about the desire his freshly engorging woody was betraying and worrying about what amateurism
his leg was betraying, Christopher almost forgot to pedal. Focus! he reminded himself. Ride!
They made a lazy curve at the corner of the parking lot, Luca on the outside. He shifted his grip closer to Christopher's knee, which was a bit
of relief. Christopher stared straight ahead--he'd probably run into one of the few parked cars if he glanced aside. Around again, and
now Luca cupped Christopher's thigh from below, the gesture too reminiscent of what he'd do as a lover, with Christopher on his back,
legs parted...
Scraping a pedal against one of the concrete parking chocks brought his attention firmly back to the here and now. Hitting that differently could have put
them both on the ground. If he landed on Luca, he wanted it to be on purpose, naked, and with no protruding bicycle bits as inadvertent sex toys.
He could only hope Luca's powers of concentration were well developed and centered on quadriceps and biceps femoris, and not on the glans penis
that was doing battle with the jockstrap. Awkward didn't begin to cover this--he was uncomfortable and could do nothing about it without
making things worse. Just pedal, idiot!
Luca didn't react to the scrape, either by swerving or retrieving his hand, but after another half-circuit that put them back at the picnic
table, he called a halt. "You're mashing," he informed Christopher, who thought he'd been behaving himself pretty
well for a guy who was getting groped.
"And that's bad?" he guessed.
"Could be better. Lance Armstrong mashed too, and still became pro. But--" Luca lifted his chin in what could have been
reminiscence, but could have been a really good look at the chaos in Christopher's revealing leggings. Damn the dark glasses for hiding
Luca's eyes! "When he stopped mashing, he started winning.
"Your stroke has power from three o'clock to six o'clock in the circle. Very little from twelve o'clock to three
o'clock, you miss needed part of cycle." Luca had unclipped both feet from his pedals to stand astride the bike; now he pedaled one leg
in the air to demonstrate. "From twelve to three you need more quad." He patted the top of his thigh. "And from five to eight
o'clock you need the scraping."
That term had popped up more than once in Christopher's reading but he still didn't know how to translate it to movement.
"How?
"Like getting mud off shoes." Luca's quick foot drag gave sudden illumination to words Christopher had read without
understanding. "Adds power to upper part of circle too. You try."
One circuit of the parking lot made a believer out of Christopher, though trying to keep both legs synched with extra flex and scrape felt like the
training wheels had just come off. "Again!" Luca urged, and the movements started to make sense. "Again! Is
better!" Christopher's simple bike computer agreed--he was getting another two mph over his usual with this gear and rpm. The
discovery fixed his other problem as well.
"That's going to take some practice," Christopher admitted when he returned to Luca.
"It does. We work on it every winter, hours on the rollers and the diagnostic machine. Have to break old muscle habits. But--"
Luca reached over to give Christopher's thigh a light slap. "--makes big difference, gets higher wattage."
"Sure does." Christopher thought of showing Stu what Luca had just shared. "Can I quote you on this?"
Luca nodded, his spring curls dancing lightly. "Yes. You practice it on way home."
On his way home--! A quick glance at his watch showed Luca was absolutely right. They'd spent all the time he had in this parking lot.
"Yeah, I better go." Though he'd much rather practice his new skill with Luca ahead or behind him on the road.
"Don't be late for work." Luca swung aboard his own bike.
"Right. Hey!" His crusty look was probably diluted to uselessness behind his own dark glasses."How do you know? And how did
you get my
his leg was betraying, Christopher almost forgot to pedal. Focus! he reminded himself. Ride!
They made a lazy curve at the corner of the parking lot, Luca on the outside. He shifted his grip closer to Christopher's knee, which was a bit
of relief. Christopher stared straight ahead--he'd probably run into one of the few parked cars if he glanced aside. Around again, and
now Luca cupped Christopher's thigh from below, the gesture too reminiscent of what he'd do as a lover, with Christopher on his back,
legs parted...
Scraping a pedal against one of the concrete parking chocks brought his attention firmly back to the here and now. Hitting that differently could have put
them both on the ground. If he landed on Luca, he wanted it to be on purpose, naked, and with no protruding bicycle bits as inadvertent sex toys.
He could only hope Luca's powers of concentration were well developed and centered on quadriceps and biceps femoris, and not on the glans penis
that was doing battle with the jockstrap. Awkward didn't begin to cover this--he was uncomfortable and could do nothing about it without
making things worse. Just pedal, idiot!
Luca didn't react to the scrape, either by swerving or retrieving his hand, but after another half-circuit that put them back at the picnic
table, he called a halt. "You're mashing," he informed Christopher, who thought he'd been behaving himself pretty
well for a guy who was getting groped.
"And that's bad?" he guessed.
"Could be better. Lance Armstrong mashed too, and still became pro. But--" Luca lifted his chin in what could have been
reminiscence, but could have been a really good look at the chaos in Christopher's revealing leggings. Damn the dark glasses for hiding
Luca's eyes! "When he stopped mashing, he started winning.
"Your stroke has power from three o'clock to six o'clock in the circle. Very little from twelve o'clock to three
o'clock, you miss needed part of cycle." Luca had unclipped both feet from his pedals to stand astride the bike; now he pedaled one leg
in the air to demonstrate. "From twelve to three you need more quad." He patted the top of his thigh. "And from five to eight
o'clock you need the scraping."
That term had popped up more than once in Christopher's reading but he still didn't know how to translate it to movement.
"How?
"Like getting mud off shoes." Luca's quick foot drag gave sudden illumination to words Christopher had read without
understanding. "Adds power to upper part of circle too. You try."
One circuit of the parking lot made a believer out of Christopher, though trying to keep both legs synched with extra flex and scrape felt like the
training wheels had just come off. "Again!" Luca urged, and the movements started to make sense. "Again! Is
better!" Christopher's simple bike computer agreed--he was getting another two mph over his usual with this gear and rpm. The
discovery fixed his other problem as well.
"That's going to take some practice," Christopher admitted when he returned to Luca.
"It does. We work on it every winter, hours on the rollers and the diagnostic machine. Have to break old muscle habits. But--"
Luca reached over to give Christopher's thigh a light slap. "--makes big difference, gets higher wattage."
"Sure does." Christopher thought of showing Stu what Luca had just shared. "Can I quote you on this?"
Luca nodded, his spring curls dancing lightly. "Yes. You practice it on way home."
On his way home--! A quick glance at his watch showed Luca was absolutely right. They'd spent all the time he had in this parking lot.
"Yeah, I better go." Though he'd much rather practice his new skill with Luca ahead or behind him on the road.
"Don't be late for work." Luca swung aboard his own bike.
"Right. Hey!" His crusty look was probably diluted to uselessness behind his own dark glasses."How do you know? And how did
you get my