March 15, 2023-Food, Lunch and Lumber Ride

With temps in the low 30 F and snow showers or rain coming on Thursday, sadly, we had to use a very nice day to go and get the weeks FOOD! Got up and walked to the storage unit hand pulling both the battery and gear cart and the cargo trailer. Hooked up the cargo trailer and off to the Walmart Neighborhood Market Place. Did the shopping, loaded up the trailer and Jo's panniners and headed back to the apartment via side roads as part of the Rock Island Trail is blocked off as they are finally, starting to build the "Rock Island Connector" which will hook both Rock Island and Shooks Run into the Pikes Peak Greenway!! For us it will mean not having to use the back streets to get to the store, etc. Can't wait till it's up and working! :)

Food unloaded we kept the trailer on my trike and headed north on the Pikes Peak Greenway up to the Starbuck's at Colorado University Village Center for unsweetened iced tea and to eat our brown bag lunch. Then headed over to Lowes and got a 1x8x4 board so I can make a 2nd. shelf in out homemade shelf unit in the storage unit. Strapped the board to the top of the trailer and then decided to use the detour trail up to Criterium Bike Shop and then head south on the PPGW back to the storage unit to tuck in the trikes. Walked the battery cart and the cargo trailer home to apt., not enough room in a 5x10 unit for both trikes and cargo trailer. We hope to one day be able to afford to rent a 10x10 unit that could hold both trikes and trailer. The afternoon got cloudy and brought on stronger winds but the temps held up nicely on our walk home. 1.2 miles each way from the apt. to the unit so we got in a 16 mile ride and a 2.4 mile walk! Wet, cold, snow or rain tomorrow on Thursday and cold cloudy temps thru Saturday, RATS! Winter needs to leave and bring on Spring!! 

March 14, 2023-A NICE day for a ride

 Lot's of messy weather lately but Tuesday turned the tide for a couple of days. Sunny, high 50 F temperatures and of course wind but not as strong! We headed south on the Cascade St. Bike Lane to down town to cast our votes for the local area elections for Mayor and Council Member seats! From there, we headed over to America the Beautiful park to pick up the Midland Trail towards Manitou Springs. Stopped off at the Co. Ave. and 31st. St. Starbuck's and got a unsweet iced tea to go with our bag lunch. Decided to head up the 31st. Bike Lane to pick up the Foothills trail past Garden of the Gods over to Garden of the Gods Road and down the Sinton trail over to Angletech www.cycledifferent.com stopped and talke to Kirk the main tech about getting "new disc brakes for Jo's ICE Trice T. Ate our snack at the shop then headed down Sinton trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway and back to the storage unit. It stayed sunny and nice all day although the winds got stronger in the afternoon. Around 20 miles total and a excellent day to RIDE! 

March 1, 2023-Just some updates!

 LOL, well we've been mostly getting in transportation type rides lately, having to get in errands between Cold Fronts and Snow storms! :( A little good news is that I picked up my "new to me" ICE trike, now the odd thing is that, Angletech, listed this trike as a Trice Q but on the frame the decals say: Sprint 2? I sent a information request to ICE Corp. customer service and got told that even though I have the "older style" "Trice" rear fork and boom, this trike may be a bit of a 1st. of the Sprint series hybrid or due to a last production run frame problem with the ICE Trice Q trikes, it may have received a "new series" ICE Sprint frame set?? I have to get the serial number and send it to Patrick at ICE Customer Service to answer this mystery! ;) 

When ICE stopped production on the "Trice series" and switched to the new, "Adventure/Sprint series", that replaced the Trice. The Trice T became the ICE Adventure, the Trice Q became the ICE Sprint models. ICE trikes have STEEL frames with Aluminum rear fork (swingarm) and boom. It's looking like I have a Sprint 2 (rear suspension) steel frameset with a Trice Q aluminum rear fork and boom! LOL, yep, that's what I call a hybrid!! I will add a photo of the trike later to this blog post. To finish, on Feb. 28 I picked up the ICE trike. 

I dropped off the Terra Trike Tour for some minor adjustments so now I have the TT Tour up for sale on Facebook Market Place and Colorado Springs and Denver Craigslistings! Asking, $700 with deluxe seat pad cushion or $600 with stock, Mesh seat only!! It's a really good price and a great med. level recumbent trike, jmho. 

