Rock Island Trail Ride

Sunday December 22, 2019, the weekend before we didn't get to ride due to SNOW and COLD and the temps stayed cold after that 6+inch snowfall till late Thursday but with a decent temps and sun shine on Friday and Saturday, there had been a good melt here in Security so we HOPED the trails in Colorado Springs would be in decent shape. We decided to ride the Rock Island Trail as it had been a while since we rode there. We loaded up the truck with the trikes and parked at Bott Park, unloaded, then rode over to the Shooks Run Trail for about a mile to the "junction with the alley way that starts the Rock Island Trail heading north. Well the alley way was covered in 2-3 in. deep snow, it's great to have "3" wheels on the snowy, icy surface, with a bit of slip-sliding here and there we got to the actual trail and found it was in better shape with just snow/ice here and there. It had been plowed at least some so we headed to the end point of the trail at Powers Blvd. 10 miles away. It was a nice day, 60F with only high thin clouds and just a little breeze we just plodded along and enjoyed being able to RIDE!

We stopped at one point and had a protein bar then continued north, we were worried that the underpass tunnel at Circle Drive might have deep snow or water but it had been mostly plowed so we didn't have to slow down and take the Ped crossing light! JoLynn got to try her new gearing set up, from the stock 30/40/52 triple chain wheel set to a MTB 22/32/42 set and from 170mm crank arms down to 155mm crank arms which works out GREAT for her as she only has a 26 in. inseam and it was a lot easier for her to SPIN instead of semi-MASH the pedals!! :) We shared the trail with walkers, runners, riders and HORSES too so there were a lot of smiles and wishes of "Merry Christmas"! :) We went to the end of the "concrete" and decided NOT to take the last 1/4 of gravel and SNOW/ICE to the end point. Turned around and stopped at a "bench" to eat our "brown bag" lunch. Got back on the trikes and headed south back to the park, loaded up the truck and headed out to do some food shopping before taking the trikes back to the storage unit and tucking them away till next time!  13 miles, would have loved to do more miles but the sun was heading down fast this time of year!! :)

Back to riding "2" trikes, we use to have a TT Rover TANDEM Trike now it's been converted back to a SINGLE Trike for BJ! :)

This is to older asphalt sections of the Rock Island Trail, hopefully they will "concrete" it as it's getting pretty rough with a lot of frost heave cracks!

The newer section concrete starts just past Union Blvd. and goes "almost" all the way to the current end point at Powers Blvd.

JoLynn and her used, Trident Stow Away I trike and ME with the upgraded Terra Trike Rover Trike, ready to head down hill! :)

Still waiting for the "improvements" on the Midland Trail

Saturday December 7th. we packed the trikes in the truck and headed over to the Fontero St. Trail Head for the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail. When we got there there wasn't any place to park as they decided to stage the Santa Claus 5K Run and 15K Bike Ride there instead of the normal start usually at America The Beautiful Park down town. So we continued to see if we could find a spot at Monument Valley Park and with luck we did! :) We wanted to try the Midland Trail again and see if they'd finally finished the new bike/hike underpass under Manitou Ave. and the Bike Plaza but alas it's still not accessible as of yet, RATS! They did have one HUGE improvement up and running, there is now a stop light at the intersection of Ridge Rd. and Colorado Ave. Yes, now it's easy to get across and use the new Bike Lane over to Columbia St. to go the back way into Manitou Springs, passing the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, so much easier!!

We headed over to the Swimming Pool Park in Manitou using the back road till we could get to the Skateboard Park and rejoin the trail (ie: in Manitou it's called the Creekside Trail) it was a cloudy day but warmish on the way to the Park where we stopped for a Brown Bag Lunch. Took the same way back although we did divert to the Colorado Springs Bike Shop on Colorado Ave. and 7th. St. to check for a new tail light for JoLynn's trike as it's getting fussy in it's old age, LOL! ;) Back to Monument Valley Park, loaded up the trikes and headed to Natural Groceries for some supplies, then back to the Storage Unit to tuck the trikes in. 13 miles RT and it was sunny with a slight breeze on the way back to the park. :)

JoLynn decided she's take photo's of ME for once, LOL! Our Brown Bag Lunch Stop, the Swimming Pool Park in Manitou Springs, CO. 

First ride on the "single" TT Rover Trike!

After a couple of rides, we found out the "bike and trike combo" wasn't working well! The bike is lighter than the trike and I'm a "stronger, faster rider" than JoLynn. Either I was "running over her" or she was lagging behind as we rode together. The solution was to put ME back on a TRIKE, which we did as of November 30th.

The Terra Trike Rover Trike is about 10 lbs. heavier than the Trident Stow Away 1 that JoLynn rides so that actually helped by slowing me down a bit to push the extra weight. The other major help was that now I can ride at HER PACE without worrying about "the bicycle" falling over at really slow uphill speeds!!!! It's surprising how much "energy" is used just trying to "keep your balance" on a recumbent bicycle when your having to go SLOW on uphill grades!! Infact this works so well we are at least for the near future going to not add a E-assist system to JoLynn's trike, we just won't be able to ride in any group rides or IF we are leading a group ride, I will put JoLynn in the lead and let her set the pace, I'll take up the end otherwise known as the "SWEEP" rider!

