Riding the Rock Island Trail, July 22, 2020

We rode the Rock Island Trail to it's end at Powers Blvd. some day it will go either under or over Powers which is a 6 lane major arterial road so it won't be CHEAP and there's no current planning stage for it to continue east to join the Falcon Trail heading out of Colorado Springs to the Eastern Plains. We turned around and rode back to Old Templeton Gap Rd. and it's bike lanes over to Nancy Lewis Park for our brown bag lunch! A mostly cloudy day but HOT, 95 F. After lunch we rode the back streets to pick up the Templeton Gap Trail back over to the Pikes Peak Greenway and the storage unit. Tomorrow I start taking the accessories off my current Terra Trike Traveler so I can have the shop switch the e-assist system to my new Greenspeed GT20-RS trike!! Hopefully it will be finished by closing time on Saturday the 25th. so I can get in my first ride on Sunday, with my wife JoLynn! 

July 18th., 2020-Area Loop Ride around Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs, CO.

Decided to head out to Manitou Springs via different area trails and bike lanes, on a Sunny and HOT day, 95+F, light breeze. Heading south on the Pikes Peak Greenway, hoping that the Running Event that was coming thru when we passed the trail on the way to the storage unit to get the trikes was "loong" gone and lucky for us it was! :) Over to the Pine St. Trail to America the Beautiful Park (down town) to head west on the Midland Trail although it's still not finished, they did finally install the rest of the sidewalk past Ridge Rd. so you can pick up the new underpass connection under Manitou Ave. so you don't have to fight traffic to get over to the Creekside Trail in Manitou Springs!!! :) Headed for the Swimming Pool Park to have out brown bag lunch.

The Sunshine was really strong so I took a photo of both the duck pond and Cheyenne Creek that flows through the park on it's way to Fountain Creek in Colorado Springs. We enjoyed the views and the park. 

We headed back east on Midland, took the Greenway south to Tejon St. got on the bike lanes heading north, east on a back street over to pick up Shooks Run heading north. We were going to stop at the Tasty Freeze-Drive Inn but the dark clouds coming over the mountains we decided to head back to the storage unit, tucked the trikes away and walked back to the apartment. 20 miles RT. It's a ride we've done a thousand times but still enjoyable on a sweet summer day! :) 

Recumbent Wanderings, July 16, 2020 Riding a portion of the Cherry Creek Trail, Parker, Colorado

July 16th., We packed up the old Ford Ranger with the trikes and headed north up Hwy. 83 to S. Parker, CO. and the McCabe Trailhead to ride a 15+mile long section of the Cherry Creek Trail from the trailhead up to the Cherry Creek Reservoir. It's a older concrete trail (ie: not 12 ft. wide), but a nice one with lot's of terrain changes and excellent restroom/porta-potty stops along the way. it was a Sunny AM and Cloudy PM with 85 F temps and the usual Monsoon rain clouds building slowly over the mountains. It was a enjoyable ride, 31.2 miles RT and yes, we did get sprinkled on as we put the trikes back in the truck for the ride back to Colorado Springs, where we got poured on for about 30 minutes! Got the trikes in the storage unit and went over to the Lucky Dragon for some YUM Chinese Take Out so all in all a excellent day!!  

Here's a link to a "short" version of the ride video, here's why! [This is the SHORT version of this video, had to shrink the size from 1080 p to 360 p so my very SLOW phone based internet can upload it to my You Tube Page. I'm using a FREE Video Compression program and it will only compress "1/3rd." of the video while using the FREE version of the program, sorry, thanks for watching, ENJOY! :) 

July 11, 2020-Loop Ride (or a try to find shade ride!) ;)

It was already in the 90 F+ by the time we got the trikes set up and took off on a ride, we decided to do a loop ride on trails that at least have some shade! We headed north on the PP Greenway then west on the Sinton Trail up the junction with the Foothills Trail, which travels by the Garden of the Gods Visitor Center and the entryway into the GoG itself. We then picked up the 31st. Street Bike Lane to the junction to the Midland Trail and headed east to America The Beautiful Park, down town. Colorado Ave. bike lane to the Cascade bike lane north and the Pikes Peak Ave. bike lane to the junction for the Shooks Run Trail heading north. A HOT ride with almost no breeze and lot's of SUN!! We did have a brown bag lunch stop at Vermijo Park and then when down town we stopped for a quick pop in to McDonalds for Iced Tea!!!!!

