offer more grip and are more comfortable on longer rides. I also changed the angle of the handlebars, putting the ends more inward. Feels a bit more comfortable too, just have to see what it'll give on the long run. Weather was excellent today, so I took a 2 hour ride. Actually, I checked out a route today, 'cause I'm supposed to organise a recumbent group ride during the weekend of November 18. I took a 40 mile trip today, which I think is the perfect distance for a group ride, especially since the group ride will include some kids on their bents. It's a ride that will cross the borders with the Netherlands a couple of times ( no problem, I live less than 10 miles away from it ), but with very nice scenery and either seperate bicycle lanes or roads with almost no motorized traffic. The picture below was taken this afternoon just across the border, close to a place called ESBEEK. Rode a total of 2565 miles on my XP so far.