The group will just have to go "our speed" or they can just head out and meet us at stopping points along the ride! :) As we are both 60+ there will come a day we we HAVE to have E-assist added but hopefully the EXPENSIVE PRICES for those systems will come down and be much more affordable by the time we really NEED it just to be able to RIDE! It was a sunny day but the breeze was VERY CHILLY so our ride was a short 13 mile RT ride down to the pond at the Fountain Regional Park in Fountain, CO. We took a couple of photos by the pond and had a little picnic brown bag lunch on a table in the sunshine! Then we headed back to the storage unit and tucked the "trikes" away. I've already SOLD my Bike E to a rider in AZ. so we've got a bit more room in the storage unit. I'm really jazzed to be back on a TRIKE, the recumbent bicycle was FUN but the trike is so much easier to handle and that makes the ride more enjoyable! :)

BJ's Terra Trike Rover in a "single serving" size now!! :)

JoLynn's Trident Stow Away 1, "this is the first time in many years of riding that we have the same color machines!! :)

Local area ride, oh the pain of WINTER!! ;)

Saturday the roads still had quite a bit of Ice and Slush on them but by late afternoon it was drying up. We waited to 10 AM on Sunday as it got down to 20F and needed to WARM UP before we decided to ride! We figured a lot of the trails in Co. Springs would have more ice and snow on them due to the shade of trees and bushes so we decided to just ride the local roads around Security and Widefield where we live. Since it was a late start we decided to head out to lunch and taco bell was the choice of the day. After a good $1 menu triple layer nacho and couple of soft tacos we headed south along Widefield Blvd. down to ride the C&S road to the turn around point (ie: the closed the road access out to Hwy. 85/87) and turned around and headed back into Widefield to ride up to Widefield Park, stopped there for a break and then as it was around 2 PM. we headed back to the storage area and tucked the recumbents away! 13 miles with a lot of high clouds but still some sunshine here and there, with temps in the 50F+ so it ended up being a ok day to ride! That's good as Thanksgiving week is NOT looking good at all, very cold with snow a couple of times during the week, RATS was hoping for T-Day ride but we will have to wait and see! :)

Changes Part 2, the Movie, LOL!! ;)

Well looks like I'm changing rides again, at least kinda! We were trying to sell our TT Rover Tandem Trike on consignment at our local recumbent dealer here in Colorado Springs, CO. Being WINTER is not the best time to sell any kind of recumbent and there's been NO interest after a couple of months. The shop get's 30% of the money and after 6 months they get 40% well that wouldn't leave me enough to get a E-assist system for JoLynn's trike anyway so I've decided to just have them convert the tandem back to a single trike for ME!  The neat thing about a Terra Trike Rover Tandem is that you take a single Rover trike and "ADD" a Tandem extension kit to it to make it a "tandem". So you just take out the "extension kit" and you've got a single TT Rover Trike! :)

I will be going back to riding a TRIKE hopefully by the end of this coming week, (Nov. 30th. ).  We are having to move into a much smaller place, very soon and won't be able to afford a separate storage unit! This is due to both of us are going to be "living" on just our tiny Social Security Retirement by February 2020! We need to sell the Bike E and just have the two trikes! The Rover Trike is nicely upgraded it's now has a 10 speed rear derailleur with a 11x42 cassette and a Efneo 3 speed IG drive unit up front for a total range of 30 speeds!! The brakes were upgraded to shimano hydraulic disc brakes, etc. Ya it's still just a Terra Trike Rover, slow but comfortable. Photo's when I get it and can get a ride in, the weather here is not looking great for Thanksgiving and the weekend after, RATS!!

A brown bag lunch ride

On Tuesday,  Nov. 19th. we had one of those lovely Indian Summer type days, it got up to 70F with just a bit of breeze and clouds for the morning and early afternoon. Decided it was too nice to ride the exercise trainer so I got the Bike E out and headed up to pick up the Sand Creek Trail via the Hancock Expressway/Boychuck St. bike lanes from Security. Picked up the Sand Creek Trail heading north to Wild Flower Park for my brown bag lunch stop and a restroom break.

After eating I decided to ride up to Sagebrush Park on the trail, rode around the park and headed back south on the trail. The clouds were coming in high and thicker over Pikes Peak so I headed down the trail back towards the storage unit for the day! Enjoyed the 15 mile ride, locked up the bike and the storage unit and walked home!

