August 25, 2020-Testing my new CamPark 4K video camera with audio mic and a local ride with at least "less smoke" from the fires!

 On Tuesday August 25, 2020 it was another HOT (90F+) day with hazy sunshine but you could actually make the outline of Pikes Peak today were you couldn't see it all last weekend and on Monday!! I found a great price break on a last years model CamPark ACT74 4K Ultra HD video camera and we did this ride to test it out. Sadly my You Tube channel isn't up to 4K yet so I shot the vid in 1080p (30fps) setting, even more of a let down, my internet connection is SO SLOW, that I have to convert it to a lowly 360p so it will upload from my computer to make a You Tube video, RATS!! :(

The other thing that a nice upgrade is that it has a "remote microphone" instead of the tiny built in one in my Vivitar 786 HD video camera and at least some level of, STABLEIZATION setting which the old camera had NONE so it's at least a bit more LESS bouncy!! :) We headed down the Cascade St. Bike Lane over to the Colorado Ave. Bike Lane to America the Beautiful Park to pick up the Midland Trail heading west to Manitou Springs, CO. and Schyever Park to have our normal "brown bag picnic". After the lunch we decided to head back via Pikes Peak Ave. as they are still doing construction work at Ridge Rd. and the Trail, it has a VERY steep and slick gravel ramp up to the street as a detour and I had to PUSH the trikes up to the street from the trail!!! At 65 we are getting too old to be doing that!! It's typical here as the City thinks the only bikes that ride the trails are Mountain Bikes (MTB's) arrrugh!! :( 

18 miles RT, quite a roaster as we got off Pikes Peak Ave. on to the Pine St. trail heading north back to the storage unit to tuck away the trikes and do our 1 mile walk back to our 2nd. story apt. Still it was a enjoyable ride as always! :) 

August 22, 2020 A smoky ride to find a safe way to access Colorado Highway 83 N. to Castle Rock, CO.

 We are thinking about doing a overnight or weekend longer distance ride up to Castle Rock, CO. which is 60+ miles north of Colorado Springs and we'd have to use CO. Hwy. 83N. as there are no trails between the cities. I was trying to remember as safe non-traffic way of getting us from our home base up to CO. Hwy. 83 we use to use when we rode bicycles with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club. We have 5 fires burning north and south of us and the day was SMOKEY but hot, 90F + with almost no breeze so we put on the mask's and headed out to pick up the Pikes Peak Greenway north and the Cottonwood Creek Trail up to Vincent St. which we took the bike lane over to Woodman Ave. 

Well we got a surprise as the city built a "MEDIAN" in Vincent and we couldn't turn left so we had to ride down to find a opening to head north to Woodman Ave. LOL, JoLynn was blocked by a truck and didn't see me turn north so she kept going south! I crossed over Woodman and waited for her at a Carl's Jr. and she finally caught up to me. We headed up a back road that dead ends with a sidewalk for walkers/bike riders to access the street up to Academy Blvd. which has a bike path as far as Research Ave. then you have to get on Hwy. 83 N. till you get to Franktown, then turn west on CO. Hwy. 86 into Castle Rock itself. Our plan was to ride the PATH for as far as it went then turn around but as stated it only went a few blocks up to Research Ave. so we found a shady spot by a USA Bank and had our brown bag lunch! :)

After lunch we headed back down the path and the way we came up as we got our goal and re-found the proper and safest way to Hwy. 83.  Back down Cottonwood Creek Trail to the PPGW and headed to the storage unit to tuck away the trikes and walk home. 19 miles RT and the smoke seemed to get thicker, as you really couldn't see the mountains or Pikes Peak at all!!! Sure hope we get some rain at these fires soon and we get our clear, "easter egg" blue sky back!! 

 

August 15, 2020-A ride with a mission for "Bike Colorado Springs" Advocacy Group and the new Museum!

 We took a ride with a bit of a mission, checking out the new bike lanes up and down Sierra Madre St. infront of the new Olympic/Paralympic Museum in down town Colorado Springs for Allen B. from "Bike Colorado Springs" today! We rode down the Cascade St. bike lane over to Colorado Ave. bike lane and turned left to get to Sierra Madre St. checking out the the new Museum and the new entry and parking area on Vermajo St.. 

We then headed over to Tejon St. Bike lane heading west to pick up the Cheyenne blvd. bike lane over to the 8th. St. bike lane to Wal-Mart. Headed over to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading north up to Monument Valley Park for our brown bag lunch stop! Then we headed over the bridge over I-25 to the Pine St. trail and over to the Midland Trail heading west to 21st. St. turned around and headed back to America The Beautiful Park and over the new "connector trail" from the Park back over to Sierra Madre St. and the Cascade bike lane heading north back to our storage unit, tucked in the trikes and walked back to the apt. Hot 85 F+, partly cloudy and still SMOKIE from the forest fires in two places in Colorado. 

