There and back again, "Afsluitrace 2013"

So, how was the race? The answer is good.
Here are some numbers:
77 participants
€24.790,00 were collected for the fresh water project in Cameroon
The "afsluitdijk" is 32km long
The race is 64km long
That day the wind force was 6 on the Beaufort scale
32km of "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"
32km of "Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!"
After 1hour and 55minutes the Vrijwiel Solo won the race.
Yeah!
15 minutes later the leading party arrived.

On one hand I have the feeling that it wasn't really fair because my fellow cyclists had to work so much harder than me. On the other hand, I built my bike myself, all of it. So I've worked hard for it before the race. Nevertheless, I salute to the sheer willpower, leg power and teamwork of my fellow cyclists. Honestly I believe that you guys did the better cycling job that day. I just had the better bike.

By the way, the Vrijwiel Solo also got the price for the Most beautiful recumbent bike!

 As promised, here are some more pictures from Sunday:

Afsluitrace 2013

Today I've signed myself and the new Vrijwiel Solo Prototype in for the Afsluitrace, a race over the whole lenghts of the Afsluitdijk (32 km) and back again (32 km). As far as I know the Vrijwiel Solo will be the only velomobile in this event, a bit odd if you consider the harsh winds, the rain and the low temperature there. I already have a lot of respect for my fellow cyclists who all will be participating on normal racing bikes.
And these cyclists aren't the slowest ones either. Last year the best time achieved was somwhere in the 1h47min region. For a trip of 64 km with strong headwinds, at least in one direction, this is a very good time. So good actually that I wonder If I will even come close to it...but we will see about that.
There's more: The whole race is a fundraising project for Livebuild. You can read all about it here: afsluitrace
And even better: you can sponsor me, to make sure I'm doing my best. 100% of the sponsored money goes to the Livebuild water project. Check it out on afsluitrace and sponsor me, Olaf Glasmacher!

New Vrijwiel is ready to roll

The new Vrijwiel is ready to roll. It took me a bit longer than I expected at first and it still needs some attention on certain points, but it is usable. So I will try it out the coming month and will post my impressions here in the forum. The way it looks at this moment production will start (with slight changes) over a month or so. So for those of you who want to ride in a fast and light weight velomobile but who don't have € 7000,00 laying around, this could be a very good option. You will be able to find prices and the final design here and on the website www.vrijwiel.nl as soon as it is ready.

On the picture you can see the prototype being shown at the day of sustainability in Utrecht.

A good old friend

After enjoying a nice vacation, me and my cardboard velomobile had to face reality again. For me it went quite OK, but the bike had to cope with four days of riding in the pouring rain. It didn't really make it...
So I had to take of the squishy paper maché and find a solution. While building a new paper shell for it I came by a good old friend: Coroplast. I have to say that the Vrijwiel Solo I made out of that material earlier is still in very good shape despite of standing outside 24/7. So why shouldn't I give it another try with all the experience gathered in the meantime?
So I did. I was able to order some plastic in Germany and went to work immediately.
It's not finished yet but I want it to be ready for the road by Wednesday evening.
This is as far as I am at the moment: