May 27, 2022-Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the "redo" of part of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail here in Co. Springs, we got to lead the procession!

 For my second assignment as a BikeCOS Ambassador I was one of the 6 or so Ambassadors on hand for the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the redo of a part of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail! It was a many months' project, and it was truly needed! The old asphalt was buckled and potted, very bumpy! Now the whole section is smooth concrete! We were stagged on the bridge (new wood boards!!) and awaiting the mayor, city and parks dept. officials, running groups, bike groups, etc. to arrive. When the ceremony was finished a ribbon was held up across the bridge and we were signaled to proceed and officially open the trail for the upcoming Memorial Day Weekend!! The odd thing was that "I", got to lead the procession, with my wife Jo behind so for me that was special!! 

We rode the whole section as it was the first time Jo got to ride on the improved trail, all the city planning, and the construction crews did a great job as it's now a JOY to ride even if you don't have suspension on your bike or trike!! There was a little after event gathering at Criterium Bike Shop which is right across the bridge and yes, it even has its own "Beer Tap Patio", LOL! We headed south to Panera Bread for unsweet iced teas, then headed home as the wind was picking up and the clouds gathered but never rained! 12 miles RT. :)

May 26, 2022-"She's BAACCKK"!! :)

 

Normally a weekly Food Run wouldn't be worth adding to the blog but this one was special! Due to a really bad reaction to the 2nd. Covid-19 Booster Shot (Pizer), Jo ended up in the hospital for 8 days then, had to use oxygen till she could see her Primary Care Doctor and be given the ok to go off the oxygen. That was a total of 24 days in May she couldn't ride her trike. So we added a bit to the ride by coming home, dropping off the food and the utility trailer and taking our brown bag lunch via the Pikes Peak Greenway to the Panera Bread where we got unsweet iced tea and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day! 15 miles RT but she had the SMILE back on her face! It was great to get my "ridding buddy" back, we took it easy as she will need some miles to get back the fitness and comfort while riding she had before. Didn't want to over do it so we just headed back over the Popcycle Bridge did our spin around the Fontanero St. Trailhead Lot and back to the apartment to put away food, etc. We've got some nice days ahead after 7 days of gray, cold, wind, snow and rain so TEAM SLOW we be putting on the miles!! :)

May 25, 2022-Early Bird Hike and Bike 5-8 AM at the Garden of the Gods Park

LOL, well being retired I rarely am up before 6 AM these days but I just joined up with BikeCOS  as a "Bike Ambassador" my first assignment was to help out with the Monthly Early Bird Hike and Bike at the Garden of the Gods Park. Well it starts at 5AM but our shift isn't till 6AM. That means I have to leave the apartment at 4AM to make sure I get there on my trike as we have NO CAR! Wow I haven't ridden in the DARK for a long time, infact I've never used my main light but that changed. Got the trike down the stairs and out in the dark and turned on the all the lights and was very pleased with my 500W head light! The Pikes Peak Greenway and the Sinton Trails are VERY dark so it was still kinda spooky. We had a heavy WIND storm a couple of days ago and it blew down a LOT of trees onto the trail but lucky for me the city forestery was up to the task and had both trails cleared all the way, YEA!

Pedaling in the dark looking for critters and obstacles, it was still very peaceful riding and I finally got to the Foothills Trail heading down into the Garden of the Gods Park as the dawn slowly was coming on. I was hoping for "Rover" duty but alas I was assigned parking lot and greeter which was ok but wow I got COLD after riding! The turnout they say was a little less than normal but there seemed like lots of runners and bike riders to me. These events are special as they stop all car traffic so the runners and bike riders can use the whole road thru the park! So all I have is a few photos from the parking lot but there not bad! 14 miles RT, lot's of climbing of short but steep uphill grades, headed home after it was over and even though it took me a while to warm up, I enjoyed getting up before the SUN going to start warming up over the next few days, YEA. Got another BikeCOS Ambassador assignment on Friday at 1 PM. It's nice to do what little I can to support area bicycling! :)

 

May 19, 2022- SNOW, WIND, RAIN, Gray and Cloudy it's been WILD lately!!! New tires for Jo's trike!