LOL, on March 1st. I had to do the long walk to the city bus stop to pick up the #14 and head over to Angletech to pick up the TT Tour. Of course it's grey, windy and COLD!! As I was arriving at the shop, the snow started falling, RATS! Oh well, I just got the trike and rode it back to the apartment in the falling snow, a very cold ride!! ;) Hopefully we can get out for a recreation ride by Sunday, it's supposed to be 60F and sunny although with a fairly heavy breeze it won't feel quite that warm! That's it for now, winter time is a RPITA for us but we just have to grin and bear it! Get out and RIDE if you can! :)

February 25, 2023-Out and About on a ride before the next Cold Front arrives at noon on Weds.

There's been LOTS of WIND lately and the last snow is finally mostly melted except for shady spots on the trails and roads! Wasn't sure we should ride but Saturday looked ok so we headed out on ride to Manitou Springs via the PP Greenway and the Midland Trail. The day warmed up nicely so we did a very "kicked back" pace and really enjoyed it! Rode to Schriver Park and ate our brown bag lunch, nice thing about winter riding is almost no bugs! Even the wind was being mellow on the way up but as we headed back it got stronger. Headed over to the Weber St. bike lane and stopped at Good Neighbors for iced tea to go with our homemade energy bars. It was nice enough to sit on the patio so again, the day was great to be out and about on the trikes! After finishing, we headed back to the storage unit and tucked away the trikes. 

 As you know Jo got a 2009 ICE Trice T (Tourer) with E-assist, looks like I will be joining her as Angletech got in a 2008 ICE Trice Q model so we bought it and I will be placing my Terra Trike Tour on consignment sale at the shop come Weds. March 1st. :) It's not "e-assisted" but the price was so good we decided it was worth going into major debt, between the two ICE trikes to get such nice, level up trikes! I will be adding a photo soon. As far as I know there's only minor differences between the Q and the T models but both has lot's of features that come on even a used, older premium level trike! Sorry no photos, we were just enjoying the day way to much to bother, LOL. ;) Wednesday is going to be colder, it's a weather transition day as a Cold Front is coming by late afternoon, BUMMER. I will be picking it up at 10:30, short ride home, add my accessories then walk home before it turns too chilly. Thursday, is COLD with possible rain or I hope NOT, snow! :( LOL, the one problem with getting a new or new to YOU trike in the winter months! BJ

February 18-21, 2023, More Errand Runs between cold fronts and snow storms!!

 February 2023 has been a really tough month to get in rides!! It seems like we have had snow, freezing temperatures or crazy high WINDS all month long with only a couple of days clearing weather between them instead of the more usual week between storms and fronts!! We mostly done Food and Errand Runs lately, with a quick lunch added when the trails and streets have been semi-clear! Even now there's still slushy spots here and there. We moved the trikes from our apt. living room to a 5x10 storage unit and had a lot of stuff piled up on the floor so the last couple of rides have been to get food and building supplies to make a "standing shelf unit" for the storage unit. 

On the 21st., we took a ride up to the Lowes at the University Village Colorado Center to get a 2x8x12 cut into 3-4ft. sections and brackets to make the standing shelf. There's really not room for normal shelves and we can't drill into the walls! The tall standing shelf lets me mount my portable drill holder and press and my small vise. It also lets me get cleaning and lubrication supplies for the trikes off the floor. The bummer is that it was a very nice day but with possible SNOW coming in for the 22nd. we had to use it! :( We got the shelf built with time left enough to head out for a short, late afternoon ride to the downtown Mc Donalds for a large unsweet iced tea to go with our "homemade" Energy Bars!! :) Picked up the Cascade St. bike lane over to the Shooks Run Trail heading south over to Mickey D's then came back to the unit via the Weber St. and Cascade St. bike lanes. 9 miles, sunny, warmish and finished off the day with a bit of FUN!! 

The snow coming in on the 22nd. is suppose to be a Trace to 2 in. here in Co. Springs but you NEVER know! If so, we might have streets and trails clear enough to ride by Saturday, which is listed as 60 F and Breezy, just have to cross the fingers and hope for the lite, quick blow through type snow storm!! "Let's Ride"! :)

February 10-13, 2023-A bunch of errand runs, etc. in a row between storm systems!

Friday, Feb. 10, Ride to the Antarctic, oops I ment Angletech! Jo's ICE Trice T, had a problem with the right-side disc brake "swanking" and Jo decided she didn't want the "Throttle" on her E-assist system. We made an appointment for service on Tuesday but a fridge cold front came in, we headed to the storage unit at a Balmy 10 F degrees with a very cold breeze, BURRRRRR! Made our way up to Angletech and then hung around inside the dealership. Walked over to 7-11 for a Big Bite Hot Dog and made copies of Jo's Trice T Service Manual and for her E-assist display unit then walked back to the shop. Finished our apple sitting on the comfortable couch it was just TOO COLD to stay inside. From there headed back down the Sinton and Pikes Peak Greenway back to home and Hot Coco!

