January 23, 2022-First "real ride" on the recumbent trikes for the both of us!

Sunday, the day finally dawned sunny and they called for temps in the high 40 F's so we managed to get in our 1st. "real ride" on the recumbent trikes for the both of us. We hadn't been to Manitou for a while, we headed south on the Cascade St. bike lane over towards America the Beautiful Park, downtown. Picked up the Midland Trail heading west through Old Colorado City and over to Manitou Springs. It was still kinda chilly, we only went as far as the Skateboard Bowl Park and ate our homemade trail mix. 

LOL, before we left, we'd decided we'd had enough sugar free jelly and low sugar peanut butter sandwiches and headed back to downtown to go to Panino's Italian Restaurant for our favorite "Panino wrap" called the BIG BOPPER, YUM!! :) Then we stopped at the Colorado Springs Bike Shop for a set of head and taillights for Jo's trike. Heading back to the Shooks Run Trail north we stopped at ACE hardware store to buy a L-bracket to make the homebuilt double water bottle cage BJ made me, stronger. A quick ride home ended the day, 19 miles and a great lunch made for an excellent time out and about on the recumbent, TRIKES! :)

January 18, 2022-First ride on the "new to us" recumbent trikes!

Ok, so we couldn't go to get Jo her TT Rambler trike last Saturday due to ICE and snow on the roads and trails but with a good melt on Sun/Mon, we headed up to Angletech www.cycledifferent.com to get her "fitted" and have the few adjustments needed so her old TT Rover trike would fit ME!! After the fittings, we headed out to lunch on a semi brisk but very sunny day! Stopped at Sonic Drive Inn for a coney dog and a unsweet iced tea. On the ride we found that the shifter for the front derailleur wasn't working right so we headed back and they replaced the shifter and everything worked great! 

We headed out for a short ride before we headed back to the apartment. We stopped for a photo op and hauled back as the winds were starting to come up as a new cold front is supposed to be here by tomorrow morning, BUMMER!! Oh well 10 miles of "SMILES" is still a good day!! I, BJ, have to admit it's nice to get back on a "Recumbent TRIKE"! You never have to worry about balance, and it just makes the ride easier!! :) It will take a bit of getting used too, Jo really likes her new to her TT Rambler trike, it's a bit lighter and more responsive and is happy it is a killer orange and black color frame so for once she gets a trike that's NOT BLUE!! ;) Hope you got in a ride, have an excellent day!

 

January 15, 2022-The only constant in the universe is: CHANGE! ;)

 Well, we got a bit of winter last night with a 1/4 to 1/2 inch dusting of snow and of course it's just enough to ice and muck up the roads and trails! :( LOL, and of course we found a way to come up with the money to pay off Jo's used Terra Trike Rambler upgraded trike and now we have to WAIT and HOPE the roads melt enough for us to ride up to Angletech and get Jo, FITTED to her new to her trike! :(  Lucky for us, it's SUNNY, still COLD but hopefully by early afternoon we could have the roads and trails clear enough to get up to the shop and get her trike and so I can get "FITTED" to her old TT Rover and take that over so we will both be back to having TRIKES again! YEA, :) Here is a photo of her new to her TT Rambler: 

We have to wait for the 152mm 22/32/44 MTB crankset comes in some time late next week and go back up and have that installed but we are hoping she can "get by" using the stock 170mm crankset till it get's here. See Jo has VERY SHORT legs and so the boom is usually "all the way in" and that puts the 170mm crankarms REALLY close to the cross frame and she can have "heel strike", which would SUCK! We just need it to work for a week but we will see when she get's "fitted" at the shop! 

They will be adding a few "Links of chain" to the now, MY TT Rover X8 so I can "pull the boom out and make it longer to fit my 32 in. legs, that's all that really needs to be done for me to switch out from the SUN EZ-1 SX bike to the trike. I will then put the bike up for sale on craigslist or have it "consignment sale" at Angletech. The EZ-1 SX has been a VERY GOOD bike, no complaints at all, I'm only switching back to a trike because, #1. It makes me even more compatible riding with Jo! #2, LOL, at 66, I ain't getting any YOUNGER and I'm sure the "balance" factor is going to be more "important" in the future! We did get in a couple of short rides and a FOOD run lately but it's been kinda COLD. We also joined a small local area GYM, to try to work on keeping some "muscle mass", that you just seem to lose as you get older. We get lot's of cardio exercise by walking and biking but we don't really keep the muscles fit! LOL, we won't become Gym Rats, but going in for an hour once/twice a week and working on the "resistance machines" then down the road a bit, some light work with weights! Just trying to keep what we got "going"! :)

January 11, 2022- Just a quick "catch up" post!