A nice view of Pikes Peak from the picnic table at Wild Flower Park

Just a plonk around ride

Weds. Nov. 13th, was a nice day so I headed out for a short ride! Decided I didn't want to ride the dirt trail along the Pikes Peak Greenway I took to back streets and bike lanes over to the Southgate area, the up the bike lane on Cheyenne Blvd. to the 8th. Street bike lane over to Mc Donalds for lunch. Headed up the Greenway to America The Beautiful Park in down town Colorado Springs, CO. decided to head back as the sun goes down by 4 PM. so I headed back the same way. Put the Bike E up and walked home. It was a sunny but breezy day with lot's of leaves flying around! :)

Stopped at a covered picnic table for snack and to watch the leaves blowing around!

LOL, a selfie, SCARY!! ;)

Riding The Pueblo River Trail

We got to do one of our favorite rides on Saturday, we loaded up the truck with the bike and the trike and headed 40 miles south to Pueblo, CO. and Lake Pueblo State Park to ride the the Pueblo River Trail! It's a trail along the Arkansas River from the Lake Pueblo Dam thru Pueblo, CO. up to the campus trail for USC-Pueblo. The total trail is over 20 miles long a mix of open mesa, light forest and urban settings. We start at the Pueblo Nature Center/Cafe. We decided to concentrate on the portion heading East from the center up to the Lake Pueblo Dam and Fish Hatchery. The trail is paved and it's a older 8 ft. wide trail but it's flowing and flat in most places. We got to the Dam and turned around to go have lunch at the cafe but found out it closed down in June, Rats!! So we headed West on the trail down to where you can pick up a main street going towards down town and the Pueblo River Walk. We decided to see what was up on Abrendo Ave instead of heading down town and found a great little Italian Deli and Store had a excellent sub sandwich! It was 2:30 PM. so we headed back down the trail to the truck as it starts getting dark by 4 pm. anymore! We put in 18 miles at a fantastic, 70F and Sunny with just a slight breeze of a day!! On the
way back the sun was making the river "SHINE" what a great fall day for a RIDE!

My wife JoLynn on her, "new to her" Trident Stowaway I Trike

Here is a link to the video we took of the ride:

Local area road ride

We took a road ride around Security/Widefield  and Fountain Mesa so JoLynn could get a bit more riding time on her Trident Stowaway I trike.  Our original goal was to end up south in Fountain, CO. have lunch then head back to Wal-Mart on Hwy. 85/87 to pick up her prescription. We rode thru Security and then the back edge of Widefield heading down a mellow country road, to pick up 85/87 heading south but ran into a gate barrier on the old RR crossing side but with the "barrier" there was hardly and traffic so we headed east up the road to Fountain Mesa to find lunch. I was trying to keep her on flat roads to start with but it's a pretty good hill we had to climb (5% grade) min. so it took a while for her to get to the top with the "standard" triple chain wheel gearing on the Stowaway. We will have Angletech put a MTB crank set on it asap, 22/32/44 instead of  the stock 30/40/53 crank set so she can climb hills easier!! She got to the top of the hill and we headed to a Culver's for their fish sandwich and salad, then headed back down the hill and over to the Widefield RR crossing 85/87 to get to Wal-Mart. From there it was back to the storage unit as the sun was going down fast!! :) Here is a You Tube Video of our ride:

Circumstances bring BIG CHANGES!

 Due to circumstances beyond our control, we've put the TT Rover Tandem Trike up for consignment sale at Angletech, the local recumbent dealer here in Colorado Springs, CO. Angletech-Cycledifferent We are having to move into a tiny apt. very soon and with the large increase in Rent and Utilities we can't afford a storage unit to fit the Tandem Trike in anymore!!

 We bought a trike for JoLynn, a USED Trident Stowaway I and as soon as it's gone over and set up proper, we will pick it up and she will be back on her own trike!! When the Tandem Trike sells, we will take the funds and have "E-assist motor" put on her trike to make it easier for her to climb hills!

I will be riding the old 2001 Bike E RX recumbent bicycle for the foreseeable future! We will miss being a "Tandem Team" as we really ENJOYED riding the Tandem together!  This change was forced on us, as the say, "stuff happens" and those "changes" can have a major effect on your life. At least we can continue to ride and enjoy our recumbents! :)

My wife, JoLynn and her "new to her" Trident Stowaway 1 Trike!

BJ's Bike E (RX) Bicycle

AZUB Recumbents Event Ride at Angletech

Thursday Oct. 17, 2019, I got invited to a AZUB Event at our local recumbent dealer, Angletech, (www.cycledifferent.com) here in Colorado Springs last Thursday. Since AZUB makes both recumbent trikes and bikes and JoLynn was working I rode my old Bike E AX bicycle. We started at Angletech and rode with a couple of AZUB Representatives who flew in from Eastern Europe for the event. We ride 18 miles to America the Beautiful Park in down town Co. Springs, then back to the dealership for a excellent catered lunch!! Got to ride with some folks from our local recumbent network and with my brother Bob's boss, Erine, who fell in love with a ICE Adventure FS with the Shimano E8000 Electric Assist motor! LOL, it's a LOT more expensive than the used Terra Trike Tour II that I sold him a few months back! ;) It was a good time overall, I'll add some photos when I can find some on the internet down the road.  65F, mostly cloudy but warm with a moderate breeze! :) BTW, I did try out a AZUB Origami 20 in. wheeled bicycle but I'm not sure I like the "Short Wheel Base" set up, LOL, I guess I'm a LWB or Compact Wheel Base (CWB), type of recumbent bicycle, not as fast but the LWB style is easier to ride and makes a great touring machine! :) Here is a good video from "Off Topic with John Switzer" on You Tube, (pls. like and subscribe) he and his wife ride new AZUB Trikes! :)

