Just a bit more of April 2026

 

4/9- Food Run and a bit of a Wet Ride home

We had planned on doing a Food run and then adding a lunch ride but after we got the cargo trailer and panniers loaded up, it started to sprinkle! RATS, we just got back on the Rock Island Trail and headed for home. It never rained hard, but it was wet all the same so we bailed on the lunch Ride! 

4/19- No particular place to RIDE and the call of CHEAP Grilled Cheese

Due to it being "National Grilled Cheese" Day, we headed out to Panera Bread for a $2 off a Grilled Cheese Sandwich! It was such a nice day that we by passed the short cut to Panera Bread and headed for the Cottonwood Creek Trail to do the Vincent Street Loop and then the Nevada Ave Path, the Cracked Trail and come in the back way to the cafe. YUM, excellent grilled cheese and sides, plus a nice large, iced tea!  From there we just wandered here and there via different routes enjoying the early Spring weather for a change! 

4/20- A Ride for the Enjoyment of it!

Wow, a rare, nice day for two days in a row in early Spring in So. Colorado is kinda rare so again we headed out! First the PPGW to Sinton Trail over to the Foothills Trail. At the Garden of the Gods Park, we took a chance and took a trail into the park a bit that in the summer months has SO MANY tourist's that there is NO WAY, you can ride it! Being early Spring, and a Monday it was almost empty, so we decided to ride it and do both a full video and a video-short (just the trail) for our YouTube Channel-"Out and About on the Recumbents". Stopped at Starbucks for the Brown Bag Special and Iced Tea lunch! 

More of the, point the wheels and head type riding that we really enjoy! It's great to have a destination but it's more fun to make your way as you GO! Again sunny, warm and lite winds making the kinda day, you just got to ride. Rode the Pikes Peak Greenway back to the Apartment and tucked in the trikes. Tuesday-Tia-Chi, 

Weds. Out to lunch with Jo's brother Jim on his 65th. Birthday at the Airplane Restaurant. Friday, the weather guessers' are saying COLD and LITE SNOW so we will see and hope they are wrong! 

YouTube Video-Short: Hiking Trail in the Garden of the Gods

YouTube Video-Long Version of the RIDE!

Till we come together Next Time my Fine Friends, HAPPY TRAILS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 2026- Showers making more flowers but appointments making LESS rides! :(

Well, we have been getting a lot of afternoon lite rain showers as April has come to So. Colorado! The flowers are booming but sadly, our rides have been less due to it's our 6-month assessment time with Rocky Mountain PACE senior care so we have had constant medical appointments, RATS. Our only ride in April so far, has been on Saturday April 4th.

4/4/2026-Pikes Peak Region Recumbent Network, (PPRRN) Meet & Eat ride to Tasty Freeze Diner and their season opening

As the "administrator" for the PPRRN Facebook Group, I try to set up a once-a-month Meet & Eat Ride. The rains dried up for Sat. the 4th., at the same time it was the Season Opening for the 50's style Tasty Freeze Drive Inn. With a "Meet & Eat", you pick a restaurant, Diner, Coffee House, etc. and let the members know a "Meet Time". This way they can ride to the Meet point at their pace and choose the route they prefer to get there! 

Jo and I set up a secondary meeting place to let folks, RIDE IN with us from the Julie Penrose Fountain in America the Beautiful Park in downtown Colorado Springs at 11:10. We only had one other couple show up, Mark and Diane on their AZUB bike and trike. The four of us headed out the Pikes Peak Greenway to the Rock Island and the Shooks Run Trail over to the Diner. Got our food, they had ice cream and we had a good gab session and then headed out in different directions. A very enjoyable ride with great folks and good food too! 

 From there, we headed south on Shooks Run Trail, then Midland Trail and Chaurrs Trail, (very short) over to the Walnut St. bike lane, then the Mesa Springs Greenway, over the Ped Bridge to Monument Valley Park for a restroom break. Back over the Ped Bridge and the Mesa Springs Greenway to the Pikes Peak Greenway and finally home. Good weather, great folks and a fun day for a RIDE! 

