February 2025 so far, As usual playing Catch Up again!

 Well very little riding in Jan. and Feb. isn't a lot better, rats! I'll do a bit of catching up on the old BLOG! 

February 2, Ground Hog's Day Ride: 

We headed up the Rock Island Trail to check on the progress of the new lighted crosswalk at Murry Blvd. and Rock Island Trail. Still not functional but they do now have lights on the poles, etc. so its slowly getting there!

New trail signage for the Rock Island Trail

A piece of the Rock Island Railroad

Neat little carved bench and contemplation area on the Rock Island Trail 

February 3rd, 

Well Jo did not want to ride due to a sinus headache, so I decided to try and find a "new" section of the Sand Creek Trail, I just found out about! LOL, it started on the Rock Island Trail and then had to use a sidewalk and parking lot to get to the old frontage road along Hwy 24. Now on the new Wooten Ave Bike Lane up to Galley Road and then again ran into road construction and had to use the sidewalk, bummer. Finally found the new trail section but "no signage" at all?? This portion of the Sand Creek Trail goes from Galley Road to Hwy 24 with a "under pass" but sadly dead ends. The Future will have it continue to hook up with the older section of the Sand Creek Trail heading south to the Pikes Peak Greenway. 

This is actually the Homestead Trail South off of the Rock Island Trail, took this to get to the sidewalk/parking lot path to get to the Hwy 24 Frontage Road

Looking south on the Homestead Trail South

Looking north on the Homestead Trail South at the junction of it and the Rock Island Trail to get back to the storage unit! 

February 5th., 

While I was wiping down my trike, I noticed black scuff marks on the upper park of the swingarm (rear end), looks like my factory rear rack was banging into the swing arm, yikes! Headed up to ANGLETECH to have Joshia look at it. He re-drilled new holes in the rack extension arms that hook the rack to the frame and that made the rack sit higher for the needed proper spacing! The damage was purely cosmetic to the swingarm, just needs some silver touch-up paint to be good as new, YEA! From the shop we headed up to the Foothills Trail past the Garden of the Gods City Park and then, via the 31st street bike lane to the Midland Trail heading east and of course, ran into road construction so we had to use backstreets to get back on the trail into America the Beautiful Park. Over to Shooks Run Trail and the Good Neighbor's Meeting House for snack and tea! Then home to the storage shed.

February 7th., 

Decided to ride the Cottonwood Creek Trail as far east as we could, due to possible trail damage caused by a homeless fire causing damage to part of the park drainage system. Well, we found out most of the damage has been repaired, except the access way to the port-a-potties, arrugh! We rode the long way around the outside of the park via sidewalk to get access. Headed back down the trail heading west over to the open air patio at the University Village Colorado Retail Center for our brought from home snack and water. Now to the Pikes Peak Greenway, T-Gap Trail and Cascade St. bike lane back to the storage unit!

LOL, took the round-about way be made it to the restroom at the Park

Heading back to the west on the Cottonwood Creek Trail

Crossing on of the many bridges on the Cottonwood Creek Trail

Jo got a photo of me getting a video of her, LOL! We do everything as a TEAM most of the time! Not bad for an old couple who will celebrate 45 years of marriage in Oct. 2025!

We made it to the end as the winter weather, cold, snow and WIND has returned with a vengeance! Today is Tuesday, February 11th. and it's 13 F, gray, cloudy and breezy with lite snow falling and the rest of the week looks mostly the same, RATS!! Till we see you again, Happy Trail's! 

January 15, 2025-WINTER is NOT going away soon enough!!

 As you can see, there has been almost NO RIDES since the 3rd. of January! It's been COLD, WINDY and at times several inches of SNOW! Sadly, we had very important Medical appointments on Thursday, January 16. Of course, it was the WARMEST day of that week, we did get a short FOOD RUN ride in on Wednesday, January 15th! It was still only 40 F with chilly breezes, but it was sunny, so we headed up the Rock Island Trail over to the Walmart Market Place off of Union Blvd. Got a full load of food and household supplies as by Friday night the coldest air from Canada brought on the "Polar Plunge"!! It's only 12 F with a windchill in the -4 F temp and 2 inches of SNOW outside our living room window! 