Saturday, Feb. 11, Ride to Old Colorado City, westside of town to get our Son Steven's W2 Forms to file his taxes since he passed on back in October. We headed down the Weber St. bike path over to pick up the Midland Trail heading west, over to 26th. street to a FREE parking area of both of the restaurants Steven worked at last. Stopped at Bancroft Park and ate our brown bag lunch. 

Sunday, Feb. 19, Out on a "Solo" Ride. Well Jo wasn't feeling well, Sinus problems so I headed out to the storage area and got my trike for a SOLO ride. I was heading north on the Pikes Peak Greenway and all the sudden, I was surrounded by 100's of RUNNERS! They were on a Half Marathon, 13.1 run so I just kicked back and rode at their pace till the halfway point then headed on, thought about going to Cottonwood Regional Park but decided against it. Instead, turned on the Cottonwood Creek Trail up to the Vincent St. Bridge over to the Access Road Trail. Rode over to the University Village Colorado Center over to Panera Bread for lunch. Got the whole deli turkery sandwich, apple and iced tea! Next time I'm only getting a half of sandwich, just a bit too much! Headed back down the Pikes Peak Greenway over to pick up the Mesa Springs Greenway to it's current ending at American Furniture Warehouse, turned around and headed back to the storage unit, did a few adjustments and then walked home.

Feb 13., Food Run before the coming SNOW storms!! RATS, looks like we have got some semi-serious snow coming in Tue./Wed. this week so we decided to get in our weekly food shopping today instead of our normal Wednesday run. It was sunny and 40 F at the storage unit, then back to the apartment to hook up the cargo trailer to my trike. Headed the 2.5 miles over to the Walmart Neighborhood Market Place, got the weeks food and supplies! Wow came outside and dark gray clouds were covering the sky! We headed back to the apartment, unloaded the food and supplies and put the cargo trailer away. Rode south to the Good Neighbors Meeting Place for iced tea to add to our brown bag lunch. The clouds got darker and the temps dropped! We headed to the storage unit and walked the 1.2 miles home with temps dropping and the breeze getting stronger. Sadly, looks like we won't be riding for several days! :( 

February 2023, Time to catch up!

 Hello, it's been a while since I've updated the blog site! Lot's of COLD and snow here and there over the last few weeks. We have had a couple of warmer days so we've been getting a lot of maintenance and accessories added to the trikes. We now have fenders on both trikes, which is great for the sloppy melt from the snow! I got a new very padded seat cover, we added a computer to Jo's trike because if she turns off the e-assist she gets no miles, speed or time on the display! :( We got very lucky and Angletech www.cycledifferent.com searched their warehouse backstock and found a ICE Factory rear rack for Jo's Trice T!! They haven't made these for years so the change of finding one is rare! She now, can have her panniners and rack top bags. 

We managed to ride 3 days in a row between storms, had a very COLD morning ride up to the shop to get the fenders, etc. on. Jo's decided she doesn't want the "throttle" set up for the e-assist, just the PAS system where you HAVE to pedal to make the assist work. We've got an appointment on Friday to have it removed and we are having the right disc brake caliper and pads checked out as it "squawks" at times. It's a 2009 so it may need the caliper cleaned out or over hauled or the pads need to be replaced. After the 24th. we will be having them change out the Big Apple tire for a Marathon Plus for much better flat protection!! Getting the rear hub motor wheel off to change a flat is a Royal Pain in the A$$!! Today is our SS retirement payday so we have to go FOOD shopping and hopefully have enough time to go to lunch before the sun goes down!! We now keep the trikes is a Storage Unit, which is a mile from our apartment. Jo's front wheels are Quick Release and the levers make it just "too wide" to get through our apartment doors. On my Terra Trike Tour, the new front fenders have flanges that stick out so I doubt it will go through our apartment doors either! Oh well, it is nice to have more room in our front room so there's the good side! :)

Here are a video and some photos, enjoy! 

January 23, 2023-Snow, snow and more! @#$%^&*() SNOW!! Arugh!

 It never fails, when either of us get a "new to us trike" in the winter months, we get one ride and then it snows! This Jan. has been a RPITA as it stops for 2 days, the roads (not the trails), just start to clear and WHAM, we get more SNOW! :( This makes it really hard to get to the store for FOOD and supplies, etc.! As I look out our front window the flakes as falling hard and fast, we were just supposed to get a trace to 1 inch but it will be more if this keeps up! What we have to do is drag our hand carts through the snow over to a Safeway Food store that's only 1/2 mile away and buy just enough to get us through till the roads/trails clear enough to hook up the cargo trailer and head to the Walmart Neighborhood Market store, which has MUCH cheaper prices than Safeway!! 

