Wednesday, December 29, 2021

December 28, 2021- Got the GOAL miles in before the end of the year and the ugly weather to come!

 


As per the last post we both needed only 10 miles to break 1800 for me and 1500 miles for Jo for 2021. Well the temps have taken a dive and the winds are now brisk and CHILLY! Still the day dawned sunny and would very slowly work it way up to 40 F so we headed out late morning to "get them miles" in. We need to do a Food Run on Weds., Thurs. is suppose to have HIGH WINDS and Fri.-Sun. well a Artic front is coming in with possible SNOW so it was kinda "now or never" for us! 

We headed out to ride one of our favorite trails, started south on the Palmer-Mesa Greenway to the Spruce St. bike lane over to the Midland Trail heading to Manitou Springs. Wow, should have worn the full fleece jacket instead of just the lighter fleece vest's! Oh well we endured the chill and stopped for our usual, brown bag lunch at the swimming pool park. One great thing about Mantiou Springs, they keep the rest rooms in the parks open ALL YEAR (Hey Colorado Springs are you listing??) and at this park they have electric hand dryers so we used them to warm up the "fingers" and pulled out the heavy winter gloves for the ride home! LOL, I tell ya, that wind direction changed to a headwind no matter which way we rode and it got stronger towards home. 

Still "goal accomplished" and whatever few miles we get before New Year's Eve will just be icing on the cake as they say!! Hoping for a WARM 2022 but it's starting off REALLY COLD! RATS! Happy New Year's to all from us! BJ and Jo :)


Sunday, December 26, 2021

Accomplishing a GOAL for the YEAR!

 Well the year 2021 in all it's insanity is coming to a close very soon! Jo and I have been very lucky with the weather from October to December this year! I should be able to break 1800 miles for the year and Jo should break 1500 miles for the year, not bad since she had a 2nd. Heart Attack back in June and another hospital stay for a wicked reaction to a "Diabetes Medication Change" back in August!!

We plan on getting the last "10 miles of rides" we need, tomorrow Dec. 27th. The "fly in the ointment" is that we've got possible VERY HIGH WINDS (possible gusts up to 80 mph. by afternoon) so if we can get out a bit early, even if it's pretty COLD in the early mornings this time a year in So. Colorado we can both make our mileage goals! If not then we will do our best to get it at the upcoming, Thursday or Friday! The also over 100 days of bike/trike rides for the year! Why do we miss so many days, well we also do a LOT of WALKING so we have to share the days!  

We will report back if the goal get's accomplished by the end of 2021, we want you to have a Very Happy NEW YEAR'S and the BEST year of your lives in 2022! RIDE as much as possible but ENJOY the rides you do! BJ and Jo Ondo :) 



Wednesday, December 15, 2021

December 14, 2021-The "take a hike" ride, LOL! ;)

 Jo had a heart doctor's appointment at 11:30 AM. on the 14th. so she told me to "go take a hike", LOL, I decided to take a RIDE instead! ;) I headed south then west on different bike lanes here in Co. Springs with the goal of heading up to the "Starsmoor Center Cabin" in North Cheyenne Canyon. Stopped at the Sacread Grounds Coffee Shop and stopped in to eat my brown bag lunch and get a glass of unsweet iced tea. Bought a Latte for a lady solder getting ready to go back to work at Ft. Carson! Headed up the canyon to the center, alas it's closed due to the major road construction heading up to Helen Hunt Falls up the canyon.

Decided to head back to town and thru America the Beautiful Park to the cargo elevator that takes you up to the Sky Bridge at the Olympic & Paralympic Museum downtown. Took a couple of photos and one at the USA sign outside. I then rode over to the bike lane on Pikes Peak Ave. to pick up the Shooks Run Trail heading north and back home. 16 miles total, it started out WINDY and gray but about 11:30 it cleared out and was sunny and warmish for the rest of the ride. A very enjoyable ride but I did miss my favorite riding buddy, Jo! 






Sunday, December 5, 2021

December 4, 2021-We rode the "Chasing Santa 15K Bike Ride and Event

 Jo and I have wanted to ride in the yearly, Chasing Santa 15K Bike Ride, held ever December to support "Christmas Unlimited" (Toys for poor kids) but it's quite expensive at $40 EACH!! Well due to a minor problem at a ALS support event back in March, the organization that runs that ride/race event also does Chasing Santa and they gave us a FREE entry to the December event!!!! YA! :) So we headed over to the Fontenaro St. trail head for the start, 9AM and it was cold, not even 30 F yet but not to bad in the sun! We picked up our "FULL" Santa Claus Suits and put them on and got ready for the start. The ride goes to the turn around point at the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort in Manitou Springs, they served up mini waffles and hot coco or coffee. Then we headed back to the Start/Finish area for the drawings, they had a few odd vendors of bike and running related items on hand too. We didn't win anything which is normal, LOL! Here is a "very short" video of the START of the Ride! 



