A bit of a ride before the COLD FRONT comes in!! :O

We had a very nice day today, 60F+ and Sunny with only low winds so I decided to put 23 miles on the bicycle before the Major Cold Front arrives by early Thursday!!! Rode both the Pikes Peak Greenway and the Midland Trails. There's major construction happening on the Midway Trail at Ridge Rd. and Colorado Ave., so it's a total mess but it will be a REAL improvement when it's finished!! The street crossing has been dangerous for bicycle riders and walker for YEARS, when the new construction is done, the Midland Trail will actually go UNDER Colorado Ave. YEA!!!! Well the sun goes down very quickly this time of year so I headed straight back the way I came, cleaned up the bicycle a bit and tucked it way till the temps climb back into at least 40F and SUNNY! Merry Christmas!! :)

A very nice November day bicycle RIDE!!

We had a very warm and sunny bicycle ride up the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail over to the Colorado Springs Bike Shop on the Westside of town today! 19 mile round trip, a mix of gravel and concrete trails and a little sidewalk riding up to the shop. It's the 25th. of November and it was 62 F. degrees and sunny, can't beat that! Had to go over to the bike shop to get a new spare tube, new "on bike air pump, new head piece for our "floor pump" and some sealant for the new tube in my front wheel. Got quick bite to eat at Arby's and headed home as we had a late start and wanted to make sure we had "daylight" on the trail! The homeless folks have a LOT of ugly campsites on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, sad but hey, everyone has to have somewhere to LIVE. As long as they keep their stuff  "off the trail itself", I'll live with it and be happy to get to RIDE so late in the season!! :)

JoLynn looking at Cheyenne Mountain

Ducks in Fountain Creek

Our bicycles along part of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail

Pedal to Parks & Historic Places ~ Shooks Run

Jo and I went on a excellent ride with the folks from "Bike Colorado Springs", our citywide advocacy group. This was a Pedal the Parks ride where we stopped at city parts and historic places along one of the local Rail Trail, called Shooks Run. We stopped a several parks and even have a local History Professor from Colorado College give us information on the history of the parks or places along the trail. It was a partly cloudy day with warmer temps, (been gray and raining all week)! It was a small group of about 25 riders and they even supplied treats and drinks, my wife and I had a great time although we had to leave a little early as the dark clouds came in and we had 10 miles of limestone trail to ride to get home! ENJOYED!

Pikes Peak Greenway Trail repairs done!

We just decided to see how far we could get up the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail to see how the repairs of 4 sections were coming along. It's not real easy to get to from Northern Security, CO. We have to take a dead end road (in bad shape), then haul our bikes over a 3-4 ft. rock mound and railroad tracks, then ride a even rougher road to CO. Hwy. 85/87 N. Head up the busy highway to Las Vegas St. and ride to the new concrete connecter to the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail. heading north, we see the work they have done "rebuilding" 4 sections of the trail that were flooded out by Fountain Creek flooding back in late 2015. You could still ride it but some sections were very thin and waiting to fall into the creek!!!

The PPGW Trail is a combo of dirt/crushed limestone and concrete with a few beat up wooden bridges. It does have one kinda cool "low bridge" that is just barely above the creek top, it's concrete and if the creek floods the water just goes over the top! We didn't know if we could get all the way into Colorado Springs, (at America The Beautiful Park, downtown). Luckily we got to make it all the way, took a restroom break and headed back, stopped at a great little pastry/sandwich shop and had a great ham/swiss on a croissant with some really good, Veggie Chips, (no we are not health food fanatics, they were good!). Back on the PPGW trail, we headed back the say way. Back over the railroad tracks and home. A round trip of 15 miles on a "finally" sunny, semi-hot day, very enjoyable! :)

Changes

Well we've moved south of Colorado Springs to the township of "Security", it's a slower paced area but it is a bit harder to get to the "rail trails" in the Springs we love to ride. The only "non-super busy" bike trail into the city is under construction. So we've been "riding around Security and Widefield back roads and streets for a month. Hope to get back to the rail trails soon, they say the construction is suppose to be finished by the middle of August and the new section of the Midland Trail which we love to ride from Colorado Springs to Manitou Springs should be finished by the end of August so Sept. will be a FUN month to ride again!! :)  Sorry no pictures, LOL, I'm getting really lazy about carrying the digital camera. Hope you've gotten in some great rides!

