Catching up again, the song remains the same, LOL! ;)

 Well I'am going to just give you a photo and video grouping to cover the time period since the starting of April, enjoy!!

Since we don't do Long Distance Touring, our rides are local and a lot of it is living with a recumbent trike as your ONLY source of Transportation! The other side is that we also just LOVE to ride our 3 wheeled contraptions for Recreation! We have been trying to show YOU, how it's possible, although we admit, a lot of times it's not "convenient, to live life every day, without a "CAR"! 

Why we don't, TOUR, well two main reasons, #1 is we don't have enough "INCOME", #2 is that the Roads and Highways in the USA are NOT recumbent trike friendly, JMHO! Most roads/highways don't have "emergency lanes" that we can use to keep out of the flow of the much faster paced AUTO traffic. Added, the highways have mostly gone to adding, Rumble Strips" between traffic lane and emergency lanes! Rumble Strips are to alert DRIVERS that are falling asleep or distracted, that they are crossing the lines. Some of these Rumble Strips have gotten very WIDE and some emergency lanes are not WIDE enough for a recumbent Trike, with its dual front wheel's being 31 to 34 inches WIDE. 

If it's ever FINISHED, we'd do a tour on the Great American Rail Trail, that maybe one day will cross the width of the entire USA but otherwise we aren't going to risk our lives trying to share the limited SPACE on the roads and highways with cars, trucks, buses, Semi-Trucks, etc, cause we bike or trike riders have the MOST to lose in a crash!!

Here's the video's for the month of April 2024, I really enjoy shooting video's! I hope you all get some enjoyment out of them and I do try to show off the beauty of Colorado Springs, CO., the place we call HOME! Ride LOW, Ride RECUMBENT, Let's GO!! 

Happy Easter Day to All, LOL, as usual, I'm catching up, so come along for the RIDES!

 First off, May YOU have a joyous and Happy Easter Day! Here's recap of up to March 30th on our rides! 

March 28, well we have had a lot of "cold and windy days", luckly, not much snow! We did finally get out on the 28th. on a Sunny and breezy day. Headed out to Manitou Springs via the Midland and Creek Walk Trails. Decided to try to capture some of the really nice parks on the Creek Walk Trail so we took a video and photos. They are dredging the Duck Pond in Schyever Park so it's not as peaceful as normal! 

March 29th., They have officially opened the newly concreted Phase One section of the  "Westside" Monument Creek Trail, sadly it's a long way from being completely done! Fountain Creek flows through the Middle of the norther portion of the Monument Valley Park. This section has a Trail on "each side" of the Creek. The Eastside is all dirt and very wide, the Westside is slowly being concreted and both are a part of the "Pikes Peak Greenway System"! 

LOL, we don't like to ride on DIRT so we wanted to try the new concrete section of the Westside Trail and then we bounced down the DIRT sections of Phase 2 and Phase 3 to show you the whole Westside Trail! Sunny and Breezy, then we headed south over to the Tejon St. Bike Lane to go to McDonalds for an iced tea to have with our brown bag lunch. Headed back the same way, fun ride! 

March 30th., I've got a rattle in my trike so we rode up to  Angletech to have them check it out. Man, it was Gray, Cloudy and COLD!!!! We got up there and the we thought the "internals" in the Drum brake/Generator Hub was coming apart. I don't really care for the old light it's not bright so I had the tech remove all the Generator Internals. 

LOL, well for about 1/2 a mile it was Quite, now it's become an "on and off" RATTLE instead of a constant RATTLE, RATS! Decided I'd make another appointment for later, hopefully we can figure it out soon! The sun did come out so we headed down the sidewalk on the Garden of the Gods Road to pick up the Pikes Peak Greenway over to the Cottonwood Creek Trailhead and up to Vincent Frontage Road Trail then headed to the Panera Bread on N. Nevada Ave, for iced tea and ate our Snack! Getting late, we headed back down the Greenway to the T-Gap and the Cascade Street Bike Lane over to the Storage Unit to end the day!

March 23, 2024-As usual just trying to catch up, here's the scoop!

Well, HELLO all, yes as usual I'm behind the 8 Ball on updating our Blog! So, here's a photo and video update, thanks! March 1st.

 

We headed up the Rock Island Trail to find a small dirt off trail that we hoped would connect us to Constitution Court and Constitution Ave. The RI Trail ends at Powers Blvd

but we need to get across to food, shopping, etc. The off trail isn't really WIDE enough for our recumbent trikes to easily navagate so we sent photo to the City to see if they would

Make it wide enough for easy access, so far they are still "looking into to it"! 

 Took a ride on the Templeton Gap or T-Gap trail on a beautiful late winter day, March 6th., ENJOY!

March 10th. We decided to check out a nice little back road that get's us up to Northern Academy Blvd. Check out the great VIEW in the photo and the video! :)

March 11th. We headed out the Midland Trail over to Manitou Springs, we decided to keep going past Schyver Park and take the backroad into downtown Manitou Springs, stopping at the Memorial Park and the 7 Minute Natural Spring! 