Here are a few photos of the start/finish area of us in our costumes. :)




  

Saturday, November 27, 2021

November 26, 2021- A Stunningly Beautiful Day for a RIDE!!

 Usually by now, we've had a lot of dreary, cold, gray weather and even a snow fall or two but so far Nov. has had very nice fall days unless a cold front comes through, then it's been chilly, gray and windy but the great weather returns! On Friday the 26th. it was one of the nicest late fall days I've seen in decades! 65F, sunny and hardly breeze! Easter Egg Blue Skies without a single cloud making the foothills and local mountains, stand out like 3-D! So fortunate to be retired, [not much longer, sadly we are going to be FORCE to get part time jobs as we just don't make enough SS retirement income to make it to the next payday!!! :( ] 

Oh well at least we've been lucky with the weather lately! :) We had very little bike and running traffic on the Greenway and the Cottonwood Creek Trail 18-19 miles round trip and one very enjoyable ride! If it wouldn't have been for the sun going down so much quicker and our Senior Bladders letting us know it's "that time" we'd have just kept ridding for a while more but alas, once it's starts heading to evening you KNOW it's winter as the temps drop quickly as the sun goes down behind Pikes Peak! :)




Sunday, November 21, 2021

More November Rides- Nov. 19-20-21 local rides and lot's of "transportation/food runs"

 Well it's heading to winter, had some rain and crud and yet some really nice days to, it's the "bi-polar" weather season here in So. Colorado! So it's the time of year for "short" rides as it takes a while to warm up to our minimum ride temp, 35 F and SUNNY, if it's 35 F and cloudy we don't ride, we stay inside and ride our recumbent exercise bike! Which will make it hard to do the weekly FOOD runs we do with bike/trike and utility trailer! :( As stated we've had some nice days so we get in rides when we can! :) Later start and having to get back before DARK to beat the cold. So it's local area rail trails, bike lanes, LOL, not just too different from normal, ;) Here's a photo of our ride on the 20th.

Ah one of the late fall days that was really nice to ride! Pikes Peak and local mountains in the background! :)

 


Sunday, November 14, 2021

November Rides continued. Nov 7th. thru the 13th. 2021

 We've been getting in a lot of "utility rides" and short rides using the different area urban trails and bike lanes throughout Colorado Springs, CO. lately. The last ride was yesterday Nov. 13th. We had some last minute errands to the post office and paying the cellphone bill so we just headed out the Weber St. Bike Lane to down town over to pick up Shooks Run trail headed north from Pikes Peak Ave. back up to head east on the Rock Island Trail to the Templeton Gap Bike Lane over to Nancy Lewis Park for our brown bag lunch. It was kinda gray, quite cloudy and very breezy!! We then headed down the sidewalk along Fillmore to the Post Office and over to the T-Mobile store. Got across the street and headed east along Fillmore to a back road over to pick up the T-Gap Trail heading back west. Stopped at Porta Park for a break and then headed over to pick up the Pikes Peak Greenway north, then the Sinton Trail heading west again. Our destination was heading to our local recumbent bike shop, Angletech www.cycledifferent.com for their yearly "Open House" event, hot coco and cookies served and the hot coco was appreciated! It did finally get sunny and started to warm a bit by about 1 pm. we got to the shop at 2:15 pm and stayed for the festivities till 4:15 pm, then headed home via Sinton and the PPGW to make it home just as it was getting DARK!! 19 miles RT, the late afternoon was quite nice, made for FUN day, just kick'in around on the Recumbents! :) PS: The 1st. 3 photo's are from our Nov. 7th. ride up the Cottonwood Creek Trail, the last 2 photo's are from our Nov 13th. ride to end up at Angletech's Open House Event! 