The Multi-Trail Ride, Oct. 13, 2019

We were set up to lead a local recumbent network ride up the Templeton Gap and Rock Island Trails with a lunch stop at a Subways but when we were ready to leave the staring point at the Goose Gossage Skate Park/BMX track no one else showed up. We rode the tandem trike up the T-Gap trail but decided to take back roads and bike lanes over to the RI Trail and head SOUTH instead of north and have lunch at STIR'S Coffee and Cocktails in the old Bonn Shopping Center.

We had a great pressed sandwich called the Colorado Club, then decided to head South again but on the Shooks Run Trail over to the Pikes Peak Ave. bike lane and into down town Colorado Springs. We then headed down the Colorado Ave. bike lane over to the Walnut St. bike lane and up to the westside of the Monument Valley Trail/Pikes Peak Green Way via a overhead bridge that crosses all 6 lanes of I-25 over to Monument Valley Park and then back streets over to the Fontenaro St. Trail Head parking area and back on the Pikes Peak Green Way trail heading north up to Criterium Bicycle Shop.

Had a nice chat with a lady on her fancy Catrike with E-assist, then headed back down the Green Way and to the parking lot were we left the old pick up truck. Loaded up and headed south via I-25 to our storage unit and tucked the tandem trike away! A beautiful FALL day in Southern CO. 65F, a bit of breeze and SUNNY! 20 miles RT. and great way to spend a Sunday together! :)

Here is a Video of our Multi-Trail Ride:

October 6th. 2019, Motor Less Mornings Ride, Garden of the Gods, Co. Springs, CO.

We headed out from our staging point at the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort, between Co. Springs and Manitou Springs after a good "all you can eat" for $5 breakfast on the tandem trike to ride in the "Motor Less Mornings" event in the Garden of the Gods Park! It started out CHILLY, loading up the tandem at our storage unit it was 32F with winds gusting to over 40 MPH!!!! It started warming up SLOWLY as we unloaded and ate breakfast.

Ready to start the days ride!

We found a new and much less HILLY entry way into the GoG which started at the GoG Trading Post Store and Cafe, sweet! We joined the other bicycles, skaters, skateboarders, hikers, etc. really enjoying the great views and having the park with "NO CAR" traffic! The new 10 speed gearing made a BIG difference in our ability to climb the several steep grades and hills in the Park and made the ride even better. Here's a You Tube Video of the ride, enjoy! 

Major upgrade to the tandem trike!

Sunday Sept. 22nd. 2019. Although we really like the way the NuVinci N330 CVT Internal Gear Hub on the rear end works, it's pretty limited "gearing wise" especially for "HILLS"! We'd hoped to be able to afford adding a E-assist motor system but a set up heavy duty enough for our tandem trike is $2800.00 or more!!! :O We decided to try changing it to a "Rear derailleur/Cassette set up", the cassette is a 10 speed with 11x42 tooth cogs! Yes, it was worth the $750 price tag (parts and labor) as it is now easier to make the tandem climb hills and uphill grades, YEA!!!

LOL, NO it won't make us a bit faster on the flats so we still won't be able to do any "Group Rides", unless the fellow riders don't mind us taking up the rear of the pack and coming in at our own pace!! Still we are both 64 years old with some medical problems so ANYTHING that makes it physically easier for us to climb hills is a real blessing!! Our new drive train is: (front) Efneo 3 speed, Internal Gear drive unit, equal to a "triple chain wheel set" of 28/40/52 with the 11x42 rear cassette. We took it for a test run on some of the more HILLY parts of three of our local urban trails, "Sinton, Foothills and Mesa" Trails here in Colorado Springs, CO. It was a lot easier to get up the grades than before so we are quite happy!! The first photo is on the Foothills Trail, just outside of the Garden of the Gods, the second photo is at the Mesa Rd. Overlook just off the Mesa Trail! :)

A tough ride with a new friend

Weds. Sept. 11, 2019. I am the "administrator" for a Facebook group called the, Front Range Trike & Bike Network. Our newest member, John K. just got a new ICE trike and is trying to get in his first miles on the trike and not having transportation I put the Bike E into the old Ford Ranger and headed up north of Colorado Springs (Brairgate Area), to ride with him on some local area urban trails. Well his area has a lot of heavy uphill angle climbs on the trails and it was really tough for him as he has a type of MS and is a large man. We took our time but he had to stop a lot and rest and I had to PUSH him up to the top of the last very hard climb to get him back to his place!! LOL, we finally made it back, we were riding on trails I'd never been on, (Brairgate and Woodman Trails). On that last uphill grade I'm not sure I could have actually rode the Bike E all the way, I might have had to "walk" to the summit myself!! I'm glad I was there, don't know if he could have made it back by himself. Well for the next ride we do I'm going to pick him and his trike up and we will find some of the more "mellow" urban trails here in the Springs! ;)
Relive Map of the ride

