coast

昨日は2歳下の弟の入院騒ぎがあり、手続き等で忙しくジムにも行きませんでした。
さて、伊坂幸太郎氏の小説 "Remote Control" を読んでいます。パート4，The Imcidentから引用します。

It felt strange to be riding alone, since she almost always had Nanami on the back when she went out on her own bike. Yet it wasn't freedom she felt but anxiety. Her breath came hard and her legs were getting weary. Taking advantage of the lack of traffic, she cut diagonally across the wide avenue and stopped pedaling, letting the thing coast. As the front tire hit the curb on the other side, the bike bucked softly under her.

"letting the thing coast" の意味が分かりません。辞書で調べます。"coast" の慣用句と言うと "the coast is clear" を思い出しますが、"letting the thing coast" は慣用句ではなく、動詞の "coast" に次の意味があるのが分かりました。　

・Oxford English Dictionary: (of a motor vehicle or a bicycle) to move, especially down a hill, without using any power: She took her feet off the pedals and coasted downhill.
・Collins Dictionary: If a vehicle coasts somewhere, it continues to move there with the motor switched off, or without being pushed or pedalled.: I switched off the engine and coasted round the corner.
・Vocabulary.com: Coast also has a verb form that describes an effortless movement, like when you're riding your bike down a hill and you don't have to pedal at all. It can also be used figuratively to describe something that's gained without much difficulty. You might coast to victory in the playoffs when your team wins 8-0 and is never threatened.

これで、先日お亡くなりになられた火野正平さんのNHK番組 'こころ旅' での名台詞、「人生下り坂最高」を思い出しました。正平さんは私より2歳若かったのに下り坂を楽しみ過ぎたのかな。