One of the many little bridges that cross Cottonwood Creek 



Pikes Peak in the background on the T-Gap Trail

The foothills looking to the north

 

Sunday, November 7, 2021

November 6th., 2021- A ride to the "Veteran's Parade" here in Colorado Springs, CO, then a bit more in the excellent late fall weather

 Well November started out wet a cold for 3 days, then it got much better for the last 3 days! Here in Co. Springs, there's a very good Veteran's Parade on the Saturday before actual Veteran's Day, every year, (except 2020 due to the pandemic!), we headed out at 9 AM. in sunshine and high 30 F temps. to ride to down town to find a place on the sidewalk to see the parade. We found a spot with a bike rack in the middle and just enough room for my bike and Jo's trike on each side! :) The parade theme was, "The Greatest Generation" celebrating WWII and we even had a real WWII Vet in a willy's military style jeep as Grand Marshal! We really enjoy the bands (I did marching band in HS in the early 1970's, yes I and OLD, LOL), lot's of young folks in a area high schools Jr. ROTC programs we marching along with troops from Fort Carson Army Post and their Band too!! A few floats, lot's of VFW, American Legion, etc. groups and related Motorcycle factions. I, (BJ) am a Viet-Nam ERA vet (USAF) so I really like to support the parade. LOL, I even got to be "interviewed" for a 15 sec. spot in the local Channel 11 (KKTV) News at 5:30 PM about why I support the parade so now I have my "15 seconds of FAME", LOL! ;) 

Sadly we had to give up our too expensive for our budget higher speed internet and my phone mobile data based internet is TOO SLOW to load the video I took of the parade and our ride afterwards. I hope to be able to take the laptop to the library and use their internet and get the last two video's loaded up to You Tube real soon! Jo didn't take any photo's and I was too busy with the video so you'll have to wait to see if I can get the parade/ride video upload and added to this blog post, thanks! Have a excellent Thanksgiving Holiday! :)

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The last bit of a excellent October Fall riding before the gloom and doom of Halloween!

 Well we got really lucky for October, it turned out to be a excellent "Indian Summer" kinda month which is just awesome. Oct. 2020 was cold and wet so we really got out and tried to get in as much riding as we can! I've got over 200 miles of rides for the month, been a while since I've seen that number of miles in a month! I know for a lot of you that's no biggie but for us it's a real feat! We are just recreational/utility riders, we can't afford to own a car anymore so we use a bicycle/trike and a home built utility trailer to get our food, necessities, etc. 


 It's been so nice mellow temps, lot's of sunshine but as usual it has ended right close to Halloween! :( From the sunny 70 F's to the cloudy and gray 40 F's in one day, SAD! :( 

We have 3 seasons here in Colorado Springs, Winter, Spring, Summer and "CONSTRUCTION", LOL! ;) At the moment there is construction going on at 4 of the major E/W or N/S urban/rail trails in our area so are rides are now a combo of trail, bike lanes, back streets and yes even sidewalks in some places (No one actually WALKS on the side walks on Academy Blvd. anyway!), so any ride you take this time of year is always a bit of a "changes of plans" ride! We got in rides on both Friday the 29th. and Saturday the 30th. so we ended the month on the recumbents, even had to put new front tires on Jo's trike as she's got in over 1200 miles so far, even with a couple of multi-day stays in the hospital for heart or diabetes problems!! :( I've passed 1500 miles for the year might make 1600 by the end of December but with winter coming in, we NEVER know! Here's a couple of photos from the last two rides, hope your getting in the miles and your area winter is mellow!



NOTE: Sadly we can no longer afford fast speed internet so there is not going to be anymore Relive or other video's on our Blog! :( Unless I can find a FREE source that has fast enough speed to upload them from the laptop to You Tube or Relive, sorry, it's just the way it has to be, thanks! BJ and Jo :)


Tuesday, October 26, 2021

LOL, looks like I'm behind the 8 ball again, here's some updates!



A Video from Oct. 9th. were I rode the Garden of the Gods "Motorless Morning" Ride! They shut down the roads thru the park for bicycles, walkers, roller skaters, (NO skate boards) so you can enjoy the park "CAR FREE"!  

Well we've been doing a lot of "utility runs" as we don't own a car, needed food and got our Covid 19 Moderna Booster shots, etc. Sadly we will probably not be able to add many videos as we had to cancel our xfinity internet due to the rising cost! :( I just don't know if they will be able to be added directly to this Blog Page?? We've been really lucky the weather has been really great thru most of October!!! So I'm just going to put up some photo's and maybe the last video I was able to upload to YouTube! We did do the last series of ADA Tour de Cure Virtual Rides for 2021, the last one was for the Desert Southwest area last weekend! We sure HOPE to be able to do a LIVE version of the ADA Tour de Cure-Rocky Mountains in 2022 but who knows with this !@#$% virus that just won't seem to die off! :( Enjoy! :)











 

Monday, October 11, 2021

October 2nd. and 7th., 2021- Catching up with the blog with a couple of videos!

