WELCOME to: BJ and Jo Ondo's recumbent trike cycling blog! This blog has information about US, our "Bicycle/Trike History", and our RIDES, here in Colorado Springs, CO., the Pikes Peak Region, State of Colorado and anywhere else our WHEELS take us!
Several days before, it was 90F+ so it was really nice to get in a ride where the high temp was only 70 to 75F. Been a little while since we rode to Manitou Springs so we picked up the Pikes Peak Greenway south using the concrete trail on the westside of the Greenway into Monument Valley Park, then over the Ped Bridge over I-25 to the Mesa Springs Greenway, Walnut St bike lane, a back street to the Cuchares Trail to the Midland Trail heading to the westside of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs.
Stopped at the Starbucks at 31st St. and Colorado Ave for iced tea and a brown bag lunch. Headed back to the Midland Trail west, which changes to the Creek Walk Trail when you get into Manitou Springs. Rode the trail to its end at May Fair Dr. Came back on the trail over the little wooden bridge over Fountain Creek and headed back east to the Midland Trail and into Colorado Springs. Bike lanes thru the city, then the Weber St. bike lane to the Tastee Freeze Drive Inn for more iced tea and a Think Bar snack. Shooks Run and Rock Island Connector to Cascade Ave bike lane back to the storage unit. Sunny, mellow temps, a really excellent day for a RIDE!
6/18-We had several errands to run so we decided to make a bit of a ride out of it instead of doing the normal WALK! Mainly using bike lanes so not much to report! Did stop at Stanley Lake in Monument Valley Park for shade and snack break, then use the PP Greenway/Rock Island Connector and the Cascade Ave bike lane to get back to the storage unit!
6/22-We headed out on another HOT day, back in the 90 F temperatures with lots of sunny. We did at least get an early start so it wasn't as hard on us, we went all the way to the Park then turned around and headed back down the CCT to Academy Blvd and a Starbucks for the brown bag and ice green tea! Otherwise, we rode here and there till it started to get hot and then we headed back to the storage unit and the hot walk home.
It's looking like the rides on the 22nd and 23rd will be my last for a while! I am having Skin Surgery on Wednesday the 25th and according to my instructions, I have to wait "2 WEEKS" before I can exercise, MAJOR BUMMER!! :( Hope you are getting in some great rides, I'll be back!! BJ
June 18- Errand Run, we basically were just out doing errands on the trikes and stopping for iced tea to go with the infamous, brown bag lunch! Added a bit here and there to at least make a ride out of it.
June 20- Let's GO ride over the Low Bridge! Jo had a medical appointment, so I decided to "try again" to see if the water in Fountain Creek had gone down enough and the City crew had been able to "clear off the derbies" that covered the "Low Bridge" on the Pikes Peak Greenway going over Fountain Creek. It's going south towards Fountain, CO. and wa la, it was clear so I rode over it and headed down the PP Greenway.
After a short distance the trail turns to gravel, heading to S. Circle Dr. where the tall, overhead new bridges are under construction. Had to take an off-trail detour to a street and down to the entryway of the El Pomar Youth Sports Center and make my way back to the PP Greenway! Instead of continuing south I turned east over a bridge to pick up the Sand Creek Trail and headed north. Followed the SC trail till its current end at Fountain Blvd., then took bike lanes and back streets to the Starbucks at Hwy 24 and Murry Blvd. for an iced tea and yep, brown bag lunch!
Picked up the Homestead Trail South but heading north to the Rock Island Trail and headed west. It was a very HOT day, 90F+ so I decided to head back to the storage unit and call it a day! 20+ miles and a fun ride, then a walk back home to my air-conditioned apartment! ;)
Decided not to ride on 21st. as they call for 95F temps so we plan to be back "Out and About on the Recumbents" on Sunday as it will at least be "BELOW" 90F! Till next time, Happy Trails!
June 13- The NO Go on the LOW, Bridge Ride, Jo had medical appointments, so I headed off and decided to ride the lower half of the Pikes Peak Greenway. Rode the Cascade Ave Bike Lane to Fountain Blvd over to pick up the Tejon St. bike lane to the PPG south under both the Tejon St and Nevada Ave trail underpasses. The plan was to ride the Greenway to pick up Sand Creek Trail South then head north BUT, the Low Bridge over Fountain Creek was totally flooded with fast running water so NO GO on the LOW!!
Headed back on the PP Greenway to a old bridge crossing Fountain Creek and heading west. Picked up the 8th Street bike lane over to the Cheyenne Blvd bike lane up to the Starsmoor Nature and Visitor Center at the foot of North Cheyenne Canyon. did a reverse route, stopped for lunch and headed back to the storage unit!