Our Social Security Retirement Income is meager so we can't afford to do our main shopping at Safeway!! Walmart is 2.5 miles away with a few uphill grades and one BIG HILL, that's not safe going "up or down" if it's snowy and icy on the streets and trail!! Sure hope my wife, Jo finally get's her Powerball/Mega Millions Lotto WIN, then we'd winter in Tuson, AZ and summer here in Colorado! :) We'd buy a Toy Hauler type, RV, it's got a small "garage" area we'd store the E-assist trikes (LOL, hey we'd have MONEY so we'd get E-assist trikes!), in and travel the USA changing locations by the seasons! :) HEAVEN!! Oh well just have to Grin and Bear it for now, can't afford to ski, can't afford a car to go up to the real mountains and go tubing or sleigh riding, etc. so Winter SUCKS! ;) 

We do have a Recumbent style exercise bike but it's not anywhere near as enjoyable as riding the trikes! Infact, I call it the Klingon Torture Device! ;) It does let us keep the "muscle memory", gives a bit of exercise but we LONG to be outside, alas, it's just to COLD and sloppy! Trikes are much better on ICE than bikes but you still can have a ice caused accident even if you ride carefully! Living in an apartment we have no garage where we could let the trikes "drip dry" on a ground tarp and then at least wipe them down. So we are just STUCK when it's snowing and icy. Thank goodness, for YouTube triking video's of folks rides in CA., FL., AUS., etc. it's the only thing that get's us through this time of year!!

Here's a video, that makes my point, ENJOY: ICE trikes on ICE!!

January 14, 2023-Jo get's a new to her E-assist trike!!

 We managed to get a small loan through our credit union and found a 2009 ICE Trice T with a EBO rear wheel hub 350W e-assist system as always at Angletech, www.cycledifferent.com Jo walked and I rode her a mile to a bus stop for route #2 then I rode up the very steep South Centennial Extension and over to Angletech. When she arrived they were working on the set up for her so it took a couple of hours before it was ready for her to get the FIT set up and we were on our way to Panera Bread for a brown bag lunch and unsweet iced tea! After lunch we rode around a bit more but it was getting late so we headed home. Only about 13 miles but the ICE really fit's her nicely and now, LOL, she has to wait for ME at the top of the hills! ;) Here's some photos, PS: we did run into a problem, this trike has quick release front wheels and the screwer's stick out just too much for us to get the trike through the doors of our apartment, RATS. Oh well, we will just go rent a Storage Unit on Monday and finally get all the trikes and the trailer out of the apt. It means a 1 mile walk from the Unit to the Apt. but hey, the walk will just "warm" us up before we RIDE!! :)

January 13, 2023-Getting in a ride before the next storms coming Tuesday/Wednesday!!

 The temps were going to be in the low 50 F range so we headed out for a area ride before the next possible snow storms by Tue./Wed. next week. We wanted to ride the Cottonwood Creek Trail but didn't think the sheet of ice on the uphill to the Vincent St. bridge would have been melted quite yet! We headed east on the Rock Island Trail over to it's current end point at Powers Blvd. Decided we wanted a iced tea at Panera Bread so we did a little "Cyclecross" (dirt trail) riding over to Constitution Ave. to get to the First and Main Center. LOL, the F&M Center is a total disaster to ride through, it crosses 3 different major streets it's so big we took a wrong turn and had to back track to Tutt Blvd. bike lane, found our way into the Center and over to Panera Bread. Brown bag and unsweetened ice tea. Headed back the same way, here's a photo of us just starting to ride the "dirt track" back to the Rock Island Trail connection.

We made the concrete trail and headed west back home, decided to stop at the Good Neighbors Meeting House off the Shooks Run Trail for a HOT tea to eat with our homemade energy bars! Stopped off at Ent Federal Credit Union to see if we might be able to get a loan to buy Jo a upgraded trike with a rear hub motor E-assist system! Yes, it's a older TRICE brand, they now call them ICE (Inspired Creative Engineering) trikes. We can only afford USED recumbent trikes, but this one has direct steering and even Rear suspension and of course a basic E-assist system to help Jo on the steep grades and hills! We got the loan, so we will be picking it up on Saturday. We will sell Jo's current Terra Trike Rambler via local Craigs List! 20 miles RT, mostly sunny and 50 F+ so a very enjoyable day "Out and About on the Recumbents"! :)

2023-January 8/9/10-Fox21 News interview and misc. rides

 We had a really good cold snap with low amounts of constant snow for a few days. On the 8th. we rode down to America the Beautiful Park to get "interviewed" by FOX21 News for a local area feature!! We met the crew who were friendly and professional, did the interview and they took some short video of us riding around the park. After that we headed north up to Panera Bread for lunch and hot tea as it had been a chilly morning!! Here is a video of the meet up with the News crew! 