                                            

                                            Video Short-6-minute version

                                            Video-Long Version

Yes, not much riding so far, hopefully now that the medical assessments are over, the afternoon rains with mellow and we can get "Out and About on the Recumbents! Till we come together again, my fine friends, HAPPY TRAILS!

Even more Fake Summer rides here in So. CO. in March!!

 Arrugh, again I have fallen way behind in updating the blog so here is more "Fake Summer Riding" here in Colorado Springs, Colorado, LETS RIDE!

March 19- Rode the Homestead Trail North. 

This trail is really hard to get to the starting point, it's got NO "signed" starting point! You pick up the first turn to the left, while heading across Academy Blvd and heading east on Mazeland Dr. There is a dirt and grass trail along the small drainage canal and that takes you to Penrose Park and the dirt/old asphalt trail, heading south. Lots of broken asphalt and dirt patches but just after Oro Blanco, it turns to concrete for a while heading north. The rest is mixed asphalt and gravel. We only go as far as the Trail Overlook; it's too rutted and slick gravel on a steep downhill!! It's also only a once or twice a year ride, it really beats up on the trikes!

March 21- Food and Supplies Ride. 

Time again, to go get some food, hooked up the cargo trailer and headed to Walmart Market on Union Blvd. Then headed out to lunch after that and back home!

March 25- "Fake Summer" ride to Palmer Park Overlook

Jo had a rare "lunch date" with her sister Sue so I took off on my own, headed up Rock Island Trail to go to the Academy Blvd Mavrick Station Store for a HOT DOG BBQ chips and iced tea lunch!! Decided to challenge myself with a steep climb on a thin 2 lane only black top road that is the ONLY road in Palmer Park barely safe enough on a recumbent trike!! The view is excellent!

From there I picked up the sidewalk on Circle Drive to get over to the T-Gap Trail down to the Pikes Peak Greenway and up to the UVC Center for iced tea at Panera Bread. Back to the Greenway and home.

 March 26- Errand Run and a different view of the Garden of the Gods City Park, (Mostly a music video).

First, we headed to the Walmart Super Center on 8th. street to return 2-wallets that the pockets were too small for credit cards, etc. to FIT into!! Made our way over to the Midland Trail, headed west to get to Ridge Road. We stopped at Mc Donalds for, cheap iced tea!! Ridge Road heading north goes through the back side of the Garden of the Gods park. Picked up the Foothills Trail heading east to the Sinton Trail west, Pikes Peak Greenway and home.

March 28- Creekside Coffee House, Cottonwood Creek Trail and a bit more

It was supposedly going to be mostly cloudy, but the sun came out and the temps climbed quickly! Headed up the PP Greenway to get to the junction with the Cottonwood Creek Trail. Did a right turn onto the CCT and headed east to get to the Creekside Coffee House for iced teas and brown bag special. Headed back down the CCT to pick up the Vincent Frontage Road and Path down to the Cracked Trail, heading south along Nevada Ave. Followed the path to the UVC Panera Bread for iced tea and a FREE loaf of bread, it pays to be a MEMBER! Then back down the PP Greenway to the apartment, calling it a day. Great day to Ride!

THAT'S ALL FOLKS, till next time, Happy Trails and BTW, HAPPY EASTER Holidays too! 

And still more March Rides!

 We headed out to Angletech, to get Jo's new 9 speed drive train installed by Joshia, it was gray, cloudy and Very Windy! At least, there wasn't any snow and the trails and streets were mostly clear. 

March 13- Got to Angletech, then walked over to the Black Bear Diner for lunch, we met up and talked to guy named Pete, I believe, he too was getting service work done on his recumbent trike. He was going to pay the bill, load up the trike and meet us at the Black Bear but alas, he never showed up? Might have needed more and just couldn't find the Diner.

We headed back to the shop, after lunch and Jo's trike wasn't quite done, the "rapid shifter" wasn't working well, he got a different one installed and it was fine, Jo did a test ride around the complex area and was quite happy with the results. From her old 7 speed, friction shifter set up to a 11x40 9 speed, rapid shifter set up! Headed back down Sinton Trail to the T-Gap Trail to get in some more miles and let Jo get a bit use to the new drive train, yes, it did also receive a new, long cage rear derailleur too! Off of the T-Gap to Nancy Lewis Park and then home via the Rock Island Trail!