 Yikes, I've gotten behind on the blog badly, we've had some really excellent fall weather and so we got in some rides on area urban trail and bike lanes!! Nothing really different so I'll just post the video's we took, enjoy the vid's and thanks for checking out the blog, it's really appreciated, sadly the weather is heading down hill this coming week, might even get our first lite snow fall of the year on Thursday morning, ARRUGH!!! Only good thing is we just got a new "recumbent style" exercise bike so we can keep up what we've gained and hope for some clear sunny but now chilly days to get in the miles! BJ's goal was 1500 miles from Jan 1st. to Dec. 31st. and he's got right at 1400 miles now! :)

Oct. 2nd. Ride:


Oct. 7th. Ride:


Hope your Fall rides are still going strong, enjoy them as old man WINTER is breathing down our necks, BURRRRRR! :(

October 9th., 2021-A EXTREEMLY WINDY Ride for the last "Motorless Morning" at the Garden of the Gods Park in 2021!!! :O

 3 times a summer, the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs, CO. shut's off the roads to all "CAR" traffic and has "Motorless Mornings" from 5 AM to 12 Noon!! This was the last one for 2021 and WOW it was really WINDY and we got sprinkled on as we rode from the apartment to the GoG Park. The Sun came out but the WIND was really ripping! Made it tough to keep the bicycle going "straight" to film the video so pls. forgive the extra side to side movement!! :( It was a fun ride and the VIEWS are FANTASTIC, if your ever coming to visit, check the city website for the dates and BRING YOUR BICYCLE!! :) Here is the video of the Ride! 19 miles RT, totally tired out at the end! :)



Monday, September 27, 2021

September 2021 Rides-More of the Sept. rides

 On September 18th. we rode in the 2021 Virtual ADA Tour de Cure-NATIONWIDE event! Jo had set a aggressive goal of 30 miles for the days ride and we decided to do it different by making it mostly a "road ride" instead of our normal mix of urban and rail trails!! We headed out south to ride what we knew growing up as "Old Bradley Road". Due to the influx of population growth, we found out it was now "Goldfield Drive". The road itself is a nice old 2 lane with great views of the Big Johnson Reservoir, we stopped at the Bluestem Prairie Open Space to take a break. It's a loooong up hill grade to Fountaine Blvd. where we leave the open road and head back into the town of Fountain. We stopped at Culver's and had a really excellent fish sandwich and unsweet Iced Tea!!  From there we headed south to another old back road over to Widefield, thru Security to pick up Hwy. 85/87 to Las Vegas St. and then picked up the Pikes Peak Greenway back to the apartment! YEA we got in our 30 miles for the day so the goal was accomplished. Excellent weather, great ride good food, Excellent!! :)







Sunday September 26th. we headed out for a mellow days ride in fantastic late summer/early fall weather 80 F and sunny!! Just one of our normal rides over to Manitou Springs. Started by using the Weber St. bike lanes thru downtown to pick up the Midland Trail over to Manitou and the Creek Walk Trail to the swimming pool park, found a table in the shade and ate our brown bag lunch!! Then headed back, changing to the Mesa Greenway back to the Pikes Peak Greenway over the Popcycle Bridge and back to the apartment. 16 miles RT. Really enjoyed the days ride and the last few warm days of 2021! Not looking forward to the coming winter months! :(



Monday, September 6, 2021

September 6, 2021 LABOR DAY-We rode to the Colorado Springs CO Balloon Lift Off Festival at Memorial Park!

 We headed to the Labor Day "Colorado Springs, CO. Labor Day Balloon Festival at Memorial Park at 6AM. today, "it was dark" too see the Balloon Launch at 7AM, (yes, that's morning)! Sadly there was a video camera malfunction for the whole 15 minute ride to the park so NO VIDEO of the actual ride, BUMMER!

🙁 This event is 3 days long Sat, Sun, Mon of Labor Day weekend every year, we had 75 balloons fill the skies in 3 waves this year with the first day, "basket dunk" just touching the waters of Prospect Lake in the park! Man it was so PACKED with people, YES we were wearing masks and staying in the more open area's when possible. The video is short but it makes the point of the days ride. Headed back down town for a breakfast at the "Corner Cafe" for the 1st. time, their "breakfast sandwich" was great! Then on a beautiful morning headed to Manitou Springs via the Midland Trail taking a break at Schhryver Park then headed home before the days high temps set in, 90 F+ for todays high!! Fun ride and event a great way to end the Labor Day Weekend last Summer Holiday! 🙂 Short You Tube Video:








Sunday, August 29, 2021

August 28, 2001-JoLynn's ADA Tour de Cure-Rocky Mountains Event Ride Report!!

