Rain, rain, rain.

You'd think we were in the Northwest in January, except that the air is warmer and feeling muggy. I do enjoy a good spring soaking, but it interferes with bicycling - or at least makes it a wet experience.

I wanted to ride today. Exercise and escape. I really wish we had a four-seater, four-wheeled velomobile or pedal-car with a full shell and windshield. I'm perplexed by the absence of such vehicles. I can see where they would be a challenge to operate in hilly locations, but in many places they'd be great. There are people around the world working on pedal powered vehicles, but their focus is often on single-occupancy vehicles designed to go very fast. Like this. Some of them are big enough to use as commuting transportation. One of the coolest looking machines is the Go-one. There is another on on the way, I hope, that looks practical in design and is intended for touring and commuting use, the Lightfoot Cycles Stormy. I really like the Stormy, and I'd love to have one to use as my wet- and cold-weather commuter, but we can't afford one right now, since they're several thousand dollars - although cheaper than a Go-one. Lightfoot also makes some multi-person vehicles, but none of them have a shell. I'd like to have something like the Lightfoot Cycles Duo, but I'd like to have it set up for four pedalers, and I'd prefer a more reclined seating position that would allow for a low-profile, sleek, aerodynamic shell like that of the Stormy. It should have a large cargo area and a trailer hitch, too. In our neighborhood, we could make good use of such a vehicle for getting the kids to school and running to the grocery and hardware store. All without using a drop of gasoline. We might have to eat more, of course, to offset the caloric drain of pedaling everywhere. That would be OK.

This weekend passed without the turn of a pedal. We've been trying to do all of our routine local travel by bicycle, including all trips to work and school, piano lessons, and the grocery store. We kind of fell of the bicycle this weekend. The only cycling activity was to put the orginal slick road tires back on the Burley trailer. Just before we left Washington we'd put knobs on it for trail use. But now they're just noise makers, and Quinn can't hear us when he's in the trailer.