 Wow it's been crazy, for a month it was VERY WIND, hot and Dry, for the last week the LOL, Polar Opposite! We started with extreme winds, then 10 INCHES of wet SNOW and below freezing temps!! :O Now for 3 days it's been chilly, gray and lot's of on and off rain! On the 19th. Jo had a doctors appointment so I headed out for a ride but also to head up to Angletech to get new tires for Jo's trike. We haven't changed out the tires that came on her used TT Rambler but we decided to try something a bit different. Instead of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus on all 3 wheels I installed 2 Standard Marathon's (Green Guard Level 5), 20x1.75 and a more "knobbish" tire a Schwalbe Marathon GT 365, 20x2.15 in the rear. 

 MARATHON GT 365

1 TIRE. 4 SEASONS, 365 DAYS NO TIRE CHANGE NECESSARY

Our longest trail here is the Pikes Peak Greenway, which is actually 3 trails, 1. Fountain Regional 2. Monument Valley and 3. New Santa Fe. The entire Fountain trail is dirt and gravel some spots are quite loose. The Monument Valley, (thru Colorado Springs itself), is mostly concrete/asphalt with some dirt, the New Santa Fe is all dirt with several short but steep uphill grades. This can cause "road tires" to lose traction and pushing a recumbent trike up a slick hill is NO FUN! ;) We didn't want a pure BMX or MTB type knobby as 90% of our rides are on the paved trails, streets or roads. So we have just kinda stopped riding the "dirt" parts unless we had no other choice. Well we hope this will let us ride the hardpack gravel and deeper spots so we are giving it a try!  Now I have to get one for MY trike then it's time to get "dirty", LOL! ;)

My ride took me up the Sinton Trail to Angletech, I strapped on 3 tires to my rear rack and hauled them back to our apartment to drop them off, then I headed out for intown ride via the Fontanero St. and Weber St. Bike Lanes into downtown Co. Springs. Turned north again on the Shooks Run Trail and stopped at the Good Neighbors Coffee Shop for a unsweet iced tea and a snack of homemade trail mix. Then headed home, 14 miles and lot's of work for ME switching out 3 new tires for 3 "tried" old one's! :)

May 13 and 15, 2022-Riding All By Myself, Jo is still recovering from a bad reaction to the 2nd. Covid-19 Booster Shot :(

 Well sadly I have been riding "alone" for a couple of weeks as Jo, my wife, had a very bad reaction to the "2nd. Booster Shot of the Pizer Covid-19 vaccine" and ended up in the hospital for a WEEK!!! :( She is slowly recovering; she is up to being able to eat full meals and has walked a couple of 5K walks!! :) The problem is that the DAMN hospital would not release her unless she was on oxygen, DUMB as the ONLY time she has ever needed it is when she's sick and in the Hospital. She sees our family doctor on the 19th. and I PRAY, she will let her "get off" the oxygen and we can cancel the service, it's such a RPITA to have to carry or mount a small oxygen bottle to the rear rack on the trike so she can ride, Jo decided she didn't want to try to ride her trike till she could find out if our doc would tell her, it was ok to "cancel the oxygen!! The major problem with the oxygen on the trike is the small size limits the "distance" we can ride before it runs dry!!!! :( Neither of us are, Happy Campers right now!

My wife knows me well and sent me out for a ride or two by myself to blow off some steam so I did a ride all the way to the current end of the concrete trail on the Cottonwood Creek Trail on "Friday the 13th." ;) 25 miles in very breezy but sunny conditions, it felt GREAT! 

  On Saturday I took Jo on her first "outdoor" walk since leaving the hospital we did a flat and easy 5K with several short stops and she did great. On Sunday the 15th. I was out for a "Ride with a Mission", LOL. I joined up as a "Ambassador" with Bike COS, the local area city sponsored bicycling program and my first time to be a "Ambassador" will be at the Early Bird Bike and Hike at the Garden of the Gods Park on Weds. May 25th. Gads the start time for our "shift" is at 6AM so I needed to know "how long" it takes me to ride the trike from my home to the park to be there on time! I did a "timed ride" and found it takes me a minimum of 1 hour. It's a total "uphill grade ride" with some steep sections on both the Sinton and Foothills Trails to get to the GoG Park. I will have to leave home at "4:30 AM" to get there by 5:30 AM. YIKES, being retired I NEVER get up that early and hardly ever ride in the DARK but that's what's going to have to happen, LOL it's going to be a LOOOOOOONG day! ;) 

