Hey cycle fans. We’ve finally reached fall here in Minnesota. Lots of brightly colored trees, cooler temps, some really nice cycling weather. I’d like to say fall is my favorite season, but I’d be lying, because you see, right after fall comes…winter.
For those of us that really love cycling, winter can be a real drag. It’s cold, snowy, icy, windy…. Yuck. The really dedicated cyclists own lots of warm clothes and bundle up to head out on their fat tire bikes or their beater commuter with studded tires. I’ve tried that, but I never found a solution to keep my hands and feet from freezing. That meant if I wanted to stay in cycling shape through the winter I’d have to ride indoors. I know some people find ways to enjoy riding indoors using cycling apps like Zwift, training plans, and all those things, but after around an hour I’m bored to tears. I knew if I was going to stay in shape and flourish in the many cold winter months in Minnesota that I would need a different option.
So there’s this thing called a velomobile. I’ve known about these for a while after running across them in online cycling forums. Outside of my budget-friendly cheap guy pricepoint, kind of niche, riders seemed to be obsessed solely with speed. I’m a leisure and touring cyclist. I don’t care if I’m the fastest rider, right? I couldn’t see myself justifying the investment in a velomobile. And surely they’re not suitable for winter riding. But they did look cool. I started doing some YouTube browsing about velomobiles and ran across a channel from a Finnish guy, Saukki, who owned a Quest velomobile. Finland is cold, real cold. A lot like Minnesota. This guy was using his velomobile to commute to work most of the year. Even in the dark and snow. In shorts and a t-shirt. The interior of a velomobile is fully enclosed so there’s no wind, and it retains your body heat so that as you exercise, you actually act as your own heater. Plus it had enough space in the wheel wells to mount treaded tires for better grip in the snow. That got my attention.
My first velomobile was a used Quest XS. I was the third owner and it had lived quite a life already. With some minor maintenance I was able to get it up and running. I purchased it as a Christmas gift for myself just in time for a real cold winter. I finally could go out for a couple hours to stay in shape on those cold snowy winter days without looking like an eskimo on a north pole expedition.
Instead of just riding once or twice on weekends for exercise, I now commute by velomobile and run errands in addition to my weekend rides. A bike I purchased solely for pleasure to ride in the cold has ended up being a life-changing investment in my health and well-being. I’m cycling far more, at higher intensities, and doing long rides I never would have even considered with a traditional bike or recumbent.
Instead of just riding once or twice on weekends for exercise, I now commute by velomobile and run errands in addition to my weekend rides. A bike I purchased solely for pleasure to ride in the cold has ended up being a life-changing investment in my health and well-being. I’m cycling far more, at higher intensities, and doing long rides I never would have even considered with a traditional bike or recumbent.
This article originally appeared on my US website. Since the time I wrote it, I’ve moved to the cycling haven of the Netherlands and gone through several velomobiles. I now own a WAW velomobile and…no car. I figured if I could handle being largely car-free in the US, I could definitely manage it in the Netherlands. While my neighbors find it a bit odd that I don’t own a car, I’ve found it to be a real money-saver. Thanks to the incredible cycling infrastructure here, I can get everywhere I need to go almost entirely on bike paths!
You can suffer boldly on the trainer or bundled up on your bike all winter and you’ll definitely get a lot of respect from me for it, or you can come to the dark side and join those of us cycling in ultimate comfort in our velomobiles. Oh, and we have mini wiper blades. And room for a snack bar right next to your very ergonomically shaped super comfy reclined seat.
Contact Northland Velo to learn more about the WAW velomobile and see if it might be the right choice for you.