June 14, Flintridge Road bike lane and T-Gap Trail Ride, Headed up the southern T-Gap Trail to pick up the Flintridge bike lane heading north to Academy Blvd. Stopped at Starbucks for Iced Tea and brown bag lunch. Headed back on the Flintridge bike lane and rode north on the T-Gap to it's end at Ranch Drive. Did a turnaround and took the T-Gap south to the PP Greenway and Monument Valley Park. Headed up Cache La Poudre bike lane over to the Weber St bike lane and to the Tastee Freeze Drive in for more iced tea and a Think Bar snack. Getting late so back to Cascade Ave bike lane back to the Storage unit!
June 15, The Search for the Chuckwagon BBQ Place, It's Fathers Day and I really wanted some BBQ! We have been wanting to go to the new "Chuckwagon" Texas Style BBQ Place but it's not a easy location to get to by Recumbent Trike! Using the Rock Island Trail heading east, we found a way to get from the trail to Palmer Park Blvd via back streets. Made our way to cross Palmer Park and Powers Blvd and then more back streets to get to Omaha Ave and we finally found the Place!
Well it was a very HOT day and when we arrived we found we'd have to wait in the SUN, (no shade) for 1 to 1.5 hrs. till it opened so we decided to bail and find other places for lunch. We just couldn't find a place with window and a safe area for the trikes. We ended up at a Mc Donalds so we got Big Mac's without the sauce and got the BBQ Sauce they have for Mc Nuggets and poured it on the Big Mac!! LOL, it was actually better than the normal sauce!! Still a bit hungry, we headed over to the Tastee Freeze Drive in and got their excellent Chilli Cheese Fries to share, which made a really good Father's Day meal!! The skies started to darken so we headed back to the storage unit.
June 16, Food Run, Lunch Ride and a bit more, Weekly Food Run to the Walmart Market Store on Union Blvd. Rock Island Trail to Union then huge downhill to the Store. Food loaded in the cargo trailer and back up. the now huge UPHILL! E-assist is a wonderful thing when you are hauling a cargo trailer full of food and household supplies up a very steep hill!!
We pack our frozen goods in insulated bags with Ice Packs, especially in today's 85 F+ sun! Unload at the apartment, put the frozen goods away and then take our brown bag lunch to Panera Bread for iced tea. After re-applying more sunscreen, we headed up the Nevada Ave Access Path up to the Vincent Frontage Road and the Vincent Street Bridge to connect with the Cottonwood Creek Trail heading south to the Pikes Peak Greenway and finally back to the storage unit to stow the cargo trailer and trikes till the next RIDE!
Till next time, HAPPY TRAIL'S from the Ondo''s and Out and About on the Recumbents!
June 10-A ride around the Downtown Manitou Springs
We headed out to Manitou Springs and stopped at the Starsbuck on Colorado Ave and 31st Street for Iced Tea and our brown bag lunch. We left the Trails and rode Pikes Peak Ave to go through the Buffalo Lodge Bicycle Resort for a ride through, great place too stay if your riding or visiting here in Colorado Springs. Decided to do a tour of the town of Manitou Springs, it's a cool place with lot's of food, shops and a cool VIBE.
Picked up the Creekwalk Trail over to the Midland and heading back to the America the Beautiful Park. Then headed to the Tasty Freeze Drive Inn for a 2nd. iced tea and then back to the storage unit. The day was beautiful, even become HOT for the first time.
June 11-Heading to Angletech to have Jo's New Larger E-assist Display Unit Installed and a bit of a Ride Before the RAINS!
Jo's new 860c Display finally arrived so we headed to Angletech to have it installed. The original display that came with her e-assist set up was small and VERY hard to read so we ordered one like mine, which I really like!
I also had Kirk reset my display from 9 levels of assist to 5 levels as Jo prefers the 5 level setting so now we are more compatible, she does have a bit more power as her motor is a 750W and mines only a 500W. She also has a 48V battery and mine is a older 36V battery.
From there we headed back on the Sinton Trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway up to where the New Santa Fe Trail and then the bike lane on Corporate Center Drive over to the Nevada Ave Access Path and the UVC center Panera Bread for Iced Tea and a Think Bar. We'll all the while the clouds kept building up and we decided to head to the storage unit, we got caught in a downpour 1/4 mile from the unit so I will have to clean and re-lube the chains again, ARRUGH!!
Jo had appointments so I headed off on a solo ride. Decided to ride the upper portion of the Cottonwood Creek Trail as we don't ride it very often. It's wide open, no real shade except the underpasses or bridges. From the storage unit, Cascade Ave Bike Lane, to the T-Gap Trail heading west to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading north. Stopped at the UVC Center Panera Bread for a bowl of creamy tomato soup and chunk of ciabatta bread, YUM!!
