May 2023, Catch up on the rides!

 May has been a VERY Rainy month so far so we done a lot more "indoor rides on the exercise bike lately! So here's a bit of a recap to bring us up to date. 

May 17- Headed up the Sinton Trail to Angletech for a service appointment on my ICE trike. Found out I needed a new chain, rear derailleur adjustment and shifter cable. Yikes, it takes 3 normal bicycle chains on a recumbent so out $100 dollars, ouch. The lite sprinkles forced me to head back to the storage unit and a quick walk home.

[Angletech host's Spokes for Strokes, a special group for stroke survivors, etc. on recumbents]

May 20- The day dawned VERY FOGGY!! It wasn't a wet fog thank goodness and I headed out to the north end of C. Springs (Tutt and Barnes), to buy a older GoPro 3 White version video cam. It was a mix of trail, street, sidewalks, etc. as road construction and all the rain made a lot of MUD in several places! Blocked of road, unfinished sidewalks, etc. so it was slow going! I finally got to the Kum & Go store to meet the seller and the deal was done but the camera didn't have a sim card so I packed it away and back into the FOG heading south and west to the storage unit and another quick walk (1.2 miles) home 18 miles round trip.

(Progress on the Rock Island Connector Trail, concrete work started, YEA!) 

May 21, Jo and I headed out to Manitou Springs via the Midland Trail, stopped at Starbuck's on Co. Ave. and 31st. St. for brown bag lunch and unsweet iced tea! Then into Manitou where the Midland turns into the Creek Walk Trail. for many years this concrete trail ended at Schriver Park (Swimming Pool) but now they are finally extending it to go to the Manitou Chamber of Commerce Bldg. and Natural Spring Park!! From there it's a short ride into downtown Manitou Springs via Lover's Lane (back road) or Manitou Ave. Headed back the same way but rode thru downtown C. Springs to pick up the Weber St. bike lane over to Cascade St. and ending at the "unit". As usual, the walk home. 

 May 22- Well on top of rain, we now have heavy SMOKE from a massive fire in Canada of all places that's found it's way hear to Southern CO.!! We headed out for a ride, to Search for a Sim Card for my new to me GoPro 3 White video Cam. Headed up Sinton Trail over to Centennial Blvd. to see if the STAPLES store might carry Sim Cards and yes they do. Got the card installed in the camera but LOL, didn't set it right so what should have been a hour plus video is only 15 mins. and two still photos, oh well live and learn. We stopped at 7-11 and got a yummy Big Bite Hot Dog and ate the rest of our BB lunch standing up. Needed to do a couple more errands so we headed south and east back over to Shooks Run Trail and the old Bonn Shopping Center. From there back to the "unit" via Cascade St. bike lane and a back street and you guessed it, walked home!! Just a couple of photos due to the SMOKE, couldn't even see more than a outline of the foothills and Pikes Peak, hope the winds change so we can get rid of it buy the weekend! 

BTW, Have a Thoughtful Memorial Day and weekend, Pls. take your time and REMEBER what the true meaning is. Honor those that have Fallen in the service of our country, thanks! 

May 7, 2023-The weather guesser's said sunny and warm, more like cloudy and chilly!!

The day started sunny but the clouds rolled in fast so our ride today was cloudy, gray and with a semi-chilly breeze. We headed south on the Weber St. bike lane into downtown over to the US Olympic/Paralympic Muesum and over to America the Beautiful Park to see if the city had finally opened the rest rooms for the warmer months. From there we picked up the Midland Trail heading west with the idea of riding into Manitou Springs. We stopped at the 31st. Street Starbuck's for unsweet iced tea to go with our brown bag lunch, As we ate, it got darker and windy, the peak looked like it had rain coming down the valley so we headed back over to downtown but stopped at the Museum to take a couple of photos on the Sky Bridge! 

 From there thru downtown over to pick up Shooks Run Trail with a stop at Good Neighbors Meeting House for tea and our homemade energy bar snacks! Heading back to the storage unit on Shooks Run and the Cascade St. bike lane. Almost need leg warmers but we made it and did our normal 1.2 mile walk back to our apartment! 18 miles for the day and with luck it never actually rained!! 

May 6, 2023-Terra Trike/GreenSpeed Demo's and Angletech Customer Appreciation Days!

On Saturday we headed up the Sinton Trail to Angletech for a Terra Trike/GreenSpeed factory demo rides and Angletech's Customer Appreciation Day Event! They had several Terra Trikes and GreenSpeed Trikes for folks to demo, free lunch, Event Ride to America the Beautiful Park and back, giveaways, etc. We got a late start so we missed the Ride and just headed up to Angletech to hang out and enjoy the day in the sunshine and semi brisk breeze! LOL, for YEARS and thousands of miles we owned and rode Terra Trikes but they never had a demo event at Angletech! So Jo came on her ICE trike and I dedided to get some more seat time on the SUN EZ-1 SC Lite recumbent bike. 