Headed back to the storage unit via back streets, tucked in the trikes and walked back to the apartment. 18 miles RT and we'd have gone a bit more but the HEAT was starting to beat on these 65 year old Seniors!! 

Riding trails and bike lanes to the Starsmoor Visitor's Center, North Cheyenne Canyon, Colorado Springs, CO. July 9, 2020

We decided to head out from the storage area and visit the Starsmoor Visitor's Center in North Cheyenne Canyon here in Colorado Springs, CO. , (also home to 7 Falls). We rode South on the Cascade St. Bike Lane then due to construction blocking the bike lane, picked up the bike lane along Colorado College Hockey Arena down to Monument Valley Park, then hooked up with the Pikes Peak Greenway through America The Beautiful Park to Bear Creek Park Trail and finally the 8th. street bike lane.

Rode that to pick up the bike lane on Cheyenne Blvd. up to the Center and the start of the North Cheyenne Canyon Road up to Gold Camp Road. It was a HOT day, 95 F+ and Sunny with almost no breeze! Going West toward the canyon, we headed up hill, past the Sacred Grounds Coffee Shop/Cafe up to the Visitor's Center, found a shady spot by Cheyenne Creek and ate our brown bag lunch! 

We headed back down the canyon going East on the Cheyenne Blvd./Tejon St. bike lane, which was again, blocked of by more construction, arrugh!! Then did a job on a back street and got on the Shooks Run Trail heading north. Rode that up to Tasty Freeze Drive Inn (right off the trail) for a large Iced Tea!! Then over to the PP Greenway, east on Polk St. to Wood Ave. then back to the storage unit!! 18 miles RT, not a long ride but still a good one! :) 

!@#$ happens but sometimes it's GREAT!! :)

This happened on Sunday June 28th., 2020:  I was bummed that Terra Trike RiderFest  was now being held at three different cities but not coming anywhere near Colorado. With a 27 year old Ford Ranger PU for our only transport and being on very fixed income, didn't look like I'd be able to participate at any of them. Then, due to the COVID-19 Virus,  it was changed to a "Virtual" TT RiderFest  I could get to finally participate! The one thing I was worried about is I didn't have a Smart Trainer, (if the weather was bad you could report your trainer ride!), just a recumbent exercise bike but since I could take a "snap shot" of my STRAVA  "manual input page" I went ahead and joined up to the Terra Trike Isolation Riders Site on STRAVA! 

I got lucky, all the dates turned out to be days I could RIDE my TT Traveler so even better. I'll totally admit, I wasn't even dreaming about WINNING, I just don't win things, the wife has now and then but not ME. Although I have ridden bicycles my whole life, I spent most of the last 40 years as a Motorcycle Tourist and bicycled now and then. Well motorcycling finally got so expensive we had to give it up and went to bicycles are our primary outdoor past time.  As we got into our 60's we started thinking about "step thru" bicycles as our balance isn't as good as it use to be! 

Then I found out about recumbents, we started out on SUN EZ-1- SX recumbent bicycles but they just didn't work well for JoLynn, we looked into trikes, sadly at that time we couldn't afford them! :( Then in 2018 we discovered our local recumbent dealer,  Angletech (www.cycledifferent.com) and went to check out the shop, found out they sold used trikes and had a layaway program. So I put down money on a used SUN EZ-Tad -SX and finally got a trike, 

then my wife JoLynn wanted one so we set up a layaway for her on a used Terra Trike Cruiser and we both were now riding recumbent trikes!

 We love riding trikes together, so much easier and comfortable than standard bicycles! I upgraded to a used 2011 Terra Trike Tour II. 

 In Jan. 2019,  JoLynn had a heart attack and a slow recovery,  we sold both trikes and bought a used Terra Trike Rover TANDEM. 

It was a blast and it let her slowly build her fitness level back to where she felt strong enough to get back on her own trike.  We decided folding trikes might be a good idea, that's how I ended up on the used 2014 TT Traveler. 

Then we had low level (350 W, 36 V rear wheel hub motor) E-assist set up's installed. We figured at 65 these were our FOREVER Trikes! I've know a couple of riders who had Greenspeed Trikes and they have some really excellently thought out features but alas I could never afford such a higher end machine! Well Wheel Wiz/Terra Trike, Inc. took over Greenspeed Trikes, Inc.  just before the last Vitural TT RiderFest  Series Ride, on June 27th. 2020  They decided they would include Greenspeed Trikes in the drawing for the prize and I thought how cool it would be to WIN a trike like that!! I looked at all the models and the GT20-RS, just touched all the buttons on what I would want in a trike, although the new Terra Trike GT-S came in a VERY close 2nd. place but I really prefer "in-direct steering",  I'd have been in heaven with either! 