Finished off the timed ride by heading back down Sinton and then downtown via the Cascade Ave. bike lane to pick up Shooks Run Trail heading back north. Stopped at the Good Neighbors Coffee House for a unsweet iced tea, then headed back home. 20 miles, less wind than Friday's ride and partly sunny but warm conditions. I'll let you know how my first "Ambassador" gig works out! Have a great week and RIDE any time you can! :)

May 6 and 7, 2022- Just some short "clear the HEAD" rides, as Jo has been in the Hospital since Tue May 3rd. :(

 Hello all, well it's been a very rough 1st. week of May so far, on Monday we headed to Walgreens to get our 2nd. Covid-19 Booster Shots, by Tuesday morning Jo woke up Shaking really hard and freezing, then started constantly throwing up!!!!!! :O We went to emergency room at Penrose Hospital Main and finally got into see the doctor at 6 PM. I told them that she was having a really bad reaction to the 2nd. Covid Booster Shot, they gave her meds and fluid thru a IV and she settled down. We got home about 11:30 PM. RATS, when she woke up on Weds. it started all over again so we went back to the Emergency Room and again waited for hours to get her into a room and seeing the doctor! The decided to keep her in their "Observation Floor" overnight and then decided to actually admit her to a hospital room. She has been thru way too much in the last two years but after giving her mass meds it does seem to be getting better, just very slowly. Today is Sunday, Mother's Day and she has to spend it in a hospital, MAJOR BUMMER!

Inbetween her sleeping a lot and needed tests, I snuck in a couple of short but sweet rides just to "clear my head" and try to calm myself down to be strong for her. On the 6th. I did the normal ride up the Pikes Pike Greenway to Criterium Bicycles then took the detour trail (trail reconstruction on the PPGG past Criterium Bicycles so it's blocked off), back heading south and rode to the end of Wood Ave. turned around and went home to change and head back up to see Jo. Here's a video: 

On the 7th. I found out that they have finished Phase 2 and 3 of the PP Greenway make over and opened it up to ride. I took a break and got the trike out to ride up and check it out. Yep, they took down the construction barriers at Criterium Bicycle Shop so I rode the new "concrete surface" up to just before Woodmen Rd. and turned east on the Cottonwood Creek Trail, it's been a 1 year since this way was open. WOW a huge improvement the old asphalt was potted, had huge frost heave crack and ruts and was very BUMPY! The new concrete is smooth as glass and it's made the area from a "chore to a JOY" to ride, awesome job done by the City and the construction crews!! 

 It will have a official "Ribbon Cutting" ceremony on May 27th. it was great of the city to go ahead and open it up for use early! Now we have our Loop Ride back if we don't won't to ride all the way east to the Cottonwood Regional Park, it's really good to have it back in action. Hopefully Jo will be out of the hospital in the next couple of days, wish us the best and thanks for checking out the BLOG! BJ :)

May 1, 2022-Love to RIDE USA May National Bike Month Challenge starting 1-31 May!

 On Saturday April 30th. we walked in the "Walk to Defeat ALS, Colorado Springs Event at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park with the walk and the walk back to our apartment it was 7.41 miles!! We decided to do a EASY ride on Sunday for the start of the Love to RIDE USA  May National Bike Month Challenge which goes from May1-May 31 each year! We headed north of the PP Greenway and picked up the Templeton Gap Trail heading east to Union Blvd, then picked up a side street over to the on street T-Gap bike lane heading south. Stopping at Nancy Lewis Park for our brown bag lunch. 

We decided to head back over to the Pikes Peak Greenway and head north up to Criterium Bike Shop, then south on the PPGW detour trail for a glass of unsweet iced tea at Panera Bread! I just joined to "Unlimited Sip Club", so I pay a small monthly fee and can drink all the iced or hot drinks I want once a day as long as I do it at one of the area stores! :) 

After our iced tea, we headed back down the Pikes Peak Greenway from the University Commons Center heading south for a slow easy ride home! 17 miles RT, Sunny and warmish with at least a more mellow wind than lately! A decent start to the challenge so we are happy! :)