November 22, 2024 A very "strange" ride!

We again, needed to head up to Angletech to set up a service appointment to get the disc brake/drum brake swap done. Well out of habit, I got us over to the T-Gap trail south to the Pikes Peak Greenway and west on the Sinton Trail. Oops, I forgot about the Eliston St/I-25 bridge demolition going on till Nov 25th!! So, we had to detour over the Garden of the Gods Road on Sinton Road. Garden of the Gods Road and I-25 is a real mess of traffic, we had to do a stop and go several times to get from Sinton Rd and head west on GoG Road! Finally got to Chestnut St and crossed over to the other side of the road that has a double wide sidewalk/path heading up to GoG Rd. and Centennial Blvd. Crossed back over to get into Angletech. Appointment set for Dec 4th, 10 AM. 

We headed back to King Soopers Food Store to see if we could afford to purchase a "turkey" for the "Take a Turkey to Work" program but alas, couldn't afford one so we gave them a $10 donation for Care and Share so they could add someone else's donation and buy a turkey for the area needy! LOL, well of course we ran into more Road Work construction on the way there so we stopped at Starbuck's for iced tea and our brown bag lunch! 

Then back tracked to the food store, it was a bit crazy but we finally found a way out to Fillmore St and picked up the South Centennial Extension Bike/Walking Path

 back over to the Pikes Peak Greenway. Picked up the Rock Island Connector & Trail over to the Templeton Gap Road bike lane, heading north over to Nancy Lewis Park for our afternoon snack and then continued on the bike lane to a access path and west on the T-Gap Trail back to the storage unit! It was a strange ride, lot's of not normal "twist and turns" but it was also a nice day to get in a ride! Here's a Relive Video of the ride!

Till next time, Happy Trails and Happy Thanksgiving Season too!! :)

November 2024, heading towards Thanksgiving Day

November 12, We headed up to our dealer, Angletech, on a kinda sloppy day after a 3 day snowstorm! We used the "Back Route" up the South Centennial Blvd bike lane as they have the Sinton Trail closed off at Elliston Street to demolish a old bridge! We went up to order the parts to convert Jo's TRICE T from "mirrored" disc brakes, which have been a real problem keeping them working, to DRUM BRAKES. Parts have to come from England so it will be 2 to 3 weeks before the swap can get done!  

 

November 14, We have been riding East and North a lot so decided it was time to head to the Westside of the Springs and into Manitou Springs. Using the Midland/Creek Walk Trails. It was a really nice sunny, warm day so we headed to the current ending of the Creek Walk Trail at Mayfair Road. Headed back the Mesa Springs Greenway to Monument Valley Park to eat our afternoon Think Bar, (high protein, NO SUGAR, Low Carb), it seems every afternoon the winds pick up with a coolish breeze, time to head for the storage unit and tuck in the trikes!

November 15, today was just a FOOD RUN for weekly food and household supplies. It was the chilly day of the week, after dropping off the food at the apartment we headed over to the Fillmore Street Mc Donald's for a BOGO Big Mac! Gray clouds came in and the breeze got chilly, headed directly to the storage unit!

November 16, We decided to ride out and check the progress on 2 of the 4 new, "Lighted Crosswalks", the city is installing to make it MUCH easier to get across at these "Street/Trail Intersections"! Sadly, the Murry Blvd/Rock Island lighted crossing showed no progress since last visit, Bummer! Decided to head out to the Shook's Run/Unitah Street crossing and was surprised to see a crew working on a Saturday!! Not only was the 2nd street pole up, they actually got the new "concrete" poured and drying for the connection over to pick up the Shook's Run Trail heading south!! Looks like this could be finished and working very soon, Thanks City of Colorado Springs!! :)