March 14- PPRRN Meet & Eat ride to the Creekside Cafe- A Meet & Eat is a self-lead ride to a destination to "gather to meet and eat"! I try to set up one a month, in the warmer weather months for the Pikes Peak Region Recumbent Network (PPRRN). Jo and I told members that if they wanted to ride up together meet us a Criterium Bicycle Shop on the Pikes Peak Greenway at 10:15 AM. We waited a bit later and Mark and Diane rode up; we headed up the PPGW to pick up the Cottonwood Creek Trail and head to the Creekside Coffee House. 

Enjoyed the company on a very nice morning, heading northeast up the CCT to just before Union Blvd. The Creekside Coffee House is hooked to a local church; it has a very nice patio area and an even nicer inside area too! We had a very good sandwich and iced tea, enjoyed the company of Mark and Dianne, they told us about their ride on the AZUB 25th. Anniversary gathering overseas and all about the Tuson TOT recumbent rally in AZ. After all was said and done, Jo and I headed south for an errand run to Walmart for Yarn and new wallets. Mark and Diane headed northeast for home. We rode the PPGW over to the 8th. Street Walmart and then headed to STIR's for more iced tea and a protein bar, then back to the apartment.

That's it for now folks, between weather and medical appointments, etc. we haven't gotten in any more rides. Jo has a dental appointment on Thursday the 19th. so, I will be out and about on the "recumbent" on a solo ride as the temps are going to be a new record high in the 80 F range, WOHOO! Happy Trails! :)

More March 2026

 Last Friday, we got 5 inches of SNOW, Saturday, freezing AM temps but then warmed up enough to do some serious melting! Sunday was a beautiful day, sunny, 65 degrees and lite winds.

March 8th- Friday, 5 inches of SNOW, Saturday, Soggy Melt, trails and streets, Sunday, LETS RIDE

With 5 inches of snow wasn't sure we'd be able to ride Fri/Sat or Sun but on Saturday, it finally warmed up enough to melt a lot of the snow off the trails, it let the city crew plow thru quickly. By Sunday it was mostly dry trail and streets, so we headed out on a ride. We made a Loop Ride out of Sinton/Foothills/Shooks Run and T-Gap Trails. 

March 9- Beautiful Weather for a Monday Ride

It was a really nice day for a Monday, so we headed out to the North Cheyenne Canyon Park area. Using a lot of bike lanes, Tejon St/Cheyenne Blvd and some back streets we headed up to the park and stopped at the Picnic Grounds for a bit, then we headed east on the Cheyenne Blvd bike lane and more back streets over to Southgate Panera Bread for iced tea and our brown bag lunch. From there over to Monument Valley Park, up the Pikes Peak Greenway but found the trail closed at Unitha St. 

Decided to take Recreation Way back to the Legacy Loop Trailhead, back on the PPGW but again it was blocked off, we had to move a small barrel and put it back to continue to the Rock Island Trail over to Shooks Run Trail and to the STIR Coffee and Cocktails Cafe in the Bonn Shopping Center. After a second iced tea and snack bar we headed back to home the way we came. Really nice day for a RIDE!

March 11- Service Appointments at Angletech in the Sunny but COLD morning with a very bitter WIND!

Due to the Snow, we never made our Saturday afternoon service appointments at Angletech. We rescheduled for Wednesday the 11th at 1 PM. We headed up via Sinton Trail to the shop to get both rear derailleurs adjusted and have my headset checked out. Headed out via a walk to the Black Bear Diner for a great little "Cheeseburger combo basket" and Iced Tea.

 The wind was "bitterly COLD", even though the sun was out! We got back to the shop and picked up the trikes, talked to Joshia about a drive train upgraded from 7 speed and friction shifter set up on Jo's trike to a 9 speed and rapid shifter set up! He came up with an affordable set up so we will be heading back to Angletech on Friday at 11 AM to get it all installed, YEA! 