 On arriving we ran into Will who was dropping his trike off of service so we chatted and checked out the display's of trikes and giveaway's. We both found a set of new but discontinued bike shoe that fit us and found it was on the "giveaway" list so that was cool! I did some looking in the accessiories area for new grips for the bike too. The riders on the lead ride showed back up and we had really good pizza delivered so it was time to EAT! More giveaways and introductions of the members of the demo crews, some games and it was time to leave! We headed up Garden of the Gods Road to pick up the Sinton Trail and headed back down took a ride to the Fontanero St. Trailhead then headed for the storage unit as it was getting to be late afternoon. We had a really good time at the Event thanks to Kelvin and crew at Angletech and the crews from Terra Trike and GreenSpeed!!

  

May 3, 2023-Just another nice day to ride before Thursday's possible RAIN!!

 The Weather Guess'ers say Thursday is the best day for any rain so we headed out for a ride, nothing special just to enjoy the warmer temperatures that have finally arrived in So. CO. after a harsh winter and early Spring!!  Back streets up to the Rock Island Trail heading east, a quick detour to the north to a Kum & Go station/store for unsweet iced tea and to eat our brown bag lunch. Sadly, the homeless forced them to remove their patio area tables and chairs so we had to use a little patio wall as our table! :( Headed back south to the RIT and again headed east till it's current ending point at Powers Blvd. Turned around heading west over to the Templeton Gap Road bike lane, did a quick pit stop at Nancy Lewis Park picked up backstreets to the trail access point to get to the Templeton Gap Trail and head west. Crossed Nevada Ave. then on to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading south and back streets to the storage area. Tucked in the trikes and walked home to the apartment. Partly Sunny, 75F temps made a excellent day to get in a RIDE!! :)

May 2, 2023-Got in a good ride, lucky for us the Weather Guess'ers were WRONG!!

 Although the day started pretty cloudy and we had to wait for our landlord to check out a soft spot in our ceiling in our bathroom and were on hold with the Colorado Dept. of Revenue!! Finally we headed out figuring we'd get in a quick "lunch" ride but the weather got better, changed to mostly high thin clouds and it was warming up! Since it was so close to lunch time we headed up to the Starbuck's at the University Village Colorado Center for iced tea to go along with our brown bag lunch, we like their unsweetened green tea, it's a lot more mellow than the normal black teas most places use. 

 After lunch, we headed up the accessway along Nevada Ave. to the bike path over to Vincent St. Up over the bridge thru the traffic circle and back down to the trailhead for the Cottonwood Creek Trail. Rode the CCT over to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading south.

Down the PPGreenway to Fontanero St. over to pick up the Mesa Springs Greenway north to it's current ending point. Turned around and stopped at a park bench and ate our afternoon snack. Time to head back to the barn (storage unit), tucked away the trikes and walked back to the apartment. 17 miles, partly cloudy, breezy with 60 F+ temps. Really glad we decided to ride even with the late start! 

April 28, 29, 30, 2023-Decent weather and some local event rides

 On friday the 28th. I set up a Meet & Eat for the PPRRN at the season opening of the Tasty Freeze Drive Inn! Sadly, it turned out to be VERY windy and quite chilly but the clouds did finally clear out so we took off for a ride downtown and back to the Drive Inn to meet any other members at 11:30 AM. To no surprise, nobody else showed up so we had our first spring grilled hot dog and unsweetened iced tea, while fighting the winds!! With the winds getting stronger, we headed back to the storage unit and then walked back home. 8 miles RT.

On Saturday 29th., we headed out to ride the "twice a year", Motorless Mornings ride thru the Garden of the Gods Park here in Colorado Springs. From 5 AM to 12 Noon, they stop all Auto Traffic!! It's open to cyclist, runners, hikers, skateboarders, etc. It was a beautiful day for a ride, upper 60 F temps and lot's of sunshine!! We road the Loop around the park this time, instead of going up to Balance and Steamboat Rock exit. Then we headed down to 30th. and Colorado Ave Starbuck's to eat our lunch and get some unsweetened iced tea!! 26 miles for the day. Motorless Mornings is only once a month in April and October!

Sunday, April 30th., The day broke sunny and bright and the early temps were good so we decided to take a chance and make this the first "Shorts and Short sleeves" ride of 2023!! It was still a bit breezy so we started out in windbreakers but packed them in the pannier's and the rest of the ride was great. We did a combo trail route of the Pikes Peak Greenway, Cottonwood Creek and the Tempelton Gap trails. Stopped at a Starbucks to eat our brown bag lunch then rode over to Nancy Lewis City Park and ate our afternoon snack. Headed for the Rock Island Trail and back to the storage unit. 20 miles for the day and man did it feel great not to have to "bundle up", hope the warming trend means Spring is finally here but in So. Colorado it's not Summer till Memorial Day Weekend, as it can still SNOW, etc.!! 

 With these trikes we have a side bar attachment, which let's us use a handlebar bag at our side so I decided to try to take some photos while we were riding on the Templeton Gap Trail!