August 13th, 2020- Cottonwood Creek Trail and find my lost FLAG ride

 Aug. 13, HOT, 90 F+,  dry, sunny!  We headed north up the Pikes Peak Greenway to ride Cottonwood Creek Trail up to Cottonwood Regional Park, had our brown bag lunch and on the way back we had to LOOK for my FLAG!! It come off for the very first time for some reason so it was a slow ride back, even if it was mostly down hill heading back into down town Colorado Springs. 

Found the flag:) , some nice person picked it up and laid it in the shrub bed this is the one spot we have to get off the sidewalk on Fillmore St. and on the very busy road so we put the E-assist up to level 3 and haul buns 1/4 mile up to Mark Dabling Blvd. to get on the Pikes Peak Greenway North. Looks like the drive way bump with the quick speed increase made the flag fly off! Happy to find it, it's a $65 flag. :) We then headed back to the storage unit, tucked in the trikes and walked our mile back to the apartment! :) 20 miles RT.

August 9, 2020-Reverse Trail Ride

 Just to be a bit different, we took a local trails and bike lane ride in "Reverse",  I got in a 20 mile ride with my wife JoLynn just a mix of local trails and bike lanes. 90F, sunny with just few clouds, stopped for unsweetened iced tea to add to our lowly brown bag lunch. We then headed back to our storage area to tuck the trikes away and go have dinner with our Son, Steven. Nothing special but any ride is FUN!! 

Rides in August 1st. and 6th. A ride with a MISSION!

 Our ride on August 1st. was just to get more time on my GS GT20-RS and get in a ride before the afternoon Monsoon Rains came rumbling in over Pikes Peak. Just a local area ride mixing up the different trails and bike lanes around Colorado Springs.

Our ride on August 6th. was more of a "MISSION" ride, I was asked by JC from Wiz Wheel's, Inc. marketing dept. if I could get some photo's of the GS I won from them actually on a local trail so we headed up the Greenway to head west on Sinton Trail hooking up with the Foothills Trail to take us to the Mesa Rd. Outlook for a couple of  "Photo Op's" pictures. 

Taking the Foothills trail south, you normally run into a junction of the foothills and Mesa trails but found out they are finally taking out the old beat up asphalt and replacing it will fresh laid concrete on the Mesa Trail connector so we had to go out and get on 31st. Street and play with the tourist traffic for 1/2 mile over to Mesa Road to get to the Overlook. With Pikes Peak and the red rock formations of the Garden of the Gods in the background the overlook is a very scenic local spot for a photo op!!

 Well with the mission accomplished, we headed to the Skate board park in Manitou Springs via the Pikes Peak Ave. back street over to Manitou Blvd. and to the park for our usual brown bag lunch and noticed they've added a 9 hole disc golf course to the Park, LOVE Manitou Springs always improving their parks and keeping them CLEAN!! :) Headed back to the storage unit but found out they've got the Creekside and Midland Trails blocked off due to the what seems, "never ending construction" on the area's around the trails, sigh so we used Pikes Peak then got past the blocked area's and took the Midland Trail over to 21st. street, to Walnut St. then over to the Pine St. trail via the bike lanes and back to tuck the trikes away and do our 1 mile walk back to the apt. 18 miles RT, 85F partly cloudy, just a little breeze so it was a good day for a MISSION RIDE!! :)

July 29, 2020, The first ride for BJ on his new Greenspeed GT20-RS, won as a the raffle prize for the Terra Trike RiderFest Virtual Ride Series!

Well, the day finally arrived, Angletech, our local recumbent dealer has been swamped between sales and service request due to the Covid-19 virus and folks wanting trikes for recreation to get "out side" after the Level 1 Stay at Home order lifted here in CO. The trike was shipped to them by Wiz Wheel's Inc. back on July 7th. but I couldn't get an appointment to have the trike built up and the E-assist system swapped from my old TT Traveler to the new GT20-RS till the 24th. 

Then it took a couple of days longer to get everything set up so on the 29th. I got to pick it up and take it for it's "Madden Voyage"!! By the time later in the day it was ready we only had time for a quick "test ride" so we headed south on the Sinton Trail over to the Pikes Peak Greenway and up to Criterium Bicycle Shop for a quick bite of lunch at the Crit Cafe, alas, they weren't open, RATS. So we ate a protein bar and headed back, JoLynn headed south to ride to the end of the Mesa/Pine St. Trail and I headed back up to Angletech to have Kirk, the main Tech. adjust and change a couple of things that weren't quite right.

 I then loaded the GS into the truck and headed back to our storage unit to put the trikes away. We spend the next day putting on all the rest of the "accessories"  on the GT20-RS so we'd be able to go for a longer ride on Saturday, the 1st. of August. I'm a very happy camper! :) PS: as soon as Angletech sells my TT Traveler (on consignment sale: www.cycledifferent.com under Experianced Rides, FYI, I will get the optional front fenders and to quote: "The Transformation will be complete"! ;)