The after work crowd

#174 / #7

12.5 happy rolling miles on the American River trail, Friday evening.

We are getting faster unloading the trikes from the car.
Himself takes out his Gekko, then I take my Scorpion out. We unfold them. He pumps up his tires while I'm finishing up attaching all the stuff to my trike. I pump my tires while his is fighting his way into his bike shoes. We ask each other several times if we locked the car, then we roll away.

 The trail was not hugely busy, a mixture of fast roadies and slow casual bikers. Some walkers, and a single group of obnoxious teens. I'll admit I flew the bird. It felt good. 

As usual, I rode in the rear so Himself can set the pace. He's getting faster by the day. Someday along here I'll not find myself coasting to the top of the rises to avoid running into him.
I like to charge up short hills. I'm the hare, he's the tortoise (I run out of wind at some point and slow down, gasping, whereupon he passes me, smugly).

My favorite rise for doing this (the gasping part) is on the American River Trail, coming from the east up to the Wm Pond Bridge.
On this ride, I got almost to the actual bridge before gasping my brains out. Now I'm looking forward to charging up to the top of the bridge and gasping as I coast down the other side.
This little climb shows up on Strava as a 'segment'. It is 2/10s of a mile, average grade of 1.8%. It starts at the yellow pylons at Rod Beaudry Drive, and goes to the riverbank. That explains why people go so fast through that intersection.
I made it up averaging 8.7mph with max power of 108 watts. 1 minute, 42 seconds. My fastest time since I've used Strava.
The fastest rider up that rise (according to Strava) is more than 3 times faster than me.
I think I'll stick to competing with myself.

No boom-spinning for him, no flats for either of us. Just a nice ride.

Last ride I spent some time observing Himself as he pedaled along.
He seems to hunch up his left shoulder when pulling back on his right leg (or pushing with the left). I can't for the life of me figure out what assistance that would give him, but I'll bet it contributes to the spinning Boom of Doom.
He has a hip that troubles him when he sits or walks for long periods. He also tilts to the right as he sits in the trike. The trails we ride on are not really crowned (he should try the South Canal sometimes - like riding on the side of a hill for miles and miles) so that should not be contributing.

Hoping to get out three times a week with Himself and maybe making a Thursday Recumbent ride some time (ride to dinner, linger long enough for the sun to set, ride back, lights ablaze. Or so I've been told.)