Riders on the Storm

Sunday Sept. 8th. 2019, We stayed closer to home here in Security, CO. as the weather forecast called for possible "Heavy Thunder Showers with HAIL"! We rode south to Fountain, CO. stopped at John Metcalf Park for a snack and a break, then rode several back roads thru the Little Ranches area and back to Fountain via Jimmy Creek Camp Road. Stopped in Fountain and had a good pizza and salad then headed out to do some "errands" on the way back to the storage shed. Got back before the dark clouds started coming over Pikes Peak. 24 miles RT. Sunny, 80's slight breeze a very good morning to RIDE!  Relive Video Map: Relive Video Map Link

Fountain Regional Park Pond Trail

Midland Trail Ride

Sadly our 17 year old PU truck isn't really "Interstate Worthy", we wanted to go and ride on the Reservoir/River trail in Pueblo State Park but instead loaded up the truck and went and rode the "Midland Trail" from America The Beautiful Park, down town Co. Springs towards Manitou Springs. This is one of the more "shaded" urban trails here and since it was a 90F+ degree day, with almost no breeze and SUNNY, it was welcomed! We headed out of the park heading west, the trail follows Hwy. 24 to the Westside of Colorado Springs (Old Colorado City), then goes to a certain point in Manitou Springs, where it ends and you have to use "back streets" to get into Manitou. We enjoyed the ride and we seemed "stronger" than the last time we rode this trail so maybe after 600 miles we are finally getting our "Recumbent Legs" working better! ;) After a break we got brave and headed south on Manitou Ave. (very busy with tourist traffic in summer months!!) to a pizza parlor for a excellent 10in. Hawaiian Pizza and Salad!! After filling up, we picked up the trail (in Manitou it's called the "Creekside Trail) back to AtheBP and then home. 14 miles RT, HOT!! It was still a very enjoyable RIDE!
Relive Route Map

Our You Tube Channel Video:

The Mc Allister Home Museum, "Bicycling Thru the Ages" Event

Saturday August 24th., We loaded up the truck with the tandem and headed to the Fontenaro St. Trailhead of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail to park so we could ride over to check out the "Bicycling Thru The Ages in Colorado Springs Event. We took a excellent guided tour of the Museum and learned of some interesting local area history and the also had several "static" displays of bicycles from the 1920's thru the 1970's in a area outside, in the different rooms in the Museum and the attached Carriage House, (sorry no video allowed in the Museum and Carriage House)! They also have a large "herb garden" on the grounds and the members of the "Herb growers group" made up several tasty samples of items made with their herbs, YUM! They sold hot dogs, chips and lemonade so we also had a good grilled dog! ;)  The Pike Rides, group brought a fleet of their new, E-assist station bikes you could test ride for free and Bike Colorado Springs put on a 5 miles, Historic Loop Ride, which we really enjoyed and found out even more local history during the ride! It was cloudy all day but warm and no rain so it was a nice break from the 90F+ heat we've had for most of July and August this summer!!! :O After the ride we headed back to the trailhead and the truck, loaded up the tandem and headed back to the storage unit. It was only a total of 11 miles but a VERY enjoyable day! :) Here is a video from our You Tube Page of the day! ENJOY.

RISE, Southeastern Colorado Springs, CO. Community Ride

We rode to and in the 1st. RISE, Southeastern area of Colorado Springs, CO. "Community Ride" on Sat. Aug., we headed out from our storage unit in Security and rode over to the "Armed Forces YMCA" for the start of the ride. After staging we headed out to pick up the Sand Creek Trail, north up to the turn around point at Wildflower Park,. The RISE folks handed out "popsicles" to the riders, JoLynn and I ate our apple and wheat thin crackers we took photos, then headed back to the start at the YMCA. We then headed out for lunch at 7-11, got a couple of BIG BITE hot dogs, (yum) and then headed home. As we were riding down the Hancock Expressway back into Security we ran into our friend Allen Beauchamp who was the "ride leader", he stopped at the Depot for a burger and he took the photo of us on our tandem that's now our new "blog header photo". A HOT day 90F+ but a lot of FUN!