November 18, LOL, well sometimes you have a ride that is a total PITA!! We headed south on the Cascade Ave bike lane to America the Beautiful Park. Picked up the Midland Trail over to 8th Street. Had to use the "sidewalk" till the 8th Street bike lane started. Heading south again on the bike lane, ran into road construction, forced out into traffic for a bit then as we got to our turn at Cheyenne Blvd to pick up the bike lane, MORE road construction all the way up to Cheyenne Middle School, we had to Play with Traffic, Arrugh! Finally it cleared out as we headed up the Canyon. Heading for the Sacred Grounds Cafe, arrived to find out it's CLOSED on Mondays! :( Headed up the bike lane to the Starsmoore Center to use the restroom, LOL, it's CLOSED on Monday's!! Lucky for us, a hiker told us of another restroom in the off street parking lot and YEA, it was actually OPEN!! ;) 

Fought the traffic again heading back down the bike lane and road construction, got over to a side street and made our way to the Panera Bread at the Southgate Shopping Center! It was chilly sitting in the shade outside on their patio so we got HOT tea instead of iced tea and split a cinnamon rasin swirl bagel along with our brown bag PB and sugar free jelly sandwich!! That hit the spot, decided to see IF we could get through the Hugh construction project at the I-25 and Nevada Ave/Tejon Street intersection. They are adding new Sidewalk/Trail crossings, luck was on our side! The new concrete path is open heading north on Nevada Ave, (not done on the side heading south, FYI), we headed towards down town over to America the Beautiful Park and finally, the Mesa Springs Greenway to Monument Valley Park. Back up to Cascade Ave bike lane over to the double wide sidewalk along Nevada Ave to Fillmore Street to pick up 4 prescriptions for Jo at the Walgreens Drug Store, then back over to the Cascade Ave bike lane and headed to the storage unit!! 

It was such a mess, didn't shoot a video or even take any photos!! So, I will leave you with the lowly RELIVE video for the ride! Till next time Happy Trails and upcoming Holidays!

October into November 2024, Indian Summer, then WHAM Winter!!

Ah yes, behind as usual, so let's get at it right away!

October 29

This was just a local area ride on back streets, bike lanes to showcase some of the Halloween Displays we found in the area around our home. It was a REALLY WINDY day but still a FUN ride over all!

 

November 1

We headed up to see if the re-aligned portion of the Rock Island Trail and Murry Blvd, new lighted crosswalk was dry, it was so we headed East to the end of the Rock Island Trail just before Powers Blvd. They have made progress on the crosswalk, but it's still not finished and working as of yet. We ended the ride on the North ending point for the Mesa Springs Greenway, then headed back to Cascade Ave bike lane back to the storage unit. 

November 2

Decided to ride the Templeton Gap Trail, this trail has two different ending points just before the Austin Bluffs Parkway, we decided to take the straight-ahead portion to its end at Ranch Road, a few blocks short of Academy Blvd. Started the video heading back south, then west.

It was getting a bit late, so we headed over to Bonn Park to eat our snack then headed back to the storage unit, tucked in the trikes and walked home

November 5

Had several things to do on the 3rd and 4th so no ride. Sadly Jo came down with a sinus induced migraine headache, so she stayed home. I headed out for short ride as the weather was going into full time WINTER mode by the evening hours. Just did a loop of several trails, stopped at Panera Bread for iced tea as it warmed up enough and ate my brown bag lunch. Headed out of Panera Bread and wow clouds came in WIND came up and the temps seemed to drop 5 or more degrees!! Headed south on the Pikes Peak Greenway and took the Rock Island Connector up to Cascade Ave to end the video and headed for the storage unit then braved the wind back to the apartment!

Sadly, it's been SNOWING on and off from the late afternoon on the 5th. to today, the 8th!

We are supposed to ride in the Veteran's Day Parade with the Pedal Powered Veteran's Group but I'm not sure the back streets from the apartment to the storage unit (1.2 miles each way), to be able to pull our wagon with E-assist batteries and gear!! It's going to be a real last-minute decision on weither we make the parade, RATS! Hope your getting in some good winter season rides! BJ :)