Fido is gone!

Yesterday afternoon it was time, I had to say goodby to Fido (the Dutch nickname for a dog, a small fire and for my flaming velomobile called Velox Incendia). Fortunately he went to a familiar environment. The new owner (Fred de G.) lives near Nordhorn in Germany (I live in Noordhorn) and is also working in IT. Besides that our names match and we both have something 'weird' with our eye (I'm a little cross-eyed ). I think he'll feel right at home with his new owner.

We agreed to meet around 3 PM at Sinner Bikes in Groningen. I normally row until about 1:30 PM, so I had plenty of time to sit on the terrace to drink a cup of tea and have something to eat. Around 2:30 PM I arrived at Sinner and Arjen was sitting outside in the shade drinking a cup of coffee. I sat next to hem on one of the Sinner Comfort bikes (they're cozy). Not much later a German car with trailer pulled up and a man, woman and two small children got out. It was Fred.

After we met and I gave him a tour of the bike he climbed in. Yes, the seat could be lowered a bit and also move a bit forward. The pedals should also be moved forward. Moving the seat wasn't such a big problem and also moving the pedals, but adjusting the length of the chain proved to be a little bit more work. First we added six chain links. Hmmm, that's to long. Then we removed two. I'm getting handy with a chain tool. After that the length was good, but the returning chain kept getting stuck in the derailleur. Hey, wait a minute... I've had that problem before during my ride to Giessen (Germany) in 2010. The chain got stuck behind the guard in the cage of the derailleur. Harry was in the bike to try to fix the problem and sacrificed his clean fingers to pop the chain back into the right position. And after I also cleaned my hands (I looked like a negro) it was time to put the bike onto the little trailer for transport towards Germany. Lastly, but most importantly, the money was transferred via the mobile App and the deed of sale was signed. After 2,5 hours of tinkering I finally 'lost' the bike. Well... Fred seemed like a enthusiastic guy and he'll probably have lots of fun on his 2x70 kilometer ride to and from work. I'm probably going to see him again at one of the meetings, so I'm not going to miss the bike for long.

Fred, take good care of Fido like it took care of me for the first 21,330 kilometers. Have lots of fun riding it and we'll see each other again at some meeting. And also thanks for bringing me home.

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