RIDING MY TURBO BIKE

Tom's holiday gift to me was a turbo kit for my bike.

It's not really called that - it's an E Bike conversion.  Tom calls it an assist.  There is a battery and a little button to push which activates the motor and zooom, off I go.  It is a bit of an old lady gift - but with my knees, I'll take it!

It also allows us to expand our ride locales and terrains.  And I admit I have gotten a bit bored with our usual routes. It is especially useful for hill climbing, but was also put to use at the end of the day when I was getting tired and my knees were hurting.  We were able to use a route which had 10% grades as opposed to our usual 1-3% grade rides on the trails.  It is a little bizarre to use the assist.  When I start to bog down I hit the button and the motor just takes off as if am on a moped rather than a bike!

I knew exactly where Tom would take me on our first "assisted ride" and I was right.  He loves going up Dougherty Road through Dublin, San Ramon and into Danville.  The Iron Horse Trail we usually take goes around the hills - we went up and over.  Our 35 + mile ride lasted about 5 hours (with a stop at the Farmer's Market and a couple of drink and snack breaks.)

My gift to him was getting a hitch on my car and a new, smaller bike rack for our 2 bikes so we can travel light when we want to go ride out of the area.  He already has a whole list of new adventures for 2014 lined up!