On the 9th. we headed out on a mission to score an excellent Meatball Sub at Firehouse Subs eatery! We headed over to the Templeton Gap Trail till it's end and then picked up a really hairy bike lane up Austin Bluffs Parkway over to the restaurant. It was warm enough to eat outside, awesome meatball sub, unsweet iced tea and our crips, YUM! After that we headed south on the sidewalk along Academy Blvd. to pick up the Rock Island Trail heading west and back to the apartment complex as it was really starting to cool down as we headed into afternoon!!

On the 10th. again we had a mission, my trike, Abbey-Normal was in need of new front tires so we rode up the PPGW to pick up the Sinton Trail heading west and rode that all the way to 30th. Street and GoG Road. Trail along GoG Road was still full of ice and some deep snow patches, it wasn't easy and it was also SLOPPY so for the 3rd. time in 3 days, I will have to do complete wipe down's of both trikes, bummer!! We slogged up the trail, we got to check up on the status of the concrete work to finally finish the last 1/2 mile of the trail to actually connect it to the Foothills Trail that heads south towards the Garden of the Gods Park and the 31st. bike lane. It sure seems like it's taking forever to do that little bit of concrete but it's probably due to "weather delays"! We decided not to ride the sloppy trail and headed east on GoG Road back to Angletech, www.cycledifferent.com to pick up the tires I had them hold for me. Strapped the tires on my rear rack and we headed to Panera Bread again, (we have a Ultimate Sips Club membership, all the hot or cold drinks we want for a low monthly fee!!), to eat our lunch as the WIND was gusting heavy at times. we wanted eat inside but still see the trikes!! Brown bag special and unsweet iced tea. It was good to get out of the WIND for a spell! Then south on the PPGW back to the apartment by late afternoon. Got the tires installed so I am good to go as they say! :)  

January 1st., 2023-The Ondo's WILD RIDE!!

 Well, we decided to "Damn the Torpedo's", as they say and head out for a sloppy New Years Day ride anyway! ;) We headed over to Smash Burger on the Pikes Peak Greenway, we left early enough that the melting spots were still a bit frozen, so it wasn't too messy! We arrived at Smash Burger under gray and cloudy skies but ok temperatures wise and with little breeze. Had a Single burger and Sweet Potato fries, YUM! The skies got darker, and the breeze turned into a light wind at bit colder! We headed over detour trail to Criterium Bike Shop and as we went through a I-25 underpass, YUCK, 1 in. mud covered the trail, no way around it so we slogged through it! Had to take our shop rag and clean off the tires, bummer!! :( The we headed over to pick up the Cottonwood Creek Trail, BIG MISTAKE! heading under the bridge, there is a very steep uphill grade to Vincent St. path, at times, we both had the front wheels pointing straight but the rear wheel was totally SIDEWAYS, spinning like mad men to get up and over the ICE covering the trail!!

I had to get off and give Jo a PUSH to get her over the slickest portion of the ice, we finally made it to the top of the rise and most of the ice was melted!!

 We headed south on the "no name trail" that goes along Nevada Ave in that direction through a few smaller icy patches here and there but overall, much clearer path. Decided to head back to the center and go to Panera Bread for a hot tea and eat our trail snack!! We did run into a little more MUD but a lot less than the 1st. time. Headed home, brought down a wet cloth to wipe down the tires. Later in the evening we did a wipe down of the whole trikes, we don't have a area to wash off the crud as we live in an apartment complex. We keep the trikes on plastic mats in the lower half of the front room, so they are now as clean as possible! :) 14 miles total but even with the ice, it felt great to get in a New Year's Day RIDE!! 

Jan. 1st. 2023-Happy New Year to you ALL!

Just us wishing you all a Very Happy New Year in 2023! We probably won't ride today, it's still really SLOPPY due to snow melt so we will take a walk downtown and eat lunch at Munchies 719 Cafe!! Hopefully, we won't get the 2 inches of snow they say is coming in later tonight thru Monday and we will be able to ride by Wednesday/Thursday!!! It's only going to be in the low 30 F temps till Wednesday, RATS!! All the best, may you have lot's of "Miles of SMILES" in 2023! :)