This will continue with more snow possible Sunday night into Monday morning and to be honest the temps won't get high enough to do any melting of snow till Tuesday so we HOPE the area trails and roads might be clear enough to ride by NEXT Friday, January 24th.!! We did a couple of walks over to the Good Neighbors Meeting House for HOT Tea's and one walk to Safeway for a few items the Market Place doesn't stock but the Food Run was the last ride, cabin fever is going to be a "Real Problem" by next Friday, ARRUGH! 

Unloaded the trailer after the FOOD RUN ride to the Walmart Market Place on Union Blvd, just off the Rock Island Trail

Here is the "RIG" or how my trike goes from, " sport car to pick-up truck" so we can get food and household supplies! My trike is called: Scrappy, the trailer is called: Tugger!

Well, that's all I have till the winter weather decides to quit being so mean and onery in nature, LOL! If your in the Polar Plunge with us, STAY WARM!

January 6, 2025- Last of December and the first ride in 2025, the winter is coming on strong! :(

 Happy New Year, as usual the Blog is behind, but we have had lots of chilly, windy and snowy weather! So here are the last rides of 2024 and the first ride of 2025! And away we go!

December 28, the day was a bit iffy, so we decided to just get in a short ride and headed up to the Vincent Street Bridge via the Pikes Peak Greenway and a little bit of the Cottonwood Creek Trails. Instead of turning left over the bridge to continue on CCT, we took the uphill trail to the right that gets you on the Vincent Frontage Road and over to the Dublin Blvd/Nevada Ave Pathway. We headed to the Nevada Ave portion down to the Cracked Trail (Old asphalt trail) over to the University Village Colorado Center to head to Panera Bread for much needed Hot Tea and our brown bag lunch! From there, headed south on the PPG, Fontanero St. bike lane to the Mesa Spring Greenway to head to Monument Valley Park.

Chilly Ride, time for a hot tea and lunch!

Heading South on the Pikes Peak Greenway heading to the Mesa Springs Greenway

Ending the Video at Monument Valley Park

December 29, finally a really nice day so we headed to Manitou Springs. The usual route via the Pikes Peak and the Cascade St. bike lane over to the Midland Trail. Got to the Creek Walk trail in Manitou Springs, through Fields and Schryver Parks to the end of the concrete, at Mayfield Street, turned around and headed back. Always enjoy this ride, we stopped at Starbucks at 30th and Colorado Ave for a hot tea. Headed back to the storage unit, tucked in the trikes and took the slow 1.2 mile walk back to the apartment.

Heading west on the "Singing Blvd" on the way to the Chachras St. bike lane to America the Beautiful Park. (Olympic/Paralympic Museum in the back 

ground) The light poles have speakers and always play music!

Heading down under the Adams Crossing Bridge on the Midland Trail into Manitou Springs

January 3, 2025, we decided to head east to the Templeton or T-Gap trail. Heading up to the bridge that crosses over the drainage canal and hooks up with the Flintridge Road bike lane up to Academy Blvd. Day was warm enough in the sun for a iced tea at McDonalds. This one has little tables outside in the sunshine. Ate our brown bag lunch and drank our tea then headed back west on the Flintridge Road bike lane back to the T-Gap Trail. heading south then west all the way to the Pikes Peak Greenway. North on the PPG up to University Village Colorado Center outdoor eating area for our late afternoon Think Bar snack! Temps started dropping and breeze coming on stronger, headed back to the T-Gap over to the Cascade St. bike lane over to the storage unit. 

Lot's of cold, gray, windy and a bit of snow since then and for the near future. Who knows when winter will back off a bit and let us ride again! 2025 isn't being very friendly so there's going to be more "Indoor than Outdoor Rides" for the New Year, RATS! Till next time, "HAPPPY TRAIL'S".