Just a ride around the local area

Sunday August 11th. The weather forecasters said there was a good chance of "HEAVY" afternoon thunder storms today so we decided to just ride around Security/Widefield/Fountain. We got out a bit earlier than usual and it was a really mellow morning, only in the 70F temps, sunny with a nice breeze. We headed up Bradley Rd. from the storage unit, then turned into back streets in northern Security by Piute Park and up past Widefield HS. up to the Security Public Library and into the new section of Security over towards Copperfield, then out to Grinnell and into old Widefield past Widefield Park, then on to back streets and a short but shaded path that ends at Mesa Ridge HS. We then decided it was "nice enough" to head to Fountain on Hwy. 85/87 and then rode over to John Metcalf Park to use the restroom and use it as a turn around point. Heading back again via Hwy. 85/87 to northern Fountain we stopped at Wendy's for chicken nuggets and salad for lunch. The clouds were building quickly so we headed back to the storage unit up Security Blvd and back streets. 19 miles RT!

Shade break and half an apple for a snack!

 

Riding and a Video of the "Cottonwood Creek Trail", Colorado Springs, CO.

On August 3rd. we decided to load up the tandem trike into the truck and ride and video the Cottonwood Creek Trail! We started at Criterium Bicycles/Crit Café on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail which is 1 mile south of the PPGW & Cottonwood Creek trail junction! At the junction we headed north-east to the CCT end just north of the Cottonwood Creek Recreation Area/Park. It was hot, 90F, sunny with just a touch of a breeze, the trail heading East is a constant "uphill grade" so it's slow going for us on the tandem trike, "without E-assist" but it's a really nice concrete trail with great view for a "urban" trail! We got to CCT and Academy Blvd. decided to get lunch, thought there was a place at Academy and Woodman but there wasn't so we had to go a couple of miles north on Academy, finally found a 5 Guys burger joint and got a really great grilled Hot Dog!! We headed back to the CCT and again headed north-east, the concrete part of the trail ends up by Austin Bluffs and turns into a "dirt single track trail", which is no place for a recumbent trike tandem!!!! So we just turned around at the "dirt" and headed back to the park for a shade break and excellent Fuji apple! :)

Going back on the CCT, it's mostly "DOWNHILL" grade so it's a blast on our heavy tandem trike we can really fly down the trail but we keep it mellow as there is a lot of bike, peds, dog walkers, etc. on this trail, still a really enjoyable ride! Here's a vid from our You Tube site, enjoy! :)

Just too nice of a day not to RIDE!

Wed. July 31, Our HEAT WAVE continues, today is suppose to be 95F+ but there's not a cloud in the beautiful blue sky so I decided to get on the Bike E and head out to see how I can handle the heat! Decided to use Hwy. 85/87 up to Las Vegas St. just far enough to get to the southern extension of the Sand Creek Trail to hook up with the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail into Colorado Springs since it's got more SHADE than any other of our routes from Security to Co. Springs. Man the shade from the tree canopies feels much better than the blazing sun so it take it all the way to America The Beautiful Park, stop use the restroom and eat a apple, just sit in the shade under a tree and take in views of Pikes Peak and watch all the kids splashing under the Julie Penrose Fountain! :) Was going to ride all the way to the Crit Café next to Criterium Bicycles but time was getting away from me so I headed via back streets to the "Drive Inn" a little 50's style burger joint for a hot dog! YIKES, I forgot my wallet so NO LUNCH but lucky for me I still got two kids Cliff Bars so I ride back to the park and chow down on a bar, then head back on the PPGW trail. Stopped at the baseball/scoocer fields in the shade and ate the 2nd. Cliff Bar, then headed home! 25 mile RT and was glad to get back to the house with the swamp cooler running! :)

Quick photo op at the "Low Bridge" on the PPGW trail!

One HOT Ride!!!

Sunday, July 28, Wow we've had a lot of days in the 90F+ in July and that's rare here in Southern CO.!! We headed out for a lunch ride, using a different route into Colorado Springs from Security than normal. We headed up Hwy. 85/87 to Las Vegas St., now back in the 1970's when I was in high school we used to ride our bikes into the Springs via Las Vegas St. all the time but over the last 20 years it's gotten insanely busy with all the local, prisons and rehab places and a lot of big trucking companies!! You'd NEVER want to ride a bicycle or trike on it from Mon.-Sat. but since it was Sunday, we decided to give it a try! It turned out to be ok, just mostly car traffic and not super busy so we rolled into down town and had the only, "thin crust" pizza we like at Louie's on Bijou and Tejon, one great pineapple and ham pizza and a big salad, next time we only order 1 salad and share!! Headed back the same way, went thru a lot of water and ice but still enjoyed the ride! Here's video of the ride, split into two parts! :)

Local Area Ride due to forcasted Heavy Rain later!!

