I’d been cycling with the brake on
... how? 🤣 Cotacachi is, compared to the rest of the Andes, fairly flat. Until you drive towards the canyon. Or the mountain. There is one 10k ride that is considered "beginners", which leads you up to a village that is settled on the far and of a plateau. The road stops there, and you cycle back. My best ride was to Ibarra, 50km, brutal hills, but I loved it, took my mind of a very bad time. I was in a good condition back then, stamina wise. Now it's more muscles. I gotta get back to cardio...
Now, with Lily, we do most on foot. She's not very confident on the bike yet. We don't do many walks for pleasure though, as our cat is not a fan of walks. He rather chills in the garden. We could just throw a leash on one of the street dogs, and pretend, but then Lily would want to take it in.
With great difficulty!
The brake pad was stuck against the wheel and I thought it was just my body giving up on me. But you must admit it shows great strength of character🤣
As for Lily and her lack of confidence, I recommend a Triplet. You in front, the cat in the middle and Lily at the rear.
That's a great idea! I'll see if I can have a tricycle built that suits us.
I once went up to Cuicocha lake. It's an 800m climb over 10km. My friends were in better shape than I, it was during the pandemic and they had been cycling a lot, and I was a little busy saving the world. But the difference in speed and lightfoodedness was just a little too much. Almost up, like 1km away from the highest point, I noticed that I had almost lost all the air in the rear wheel. After fixing that, suddenly everything was so much easier... But I was already super tired. But the 10min high speed down the hill was worth it :-)
Thing is, if the brake is on, the bike won't freewheel down a hill. You have to cycle up and down. It was this that eventually alerted my brother to the brake malfunction.
And for the record, a TRICYCLE is a bike with three wheels.