Winter or no winter

Leitra 2011 på vej hjem fra Ganløse
This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Overvejelser Og Mening

Yes, it is possible to cycle all year round, even in winter.
However, the definition of winter varies greatly depending on where you live.

Most people in velomobile circles know about Sauli Nurila, a Finnish velomobile owner (A model Quest) who makes a lot of very good videos, especially about various technical details about velomobiles and their use

Why or why not


Maybe Sauli Nurila does not point this out clearly in video, perhaps on the assumption that everyone knows up north there is a lot of snow and cold, which makes it impossible, at least to be a commuter in a velomobile, especially a velomobile with closed wheel arches like his Quest. As his video is called:” Why I Don’t Ride my Velomobile in Winter?” This is his answer as to why he does not ride a bicycle (commute) in a velomobile in winter.


It’s a bit “more fun” to ride in a Strada, with open wheel arches that make counter steering much easier in case “the rear wheel dances”:

Velomobile drifting

As Carl George Rasmussen (Pioneer and inventor of the Leitra velomobile) once said and wrote: “Cycling -all year, all weather …. Yes, We can in …. Velomobiles”.

This is true, it is possible, but as mentioned above, there is a difference between what one defines as winter, and in particular which velomobile model is used.

Screenshoot-From-Alve-Blog


Alve Henricson ( Read more here on his blog: http://alve.henricson.eu/2019/12/04/final-report-nordkapp/) proved that it was possible to cycle to Nordkapp in a Quattrovelo.


I cycled 250 kilometers in a Leitra, in snow and minus 10 ° C (Celsius), I succeeded, but I will say that a lot of the time it was not comfortable, necessary as it was the only way I could get home to the northern Denmark with my Leitra, after a Service in Ganløse (Near Copenhagen), where the Leitra workshop was located at this time
Leitra has a good distance between the bottom and the asphalt / snow, so it is not so easily stuck in the snow, but Leitra is open at the bottom, so can get very cold, especially if cycling long distance.

I’m lucky, I live somewhere where the climate can range from being a winter with “Siberian cold” and months of snow, to being a mild winter with only a little snow and a few minus degrees. That is why I can cycle almost every winter.

Here is a playlist of some winter driving in Velomobil, My Strada:

Winter in My Strada

I hope for not much snow on December 28, 2019 as I am going to the Netherlands and take part in the Oliebollentocht 2019. The event where there is the world’s largest participation of velomobiles and velonauts. Read more about the event here: https://www.ligfiets.net/event/4071/obt-2019.html

Oliebollentocht 2016 video:

In 2016

And from 2018:

From the event 2018

Maybe we’ll (Strada and I) see you there…