On Sunday July 21st. we headed out for a ride around the local area (Security, Widefield, Fountain) as they were forecasting "Heavy Thunderstorms" by late afternoon! Headed south on our normal ride but then headed up to Mesa Ridge to find a place for lunch. A much cooler day than the last two rides, only in the 80's and Sunny! We stopped at Carl Jr's for their excellent "Chicken Tenders" and a side salad, hate to tell KFC but Carl's chicken tenders are a LOT better, LOL!! ;) We then headed back to Fontaine Blvd. down to Grinell St. over to Bradley Road and back to the storage area. The clouds were starting to turn very DARK, put away the trike tandem and walked back to the house!! 15 miles RT, 80F and sunny till we got back, LOL, the RAIN never showed up! ;)

A lunch ride for a Canadian Chicken Sandwich

Oops I forgot to add a ride back on July 13th., we headed out for a lunch ride as we had stayed later than expected watching the Tour De France on NBCSN that morning so we took a ride via the "Hancock Expressway" Bike Lanes into Colorado Springs from Security just to try another route into town. We decided we wanted to try the "International Menu" at Mc Donald's, especially the Canadian Chicken Sandwich, with bacon and mozzarella cheese!! The Hancock Expressway is a very busy highway but most of it has decent marked "Bike Lanes", some spots don't so you have to be careful!! 

We headed north on a VERY HOT day, already 90F+ in the AM., the bad thing about this route is it has several steep inclines and HILLS with not a lot of shade!! Still we are never in a hurry when we ride the tandem trike so we slogged our way up the inclines and we did have some fast down hill here and there to at least kinda even the hills! We made it right at noon, the sandwich was quite good but a little greasy due to the mozzarella, we added a side salad and ice water and had a excellent lunch. Decided to head back via the southern part of the Shooks Run Trail back to the Hancock Bike Lanes and home. LOL, yes we stopped when a shady spot showed up and took water breaks!! It has come to our attention due to the weight of the Terra Trike Rover Tandem and gear for 2 riders we really NEED a Electric-Assist system for this tandem trike, that and the fact we are both 64 years old and JoLynn did have a heart attack in Jan. which brought on her Type 2 Diabities, we ain't getting any younger. We hope to have enough saved by Jan. 2020 to get the system installed by Angletech, it will just be there to "assist" us up the big hills. We got back to the storage unit and walked home a good day almost 20 miles with good uphill's! :)

Here's a link to our video of the ride:

Just a short ride before the HEAT comes in!

Got out on the Bike E and road a short ride up Bradley Road over to Widefield Park around the area and back into Security trying to get in some miles before the HEAT (90F+, possible new record temps today). Really enjoy riding a "bicycle" again and the bonus is it's quite a bit faster, avg. speed wise from the Trike Tandem, (Avg. almost 9 mph on bike/Avg. speed 6 on Trike Tandem), plus it does climb hills and grades easier! 15 miles by Noon and back inside the "cool" house!! :)

Stopped at the Bluestem Prairie Open Space Parking lot for a snack!

With the HEAT WAVE we've had the last week, finally all the SNOW has melted off Pikes Peak!

First Ride on the Bike E RX bicycle!

Back on June 26th. I forgot to add to the blog that I finally got a decent weekday to get a ride on the "new to me" Bike E RX bicycle! Did a nice 25 mile RT ride both street and trail and I found I really do like this Bike E RX quite a bit. It's got a pretty smooth ride, except it does get at bit of a "bounce" from the rear coil shock if you have to push the pedals hard going up a steep hill but it's not bad. Once I got the "hang" of  having to balance and lean into corners again, the ride was FUN and it's easier to maintain a higher average speed on the bike than on the Trike Tandem. I'm glad I found this bike at a inexpensive price, I will enjoy riding it! :)

 On the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail heading north.

At the Julie Penrose Fountain, America The Beautiful Park, Colorado Springs, CO. 

Independence Day, 2019 Ride

We got out early and headed to the local area, Independence Day Street Breakfast put on by the All Volunteer Security Village Fire Department. Had a good breakfast of pancakes (with cimamin & stevia sweetener instead of maple syrup), scrambled eggs and link sausage! :) They close off Main St. in front of Fire Station #1. and you see all the area volunteer fire departments, trucks and equipment! It was a real good turn out and the weather was already getting hot and very sunny. Afterwards we decided to head north to pick up the Sand Creek Urban Trail up to Wildflower Park in Colorado Springs. 17 miles RT, stopped under a picnic awning at Wildflower Park and had a great fresh apple, then headed over the a Subway for lunch, then made our way back to the storage unit! 90F, HOT and SUNNY! :) Happy Independence Day! Here's a video from my You Tube Channel of our ride to the Street Breakfast, ENJOY! :

 

Just Happy to get in a RIDE!

We've just been dodging RAIN every weekend for the last month or so but today it broke long enough for us to get in 13.5 miles on the tandem trike! It started out sunny but all the time the darkish clouds were coming over Pikes Peak while we rode! Changed our normal "local area ride" a bit to add some more HILLS and had a good time. Stopped for lunch at a Jack In The Box and got a very good grilled chicken salad, then decided not to tempt fate any longer and headed back to the storage area! It was just GREAT to get the tandem trike out for a RIDE!! :)

"New to me", Bike-E Recumbent Bikes

Well the deal is done, we are now owners of two used Bike E recumbent bicycles. :) Mine is the RX model, which is a 27 speed with a Mid-drive set up, in the day it was their "Go Fast Model". JoLynn's is a AT, it has rear "air suspension" shock it is a 21 speed, with a 7 speed rear cluster and a 3 speed rear internal hub set up. NOTE* Well, since JoLynn's heart attack back in Jan. she's healed well BUT she seems to have LOST a lot of her ability to "BALANCE" a bicycle. She's decided to only ride on our Recumbent Trike Tandem! I will see if our daughter, Jenn might want the Bike-E AT model, if not I will just sell it!

