Submarining!

Today's discovery was that while the RotoVelo might look a bit like a kayak, it doesn't behave like one.

I was riding in the storm drain that is Moonee Ponds Creek, and the grass growing out into the creek has grown out to the point where there's only about 10cm between the edge of the grass and the edge of the water (right where the video snippet the other day showed the dog). So at about 25kph I decided to ride mostly over the grass in an attempt to avoid the water.

Turns out that the "grass" is actually quite a solid mass of mostly soil and roots.

The front wheel bounced up and off the grass, turning me sharply left and into the creek. Which is only about 15cm deep, but that's deep enough for the foot slots to act as big water scoops and stop the trike very quickly. While filling it with water.

Fortunately I was the right way up and could just ride out of the creek, then stop and drain the water out. Which is easy enough, that part is just like a kayak - grab the back end and roll the vehicle over.

Cue rattling sounds as all the junk I've stashed in it clatters out, along with the
water.

The good news is that inside the velomobile there's no real wind, so despite being sopping wet I was still quite warm. It was about 8 degress (Celcius) this morning, not a good temerature to be riding an upright while wet.

Tomorrow I will bring a spade to work and on my way home do some "lawn mowing".