The new Midland Trail connector bridge

On Thursday I rode to a opening ceremony for the Legacy Loop here in Colorado Springs, it was the start of construction for a new trail head/event center. The LL goes around the city for 10K, so it will be a non-traffic runner/bicyclist trail. I also rode over to the newly installed bridge that will finally reconnect the Midland Trail to the America the Beautiful Park in downtown. The old link was taken away when they rebuilt the I-25 Intersection and the detour is a PIA on city streets so the new connector should be "on line" in Sept. 2017!!

Well at least the Bridge connector is finally set up, now hopefully it will be finished by Sept. 2017 and the Midland Trail reconnected!

A bit of an update and a new bicycle for JoLynn!

It's been a while since I updated the blog, we've been doing short rides and I've been doing a few club rides over the last couple of months. We worked as "Corner Workers" for the yearly, St. Patrick's Day 50K (and a wee bit more) bicycle ride here in Colorado Springs, CO. It's usually the Saturday "before" St. Patrick's Day. They were talking possible rain so we took the city bus to our post at Wood Ave. and Columbia St., The riders were having a good time, even though it was a bit nippy weather wise.  Our shift ended at 12:15 so we walked to lunch and watched the parade for a bit. Headed home.

We finally got JoLynn and new bicycle, she's been riding a "converted" 23 year old Nishiki ladies MTB for a few years now. She decided she wanted a "step-thru" version on my Del Sol Lxi 6.1 comfort bike, in a cool, "buttered popcorn" color! :) We changed out the seat, (she didn't care for the "polka dots" and tires, (a bit more aggressive tread and black in color). Now she's very happy.

JoLynn's new bicycle, March 2016

Now we just need some better weather so she can get in a real ride, a bit more than the 8 miles from the bike shop to home! ;) The folks at the Colorado Springs Bike Shop have treated us so well for many years, we really enjoy doing business with them! Colorado Springs Bike Shop
Spring is slowing coming hope your out enjoying a good ride soon! :)

Finally a ride with the wife!

The weekends have been cruddy lately so the wife and I haven't been able to ride together but we finally got in a ride on Sunday! She hasn't been able to ride since Nov. so I let her set the pace and we had a good day, sunny and 40F at the start. We rode mostly local rail-trails and enjoyed the company! She's to slow a rider to ride with the local club so I divide my rides between her and the club during the month. She can ride all day but she's just not up the "club pace". We stopped for a carved turkey sandwich and then the clouds came in the temps dropped what seemed 10 degrees so we headed home. There's actually a lot of FUN riding at a slower pace, more time to talk and take in the sights so I don't mind, kick'in back with the wife! :)

CSCC Frozen Water Bottle Ride, January 1st. 2017

It was semi-decent on the 1st. so I went on the Colorado Springs Cycling Club's "Frozen Water Bottle Ride"! I was a partly cloudy day, high 30 F's with some sunshine. A good group showed up, close to 30 riders, LOL, mostly "road bikes" and "MTB's. Found there was two rides, one road, one mtb, My comfort bike is "road going" MTB so I stayed with the road ride, it was 18 miles, with some steep grades so as usual, I volunteered to be the Sweep rider.

We headed south, then west, then north a mix of street and paved trail, I was riding with to riders who just got new "recumbent trikes" so I asked a lot of questions about them as maybe someday we might go that way. LOL, as we were riding, one rider on the trike, took off, quickly, I thought WOW, what a sprint she has!!  Came to find out, she has an, "electric motor" to boost her pace when she needs it, it's cheating but hey, it's cool! ;)  As we headed up Centennial Blvd. I was getting whipped and hit a bonk, lucky, we turned on Vindicator with a great "downhill section" so I was able to hang in with the group to the end of the ride. We stopped at BJ's Restaurant and Brewery for lunch, then I had a colder ride under gray skies back home. Was glad to be able to start 2017 with a ride! :)