My Bike E (RX) is mainly for just  kick'in around rides when JoLynn's at work or doing something else and we can't be on the Terra Trike Rover  TANDEM, which is still our "Main Ride"!! I bought these for EXCELLENT price, especially for "two machines" from a fellow recumbent rider on Cannondale "full suspension" bike, in Denver.  Looking forward to the first ride soon! :)

Bike E RX model stats:
BikeE RX Features

2001 Specifications
Riding Style:
High Performance Road

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase:
50" (132cm) std., 54" (142cm) XL
Length:
67" (170cm) std., 71" (180cm) XL
Seat Height:
26-27" (66cm)
Frame:
Custom extruded aluminum mainframe
Fork:
Powder-coated rigid cromoly fork
Colors:
 Red
Options:
Two frame sizes: standard for riders to 6'3", extra long (XL) for riders up to 6'9" and heavier riders over 6'1". The XL frame is ideal for average height riders wishing more rear frame carrying capacity or room for a frame-mounted rack.
Bar/Stem:
Interchangeable Handlebar with Laid-Back Top Loading Stem and Carbon Extension Tube
Wheels:
16x1.5(38-305mm), 20x1.75(42-406mm) Alex aluminum double-walled with machined sidewall (front/rear)
Tires (front/rear)
Front -16x1.95(38-305mm) Maxxis Hookworm Rear 20x1.95(42-406mm) Maxxis Hookworm

DRIVETRAIN
Derailleur:
Rear - Sram ESP 7.0, Front - Shimano LX
Shifters:
Sram ESP 7.0 Half-Pipe
Crankset:
Custom BikeE crank with 30T chainring with mid-drive assembly
Cluster
9 spd. - 11-30T
Gear Range:
19-109 gear inches

COMPONENTS
Headset:
Aheadset OS
Brakes:
front/rear
Sram 7.0
Seat:
BikeE Sweet Seat

FRRTBG Loop Ride

On Sunday, June 2 we lead a group ride on a loop ride, LOL! ;) We started on the Pikes Peak Greenway, then headed west on the Midland, north on the 31st. St. bike Lane to the Foothills, then headed south on the Sinton Trails! 17 miles RT, Sunny a quite warm till the rain came in on the last leg of the ride! We meet a couple we haven't got to ride with, Will & Vicky, great folks with some sweet ICE trikes! Enjoyed the days ride and the company, here's a couple of photos and a link to my You Tube Page for a 2 hr. video we shot from the tandem. :)

Heading west on the Midland Trail and the clouds started building!

Will & Vicky! :)

FRRTBG Loop Ride June 2nd. 2019  Here's the link for the video, ENJOY!

Sold my "single" recumbent trike

Just a note, I've sold my TT Tour II, recumbent trike to my brother Bob's boss, Ernie as JoLynn and I have decided to just ride the TT Rover Recumbent Tandem Trike together. It was a excellent machine and I hope Ernie will enjoy it as much as I did! I've decided to look into finding a "cheap as possible", used recumbent BIKE to use as JoLynn is still "working" full time till Jan. 2020 when she's going to "retire" and go on her "earned" Social Security Retirement. This way I can still get in some "miles" during the week and the type of recumbent bike I want is a "compact-long wheelbase" version which is usually the "entry level" bike in the recumbent world. So I'm now looking at the different "used list's" and websites. I not in a hurry so I'll find the one I want and at a really good bargin. :) Here's an example, we owned these Sun EZ-1 SX's back in 2011.

In 2011 we bought matching Sun EZ-1 SX recumbent bikes

Glenwood Canyon Bike Trail, May 26th. 2019

We went to Glenwood Springs, CO. and rode the Glenwood Canyon Bike Trail on May 26th. 2019 the last time we rode this trail was 14 years ago in 2005 on our old Fuji Monterey 3.0 Comfort bicycles!

We now ride our recumbent trike tandem and found the ride just a beautiful and fun but a bit harder as we've hit 60+, yep slower but still worth the effort! The trail rides mostly right next to the Colorado River and the water was flowing hard and awesome looking. It's 16 miles one way since we rode a part of the Rio Grande Trail to get to the start of the GWCBT we ended up with 38.5 miles for the day, our longest ride on the recumbent tandem trike so far!! :) Here's some photos, Enjoy!

End of the trail, Noooooooo! 

and a short 14 min. video of the ride: Glenwood Canyon Bike Trail, May 26th. 2019