After having lived and worked in Spain for almost
fifteen years, I signed up for a totally different job back in the Netherlands,
for a company based in the vicinity of Utrecht. During the process of finding a
new house I had come across the phenomenon of the "velomobile",
cruising along the wonderful bike lanes of this country.
With a little research on the Internet I learned about the benefits of these fully enclosed trikes. Also that the Dutch “velonauts” are the luckiest people on this planet, having the velomobile capital of the world Dronten, just around the corner in the middle of their tiny country. Soon I started dreaming of getting one of those fantastic machines for myself and use it for commuting to work. Getting slim and fit again was part of that dream too. During the years of in living in Madrid I had got bit overweight and was seriously fed up with cars and traffic jams, so the idea of riding one of those machines through the country side to work, breathing fresh air while getting fit was really appealing.
Still it still took me another two years and deliberations
with the family, but mostly with myself, before committing to the big investment
of such a fine machine. My search for make and model didn't last very long. One
trip to Dronten was enough to change my mind from the Quest and pick the Orca,
at that time still only available as a prototype and bunch of specs on paper.
To be honest, I picked the Orca for the looks of it, easy access and the
perspective of zero maintenance. At the time all the alternatives looked like very Spartan
DIY stuff to me.
Now I know differently and can certainly also see the benefits of the other machines and appreciate their efficiency and speed. Still I am not a very much of a mechanic and too much hooked on the awesome looks, space and high quality finish of my Orca, in particular since upgrading and installing the electro motor recently.
Now two years later, and a good 10 kilos lighter
thanks to the biking, I can certainly recommend everyone to consider getting a
Velomobile in their life!