 We have been so fortunate with the weather this winter so far! Still able to be on some miles for FUN riding and get in our "utility" rides, being CAR LESS to get food, supplies, etc!! Last Saturday Jan. 8th. we got out for around 18 miles on a very nice sunny and warm day, gota love the is EL Ninia pattern! :) Had a bit of temp drop on Sunday, then Monday we had to go to an appointment. We've found out our Medicare Advantage Plan gives us a FREE membership at some of the local area Gym's. We found a nice small one really close to our apartment building and joined up, take our first "get familiar with the equiptment" session on Friday, at arrugh, 8:30 AM. Mainly wanting to retain and hopefully improve a bit our "muscle mass"! We have noticed as we get older that even though we "ride bikes and walk" a lot the muscles aren't staying firm and seem to be shrinking!! :O We plan on doing mostly "on the machine weight work", no not heavy bar bell lifting. Some arm pulls and leg presses which we don't have ROOM to have a weight bench at home, with all the recumbents, trailer and the recumbent exercise bike taking up more than half of the front room!

Back to the rides, we got out today, Jan. 11th. and headed north on the Pikes Peak Greenway picked up the new detour route (They are ripping out the old beat up asphalt and replacing with smooth concrete from Rockrimmon to Woodmen Ave, YEA!!) Then hooking up with the Cottonwood Creek Trail at the Vincent St. bridge, heading East we rode to the Regional Park on the trail. Headed back home and bagged 20 miles, 50 F Sunny but the slight breeze still had a "CHILL" to it so the jackets stayed on! Enjoyed the ride, tomorrow, Jan. 12th. is our SS Retirement payday so it's a VERY NEEDED trip to the food store and then up to Angletech (our area recumbent dealer) to pay another payment on Jo's "New to her", Terra Trike Rambler (20 inch version) trike, it's gona be a bit before we get it paid off but worth the weight and financial sacrifice to get her into a "lighter" and more efficent recumbent trike! Yes, I will be taking over her old TT Rover so we can both have "TRIKES" again! :)

01/02/2022- Welcome to a VERY COLD 2022, Alas we are stuck on the indoor exercise bike! :(

 Welcome to 2022! I did manage to get in two more rides before the "artic front" came in with snow and COLD temps, it was 1 F this morning, the windchill factor is at -10 F, BURR!! :O Well let's start with the last of the 2021 rides, on the 30th. Jo had a "stress test" for her heart so I took off by myself and decided to head towards the Foothills Trail. While it was warmish, it was VERY WINDY, found myself in gusts of 45+ mph. winds!! I was planning on taking Foothills past the Garden of the Gods to check out the new auto roundabout or in USA speak, traffic circle construction but decided to BAIL due the winds being even stronger towards the foothills! Headed back down (east) on the Sinton Trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway and over to the University Shopping Center to use their open dinning pavilion for my brown bag lunch and get a HOT decaf tea! Well the winds got even stronger so I headed home. 17 miles total, sunny, warmish but WINDY, stopped by the new drainage area along Douglas Creek on the Sinton Trail for a photo! 

 On the 31st., New Years Eve 2021 Jo and I decided to face the winds and the chill and get in one last ride! We just pointed the wheel here and there along different paths and bike lanes but after 10 miles decided to head back home as you could SEE the storm coming over Pikes Peak and slowly bringing the New Year's snow and COLD with it! Here's a view coming east over the Chacharras St. bridge heading towards the Olympic Museum into downtown Co. Springs, then up the Weber St. bike lane back to home. Partly sunny, chilly and windy again, so long 2021, we pray that 2022 ends up with better news for all! BJ over 1800 miles and Jo over 1500 miles of riding for 2021!! 

Well 2022, it's COLD so it's indoor riding for the first few days, hopefully by Tuesday the snow will be gone from the roads and we can get in at least a short ride! :)