Took the Nevada Accessway Path over to Vincent Frontage Rd to pick up the Cottonwood Creek Trail heading east. Up to Cottonwood Regional Park and then thru the tunnel to the trails current end at Powers Blvd and Woodman Rd. Turned around and took the same way back except, once under the Vincent St. bridge, rode the CCT back to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading south to Criterium Bicycle Shop for a water and Think Bar. Getting on the afternoon, headed back to the storage unit to end the ride! Sunny, warm, great day to ride!
June 8th- Food Run and Lunch Ride and the coming of "ANGRY SKIES"!
With Jo being sick with a viral bug 6/3-6/6, we couldn't get to the store for food, so she felt good enough to get in a Food Run on Sunday. After heading to Walmart Marketplace on Union Blvd, got food and supplies needed and we headed back to the apt. to unload! Then she wanted to go to Panera Bread for creamy tomato soup and bread for lunch, I got a new Tosted Corsant Bread sandwich, we brought our chirp's and fuji apples and enjoyed a lunch out, but it started raining, lucky, it was lite and stopped as we got back on the trikes.
Rode the North Nevada access path to the Corporate Center Rd. bike lane up to Criterium Bike Shop and picked up the Pikes Peak Greenway, south. We wanted to ride the PPG to the Rock Island Connector Trail, but the rains started again, RATS! Stopped at the Pikeview Reservoir to photograph the "Angry Skies" and clouds hiding the sunshine and Pikes Peak!
We decided to head to the storage unit and get the trikes inside as fast as possible, packed up, of course still wearing our bike rain jackets and pulled our wagon the 1.2 miles back to the apartment. Even with the rain, etc. it was an enjoyable but short ride.
Well, "That's ALL FOLKS", as the old cartoons used to say, medical appointments on Monday and more angry skies weather by early afternoon. Might be able to get in a ride on Tuesday, All the Best!
May 28- We rode the Templeton Gap and Austin Bluffs Trails, finally getting a break in the rain!
Good weather finally so we headed east on the T-Gap Trail and off of T-Gap to the Austin Bluffs Trail heading north. It's not a long trail as it currently ends so we turned around and headed back to T-Gap and picked up the Rock Island Connector to the Pikes Peak Greenway heading south into downtown Co Springs to go to Starbucks at the Antlers Plaza for iced tea and a think bar. Getting late so we headed directly to the storage unit.
May 30- BJ's Strange Ride, lots of Bike Lanes and Partial Trails. Jo had medical appointments, so I headed out on a ride to see if construction on Galley Rd and the Homestead Trail South and the eastern portion of the Sand Creek Trail had made any progress. Rode the Rock Island Trail to the Homestead South and headed to Galley Rd. Well, they took out the old bridge and are building a new one, so it cut off access to Galley Rd. either direction. Had to turn around to Murry Blvd and pick up San Miguel St. to bypass the construction area! Headed to Edison St. heading east to the Mavrick Station at Edison and Wooten Rd. Hot dog and iced tea for lunch, YUM.
Headed north the Wooten Rd Bike Lane back up to Galley Rd. turned east and headed to check out the Sand Creek Trail. Sadly, no progress either north or south on this portion of the Sand Creek Trail, in fact the trail heading north under Galley Rd was a MUD PIT, so I rode over Space Coast Dr up to Palmer Park Blvd and Powers Ave. Then a back street called Wykoop Rd. up to Constitution Ave heading west to pick up Constitution Court and a little dirt trail that connects to the Rock Island Trail heading west! Stopped at a different Mavrick Station for a break and then headed back to the Storage area.
May 31- Angletech, both ways on the Sinton Trail. Headed west on the Sinton Trail up to Angletech to have them look at a problem with the attachments between my seat and rear rack. Got that taken care of but didn't feel like riding the Foothills Trail again so we headed back down Sinton Trail. Pikes Peak Greenway to Monument Valley Park and back to the Tastee Freeze Drive Inn for iced tea and a Think bar. Clouds moving back in so we headed to the storage unit!
June 1- Sinton Trail "RE-RIDE". Bummer not sure if it was a camera malfunction or operator error but the whole coming back on the Sinton Trail didn't record so we just decided to re-do the ride and add it to the video for 5-31!
Well, no more rides in June due to medical appointments, constant RAIN and Thunderstorms and, sadly Jo has caught the "standard" flu, not COVID-19, arrugh!! Hope to be back "Out and About on the Recumbents, SOON! Happy Trails!