Note: Sadly, I did shoot some video BUT, after loading it from the camera into the computer, somehow, I erased the video segments off the computer so NO YouTube Video, RATS! That's it till next time folks, HAPPY TRAILS!

Last of February and into March

 Well today, Friday, March 6th., its SNOWING big time, hopefully it won't last long as we have a service appointment at Angletech on Saturday, at 2 PM. We have had some decent weather going into March, until today! Here is the last of February and some March rides.

February 27-A much less WINDY ride on different trails, lane, etc. 

We headed up the Templeton Gap Trail off of the Pikes Peak Greenway to the junction and chose to ride the Austin Bluffs Trail to its end point. A nice day, no jackets needed. We ended up taking a back street to head to a Mavrick station store, but it was the wrong street! We did find a new trailhead off the street to get back on the Templeton Gap Trail! Headed south and west to the frontage path to pick up the T-Gap bike lane and headed to a place for lunch and iced tea. Lots more bike lanes to finish up the ride.

March 2-A ride to the Creekside Coffee House. 

Decided to go to the Creekside Coffee House for tea and the brown bag lunch. Headed out Pikes Peak Greenway to the junction with the Cottonwood Creek Trail up to Creekside Coffee House. Then headed up the CCT to the CCT Park, did a turn around and headed back down. LOL, again it was misc. trails and bike lanes to a few places before we headed back to the apartment. Another nice day for a ride, so far March is doing better than February! 

March 4-Food Run and Lunch Ride. 

We needed to get in a Food Run over to the Walmart Market Place off of the Rock Island Trail. Food and supplies loaded into the cargo trailer and headed back to the apartment. Decided to head to the Mavrick station store on Garden of the Gods for a good Hot Dog. From the apartment to the Pikes Peak Greenway and on to the Sinton Trail heading west. Didn't us the "Tiny Tunnel of Terror", picked up the double wide sidewalk to Garden of the Gods Rd and headed into the Mavrick Station. Decided to head up the double-sided sidewalk up to GoG Rd and 31st. Street and headed back down the other side on the Sinton Trail back to the PPGW and back home!

March 5-Ride to check out the "status" of the newly built Galley Rd. bridge and to see if they re-opened the Homestead South Trail. 

Headed up the Rock Island Trail to the junction with the Homestead South (otherwise known as the Canal Trail), although the top portion has been open, it's been blocked off at the Murry Blvd crossing for more than a year! Sadly, there are 2 under passes that are as usual full of water, mud and rocks so we have to use the normal street crossings at those intersections, :( The Trail Closed sign was pulled off the trail after Murry Blvd, so we headed down to Galley Rd. Galley Rd. is now open, one lane in each direction. The big surprise was the new street crossing light and the now, doublewide sidewalks across the new bridge!! 

From there, we took back streets and sidewalk down to the Starbucks at Hwy 24 and Murry Blvd. Got our iced green tea and ate our brown bag lunch. Headed back the same way up to the Rock Island, then turned east to ride to the RIT ending point at the frontage road just before Powers Blvd. Headed back on the Rock Island Trail, west to Cascade St. and over to the Building Three Coffee Roasters, for iced tea and snack bars outside at the Lincon Center from there got back on the PPGW heading south to Monument Valley Park, then over the I-25 Pedestrian Bridge to the Mesa Greenway to its end, back to the PPGW and home. Someday, they will take the Homestead South Trail and continue it to hook up with the Sand Creek Trail but that's for the future. 

That's it so far for March, we will let you know if the snow melted fast enough for us to make our Saturday March 7th. Service appointment at Angletech of if we got snowed in and have to do our rides on the Recumbent Exercise Bike! HAPPY TRAILS

More February 2026 rides

 The weather gave us a couple of breaks, so we managed to get in a couple more rides. 

Feb 15- Enjoying the SUN, out and about on the recumbents- We headed out to ride the Pikes Peak Greenway, going south, which is mostly DIRT! LOL, ya we don't normally care for dirt riding, but it had been a long time since we rode that way so, it was our destination.