March 12th. I did a tour of the "Legacy Loop" trail system, although it's not "complete" as of yet, it was envisioned by General Willam Jackson Palmer, the founder of the City of Colorado Springs, CO. It was a trail system hooked to several different parks, that would at the time, incircle the city, making easy access to wood's and parks for all citizens of the city!! I explain the different parts and what still needs to be added and finished to complete the Legacy Loop Trail, ENJOY! 

March 19th. 

March 23rd. We rode up to Angletech as it was hosting the "Rodger Reddish", Memorial Social & RIDE for friends and associates of our good friend Rodger Reddish who recently passed on to the LIGHT! He was a 78 year old, multi-Stroke patient, who had to mount a oxygen machine on his "Greenspeed AERO" racing trike, he won many medals at the Senior Games doing Time Trials and Races!! He was a FUN and crazy guy, who spread the LOVE of riding a recumbent trike to those both whole and handicaple riders alike! We road the Sinton and Foothills Trails over to the enty sign for the Garden of the Gods City Park, then back to Angletech for fellowship and snacks, a great way to celebrate the LIFE of such a human being! 

LOL, ok finally caught up to current, Chilly today, gray and windy, SNOW coming in Sunday night into Monday Noon so no riding for a while, SPRING in Colorado, ARRUGH!

Let's GO, Ride LOW, RIDE RECUMBENT! BJ :)

February 2024-A photo summary of our last few rides!

Hello all, well as usual I'm behind in updating this blog! Decided to give you all a photo spread off out last few rides! Had a few days of decent weather between snow storms and cold days! 

2-19 No photos but here is a video: 

2-21 Bonus, both a couple of photos and a video! 

2-24 

2-25 Headed up the Pikes Peak Greenway, then east on the Cottonwood Creek Trail, it was really sloppy and several spots were almost covered in ICE!! We made it up to the Cottonwood Regional Park then turned around. It was also REALLY WINDY! We won't be riding on Monday the 26th due to even stronger winds throughout the day and evening!

Well, that's all for now, enjoy the video's, till next report, Ride LOW, Ride SLOW

and Always RIDE RECUMBENT!! BJ Out :)

February 10, 2024-Catching up the Blog, winter's grip is strong here, RATS!

Hello all, well between Family Crisis and Winter Weather, we haven't been able to ride but a few times from Jan. 26th. on!! My Mom passed away and we had a funeral for one of my younger brothers. As things have finally slowed down a little, we did get in a ride our two! I received a "wireless microphone", from a very nice gentleman from Mississippi!! So I have been using the last couple of rides to test it out. Bummer, so far I can't get it to work with the GoPro 6, for some odd reason I can't get the AUDIO in settings to open up so I can input the type of microphone to integrate it into the camera?? The manual, shows 5 settings but the camera just shows, "N/A"?? I've even tried a Factory reset and still, Audio shows only N/A.

So here is a couple of video's and photos of the "Mic Test Rides" for your enjoyment! One is a ride up the Pikes Peak Greenway, Vincent Frontage Road, Nevada Ave. Pathway. The second, is a ride to Manitou Springs, via the Midland and Creek Walk Trail.

  

Sadly as of Feb. 10, today, it's snowing outside with a good chance of 3-6 inches by early Sunday morning, RATS! I'd say we might get out by Wed. or Thurs. but it's going to be a slow melt as the upcoming week high temps will only be in the low 40 F range at best! This El Nina weather pattern has been a ROUGH one for us, as we don't own a car!! Cold, snow, wind, etc. but we just have to "wait" for the best day to load up the trikes and cargo trailer to get Food and Supplies!! Hope GoPro Customer Service can help me with the microphone, will just have to wait and see! Thanks for checking out the blog, "Get on your bike and RIDE"!

A review of the Arcshell AR-5 Walkie-Talkies and optional hand held mic's

 Just a quick review of the new Arcshell AR-5 Walkie-Talkies, we are now using to communicate with each other. On a tip from the "Grizzly Granny" here on YouTube we decided to try these really inexpensive Walkie-Talkies as we can't afford the cool Senca Helmets with Bluetooth communication set up inside them. We've used them several times on the last two rides are impressed with the clarity and distance these units have. 

We bought these on AMAZON, here is a link to the information: Arcshell AR-5 Walkie-Talkies The units come with an earpiece speaker and holder, but we decided to get the "optional" handheld microphones. Glad we did, the earpiece holder/speaker is a kinda cheap and flimsy, it kept falling off my ear, Grizzly Granny had the same problem. We got 2 walkie-talkies and handheld microphones for around $40.00 and shipping was free! This is a great and inexpensive way to get voice communication for a spouse or friend!! 

We mounted ours in our "Sidebag Net pockets", with the clips on back it worked well. BJ

January 2024, The weather continues to be "Bi-Polar", one tough El Nina Winter!

 Well this El Nina winter weather is continuing to be a PITA, LOL, we have been limited to just enough semi-decent days to do Food and Supply rides with an errand ride or two thrown in to be different! One of the problems is with the really COLD night temps, it takes a bit of time to just get "kinda warmish" in the mornings! That makes the day shorter to begin with!