Watching The Laid Back Bike Report, I'm a big fan of their show,  I had a question on the steering of my TT Traveler the Q & A session with Marshal and JC from Terra Trike Marketing.  I then waited to see if anyone I follow on STRAVA would win the trike! When JC called out my name, I was STUNNED into silence, my wife asked me, What's Wrong, I just barely got out, I WON and did a bit of a "happy dance", then decided I'd go for a Greenspeed GT20-RS,  if it was available as a prize trike! :) So I'm awaiting the news the trike has been shipped to Angletech here in Colorado Springs, CO. for assembly and "swapping" over of the E-assist system from the TT Traveler to the new BLUE Greenspeed GT20-RS, can't wait to take it for a RIDE! 

Added note: Well it finally arrived at Angletech, (www.cycledifferent.com) on July 7th. and we will do the swap over of the E-assist system and accessories on July 24th.  Going to be a looooong two weeks but so worth it in the end! :) 

A "almost" ride with new friends

Friday July 3, 2020: A friend of our's has a loosely e-mail alert for trike riders around Co. Springs and a ride came up that we could hook up at a location on the way to a stop for lunch at our favorite little diner, the Tasty Freeze Drive Inn. We thought we'd be staging there with our friend Larry (rides a cool and FAST Greenspeed Aero trike}, so we arrived at the area at 9:30 AM. and waited, and waited and waited?? Finally we headed up the Cottonwood Creek Trail to see if we could catch them at the Vincent St. Tunnel but alas, still no group so we just headed back, picked up the Pikes Peak Greenway, then back streets over to Shooks Run Trail and arrived at the Tasty Freeze. LOL, we found the group at a table, (yes, 6 ft. between tables and we had on our mask's, did hand sanitizer, etc.). Well they were almost ready to leave and go back up north, Rodger bought our Lunch (great chicken strips and ice tea, YUM), and we talked and meet some new folks for about 10-15 mins. before they mounted up and headed out! 

We enjoyed our lunch, then headed south on Shooks Run and got to ride on the newly poured concrete sections a ways down the trail, SWEET, sure hope they finish the rest of the trail this summer as the old cracked asphalt surface is a bit rough on non-suspension trikes!! We headed down to pick up Fountain Blvd. and took back streets thru town over to Cascade St., then headed north on the Cascade St. bike lane heading north through down town Co. Spgs. and over to where we get off and head for Wood Ave. to work our way on more back streets to our storage unit to tuck away the trikes! 90F, HOT and Sunny day, 21 miles RT. Even with mask's it was really NICE to get to meet new folks again, it's been a long time of "riding alone" for us lately! :) (NOTE: The group was less than 10 people). BJ :)

  

A Totally MESSED UP Ride! July 1, 2020

A TOTALLY MESSED UP RIDE!!! We headed out to ride the elusive Homestead Trail, we pickup the Rock Island Trail at the Shooks Run and RIT junction up to Academy Blvd. then east on Mazeland to a back street that get's you to a little dirt pathway into a park and picks up the Homestead Trail BUT, we had to turn around as there was a ditch digging machine taking up the whole path laying fiber optic cable!! So we turned around and headed up Mazeland to find no entry way to the trail and ended up on Murry Blvd. 

We headed north on Murry and turned south on S. Carefree but when we go to the trail access spot, arrugh, they had it blocked off due to more !@#$% construction, cable laying!!!! We gave up and headed down S. Carefree pick up the side walk on Academy Blvd. to Austin Bluffs Parkway and headed south to pick up the back side of the Templeton Gap Trail and head for Porta Park for our brown bag lunch stop. Had lunch, then again took to the trail to get us to the PP Greenway and via backstreets to get to the storage area, tucked in the trikes, loaded the gear in the pull cart and walked our 1 mile back to the apartment. 16 miles 80F, WINDY but sunny, still enjoyed the ride even though it was a PIA!!!  

Here's a link to the short version of the video on our You Tube Page!

We started out to ride the elusive Homestead Trail north but every entryway was blocked by some different form of CONSTRUCTION! While trying to find a way ar...

YOUTUBE.COM

Recumbent Wanderings, July 1, 2020 A Totally Messed Up RIDE!

We started out to ride the elusive Homestead Trail north but every entryway was blocked by some different form of CONSTRUCTION! While trying to find a way ar...