Dirk De Marelle
Still going strong
Updated: Jul 5, 2021

We're happy that it's going well. Looking at our transport log, we are now on average using our car maximum 4 to 5 times a month.
This only happens when we have to transport a load which is too heavy or too big to do by bicycle. We're talking about getting 200 kg of gravel or timber beams of 3 meters length. It also includes a few trips where we pick up our mothers for going out for a lunch or shopping. At their age, jumping on a bicycle is not a good idea.
Some of the things we never envisaged doing but are now possible with the eBikes is visiting our bike friends in The Netherlands, which is a trip of more than 100 km's one way.
As we are still living in Corona times, we stayed outside and camped in their garden.
They accompanied us to the Netherlands-Belgium border when riding back home.
Rain is probably one of the most challenging situations when you do have a car and you do not want to arrive somewhere soaking wet. The solution just came to us when tex-lock asked us if we would be interested to test out their new multifunctional raingear. Not having to worry about the weather forecast is certainly a big thing.
While we now have them for just 2 weeks only, they have been serving us well when we were on the road with our eBikes. Handy to take along as it is a small package, can be used as a long raincoat for strolling around in the city and as a full rain overall on the bike.
On Linda's Instagram account, we already got questions if we would take them along on longer bike tours and reflecting on this, I would probably not do this as we already are taking our goretex rain jackets which also serve as a windbreaker or extra insulating layer when it's cooler weather.
Linda is still in doubt - Her clothing is much smaller and lighter than mine, she's got more free space, so you may still also see her in the extra tex-lock Raijn when we are on a longer trip.
The bigger challenge will come in the next months when most of us will have been vaccinated 2 times and we are able to go out and party again.
Let's see if we survive this by bike.