As my cousin Peter was busy I decided to take the aluminum road
bike for a forty mile round trip up the
Boise Greenbelt from Garden City to the Lucky Peak dam at the end of the
bike trail. A couple of miles into it, I passed a couple of guys, one in a three
wheel recumbent bike (sic), sitting by the edge of the trail. It was just a
quick flash and I didn't see much.

About a mile later I saw that this recumbent biker (sic) was gaining on me, so I
sped it up. I know that recumbent bikes just aren't that fast. Another mile and
he's still there gaining a bit on me. A little while later and he passes me and
I see that he ain't using his legs, just his arms. This is what he's riding:

That's right, he can't use his legs and has to use his arms to pedal. His feet
are strapped to the useless pedals on the front wheel and he is almost
completely horizontal.

I chase after him but over the next five miles he slowly gets 300 yards ahead of
me. I can't keep up with the guy. There is plenty of foot and bike traffic on
the Greenbelt and going as fast as possible can be a bit dangerous especially as
we are downtown in the heaviest use area, but he is passing people one after the
other and I'm breathing hard trying to get back up to him.

Finally, as we get a few miles out east of town, there is a little detour around
some construction on the bike path and I catch him. For the next fifteen miles
I'll ride with him, going 21 mph when he does his intervals and 17 mph (more my
pace) when he slacks off between them. It is a great workout for me and for him.

Turns out that he is in training to get on the "Emerging Talent" team for the US
hoping to go to the Paralympics to be held in Rio in four years. He is a US
veteran (US Navy). He's got to shave 1.5 seconds off his per kilometer time in
time trials to get on the team and then get support from the Department of
Defense for training.