Here's a couple of decent rides we got in, January 23, I needed a new black ink cartridge for my printer. Usually we would head up the Sinton Trail to the Staples at Centennial and Garden of the Gods Road. Well Sinton is closed at Elstin St. due to bridge work on I-25 which goes over the street and the trail. We decided to us the new Bike Lane up the new Centennial blvd. south extension. Headed from the storage unit to the Pikes Peak Greenway, over the west side of the Greenway to Fontaero St. where the bike lane starts. It's a long constant uphill grade up to Fillmore St., then a very fast downhill grade to Garden of the Gods Rd. and Staples.

Rat's, didn't have the right cartridge so I gota order it, we shot a video of the ride, it shows we do get out in traffic at times to get to a destination but we'd rather use the trail!!

 

  We headed back, then picked up the Mesa Springs Greenway over to Monument Valley Park. Ended the ride at Stanley Lake. 15 miles, the sun was just strong enough to hold the clouds back!!

January 24, We decided to risk a ride in even with the high clouds diluting the sunshine and a cold front coming in through the day! Headed out on the Templeton or T-Gap trail heading east, rode to the current end of the north trail at Ranch Rd. Heading back we turned and took the Flintridge Dr. bike lane up to Academy Blvd. heading to Starbucks for a HOT unsweet green TEA and eat our brown bag lunch. The cold front dropped the temps of the way home, we headed south then west to get on the Rock Island Trail. Man it was really getting cold as we got back to the storage unit, put the trikes away and headed out on our 1.2 mile walk back to the apartment! Overnight Thursday into Friday morning, woke up to 3 inches of fresh, WET snow so NO rides for a few days, RATS!! :( Get out and RIDE when you can! 

 

January 15, 2024-Baby it's COLD outside!!! Polar Vortex, sub zero windchills, sadly means NO RIDES! :(

 Well the month of January has been a complete bust as far as riding our trikes goes!! It's been Below Zero Cold fronts, Very High WINDS, etc., the only good thing is so far very little SNOW for us here in Southeastern Colorado! Yesterday, we hit the LOWEST HIGH Temp on Record (since 1972) with a -9F daily high, windchill factor -21! We have been getting in our leg work via our recumbent exercise bike, I call the "Klingon Torture Device" but it's better than nothing! 

The only other, at least kinda trike related event has been that we finally took the plunge and up graded from a 5x10 unit to a 10x10 unit, which now houses the trikes and the cargo trailer!! :) There is even room for us to change shoes, etc. out of the rain and weather so it's a big plus. No it's not as good as a garage but "Beggers can't be chooser's". 

 I can also do some minor maintenance inside, when it decides, to quit playing, "We must live in Canada", weatherwise, LOL! ;). We were keeping the cargo trailer under the stairwell in the apartment, I had to drag it over to the unit by hand, so this is a real improvement in that respect! Well not much else to say, hope your weather is better and your getting lot's of "Miles of Smiles"! For us, it's just hibernate in apt. and dream of Spring!! BJ

                                           
 Dec. 30, 2023- Got a bit of a reprieve from the wintery weather so we got in a ride over to Manitou Springs via the Midland and Creek Walk Trails. We stopped by our friend Tory's really cool "Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort", which is just before you leave Co. Springs into Manitou Springs! Decided to do a promo of the lodge grounds for you all, it's a great, bicycle themed lodge with cottages instead of hotel rooms! A big fireplace in the lounge, bar, all kinds of different entertainments during the week and weekends!! 

                                       Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort

If you're in Co. Springs for business or leisure, pls. think about staying at a place that LOVES cyclists! It was a chilly but sunny day as usual, we stopped at Starbucks on Co. Ave. and 31st. Street for HOT green tea (unsweet) and ate our Brown Bag Lunch, then headed to the Lodge and into Manitou Springs to the end of the concrete trail, turned around and headed back, picked up the Mesa Springs Greenway, Pikes Peak Greenway, then back streets to the storage unit, made it home as the sun went behind Pikes Peak! 

  

January 3, 2024, Well the cold and snow returned but a quick melt and we got in our first real ride, (we did a quick food run the day before), This was also a errand run, as we had to ride up to the Walgreens Drug Store at Centennial and Garden of the Gods Rd. to get Jo's diabetic Test Strips! The Walgreens close to us seems to "always" be out of these, which makes no sense as it's where we bought her testing machine!! :( We headed up the Sinton Trail via the T-Gap and PP Greenway, then turned around and rode back down to the PP Greenway, headed north up to the Panera Bread at the University Village Colorado Center. After a HOT tea and our Brown Bag Lunch, we headed up the Detour trail to Criterium Bike Shop, then decided to head up to do the Vincent Frontage Rd./Nevada Ave Trail Loop back to the center and then the PP Greenway and T-Gap trails back to the storage unit. The temps dropped 10 degrees, while we put away the trikes, it was a CHILLY walk home!! Sadly, winter has returned! So, we have been doing quick walks or riding the exercise bike at home, bummer, oh well it is January! Hope you have had a great New Year so far!! BJ :)