We got up at 6 AM. and did our warm up and stretch exercises, had a cup of hot green tea with lemon, dressed for the ride, packed the bikes and headed out the door by 7 AM. We decided to check out the newly painted "Bike Lane" on Weber St. into downtown Co. Springs. Heading out to the Corner Cafe downtown to get a good breakfast and RATS, we got there and found out they are CLOSED on Saturday's, ARRUGH!! :( Headed over to America the Beautiful Park to pick up the Midland Trail heading west. Stopped at two more cafes but one was not open yet and the other one had no place to park and lock up our bikes so we headed to Mc Donald's off of 31st. and remembered they had a Taco Bell decided to give their Breakfast Burrito's at try! Drat, they we not opening till 10 AM. due to a employee weekly meeting so we went to Mickey D's and got a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit only to find out we'd have to eat out in the parking lot as the lobby was still closed due to Covid requirements!!!! :( Oh well the biscuit was quite good, the day was sunny and not windy! :)

We headed for the Swimming Pool Park in Manitou Springs, found out they have FINALLY finished the make over for the trail section off of street beginning with B so we could ride the whole trail back without using the "detour" on the back road! Stopped so Jo could eat a good Fuji Apple in the shade and take a break. We headed back on the Midland Trail to the Palmer-Mesa Greenway and thought about heading to the "Crit Cafe" at the Criterium Bike Shop on the Pikes Peak Greenway. As the day was getting close to 11 AM. the heat came on quick and it went up to 90 F so we cut the ride short and headed to the Tasty Freeze Drive Inn a few blocks from the apartment. Great hot dog with grilled bun and unsweet iced tea, filled the water bottles with more ice and headed south on the Shooks Run Trail to Fontenero St. Bike Lane back to Wood Ave. then back to the apartment and the Air Conditioning, it felt good!! 20 miles round trip for ride mileage, 90 F Sunny, little breeze but Jo was pumped to actually get in the "Virtual" ride in the books so she "earned" her first ADA Tour de Cure Jersey she got to wear on the ride!!

She raised $230.00 in donations but her GOAL was $500 so she's hoping to work up to that  total GOAL before the next event ride: The ADA Tour de Cure-NATIONWIDE Event Ride on September 18th. 2021. She has set her mileage goal as 30 miles round trip ride! So pls. if you can send a donation in ANY amount to her ADA Personal Donations Page if you can, it's very, very appreciated!!! :) (link below)


 Link for Jo's ADA Personal Tour de Cure Donations Page for the Nationwide Event: 
http://main.diabetes.org/goto/jolynnondoredrider 

Here is a short video of the Sept. 28th. ride Tour de Cure-Rocky Mountains: 



Friday, August 27, 2021

It's been a Loooooong two months, July/August have been the PITTS!!! :(

Well, Jo had her 2nd. heart attack on July 27th. and then just when we thought things would settle down, WHAM!!! on August 17th. She started throwing up and it was continuous for the 2 hrs. I was riding to Silver Key to get our August Supplemental Senior FOOD Allotment!  I got home to her looking like death warmed over and called 911 for an ambulance as we have NO CAR for transport to the Emergency Room!!! :( After a 3 day hospital stay they STILL don't know for SURE what caused the reaction but we feel it came on fast after she starting taking a "full dose" of a NEW Diabetic Medication she was started on!!!! :(

So for the 2nd. time in 2 months. Jo is back to "LEVEL ZERO" for her training rides for the ADA Tour de Cure-Rocky Mountains Event Ride on the 28th. of August! :( We've just had a little over a week to start her back with a few very easy miles on the trike. Alas the 62 mile (Metric Century) we'd planned to rider for the event is totally "Out The Window", we are now set to do a 10 to 15 miles local area ride for the "Virtual Event Ride" maybe we can get in a bit more miles per day in mid September when they have the ADA Tour de Cure-National Virtual Event Ride"!! :) We done a couple of rides using a "LOT" of stops and lot's of "shade breaks" to let her rest up but we will just have to see. Pls. wish her the best, she did get enough "Donations" to get the level 1 official ADA Tour de Cure Jersey and T-shirt but not the $500 in donations she needed for the fancier Level 2 donations Jersey she'd hoped for! :( Oh well maybe NEXT year as she's now a "Official RED RIDER", YEA!!! Report coming soon! :) 


We did a charity event ride called Burger Madness and added a bit of ride which is the video above, here's a couple of photos from the event ride too!