Rode the PPGW down to Circle Drive, the new bridge construction was still going on so we took the detour route and then picked up the new concrete trail along Circle Dr/Lakeview Dr to get on the Harrison Interchange Ped Bridge over to pick up the Cheyenne Road bike lane to the Southgate shopping center and Panera Bread for iced tea and our brown bag lunch. Backstreets, to the Creek Walk Center and short trail to the Tejon St. bike lane back into downtown and back streets over to America the Beautiful Park.

Over the bridges and into Monument Valley Park and the "westside" Pikes Peak Greenway home. A beautiful day for a ride! 

Feb 16- Monday wasn't quite as nice as Sunday so we needed to go do a FOOD RUN to stock the home shelves! Hooked up the cargo trailer and off, heading east on the Rock Island Trail over to the Union Blvd Walmart Marketplace. Shopping done, we headed back home the same way, put away the cold and frozen items and then headed to the Mavrick Station Store for "cheap but quite good", pizza slices for lunch. Hopped on the PPGW and then picked up the Sinton Trail up to Garden of the Gods Road and down to the Mavrick Station Store. We then headed back the way we came and decided to extend the ride a bit and ride down the PPGW to Duck Lake, took a spin around the lake, got back on the PPGW and headed home!

Well, that's all for now, really COLD, WINDY and a bit of SNOW has come back into Southern Colorado, maybe be able to sneak a short, chilly ride on Sunday or Monday, will have to see how much snow we get on Friday afternoon into Saturday morning! HAPPY TRAILS! 

Blessed with quite a few Good Weather Days in February

 Feb. 5- The Practical Side of Recumbent Triking: We needed some new pillows, sheets, etc. so, we headed out for the closest Walmart at Platte Ave and Chelton Rd. Hooked up the Cargo Trailer to the trike and took a more "Bike Lane" route instead of using parts of the trails. After loading up the cargo trailer, we headed to downtown and the Antler's Plaza Starbucks for iced tea to go with our brown bag lunch. Headed over to the Mesa Greenway to its end point, double backed to Fontanero St and the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail and then back to the apartment.

Feb 6- Solo ride and SD card test run- Well Jo had a medical appointment, so I headed out alone. It was a very nice day, but I decided to just stay around close, so I did the Vincent St Bridge Loop ride. I didn't take any photos but, I did enjoy the good weather and found out the SD cards are still functioning as normal, not sure why I had problems with them in the first place. Did the loop and then headed back to the apartment.

Feb 8- A Sunday Ride on a Beautiful Day- Wow what a day, low 60 F temps and lots of sunshine, wish winter was like this all the time! 

Didn't really have a certain destination in mind so we did a lot of wondering around using different trails and bike lanes. What a great day to out and about on a recumbent trike!

Feb 9-Another great day to RIDE, before the upcoming storms- Been fortune it having so many nice days to ride in February! 

Didn't really want to go home but it was getting late and the thought of dinner was on my mind. The storms are supposed to be coming in from the west any day so getting in the rides during this dry spell has made this a decent distance month for being winter!  

Feb 11- A Chilly start but it did warm up, with rain or rain/snow mix coming in on Friday, this was the last chance for a good ride- Decided to go to the Creekside Coffee House for hot tea and the brown bag lunch. Headed up the PPGW to the Cottonwood Creek Trail and up to the CCH. It was a chilly start but warmed up after our lunch so we decided to go all the way to the end point on the CCT. We passed the park, went thru the large tunnel and were on our way. OOPS, we forgot that they are doing creek rerouting and the trail is blocked off! Found a detour and decided to check it out. Single sidewalk but it did take us to a different access point for the trail so we could continue on! 

We headed back down the CCT and then stopped at the Academy Blvd and Woodmen Ave Starbucks for a Think Bar and iced tea break. Rode the CCT to the PPGW and headed south back to the apartment. Although it warmed, we never took off the jackets and vests so it was reminding us that it's still WINTER and can change asap! A nice 22-mile ride before the storms of Friday and Saturday morning, BTW, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! 

Today is Friday the 13th.!! LOL, no biggie but as Saturday is VALENTINES DAY, we won't be riding. Taking the city bus to our favorite cute little Mexican Restaurant, The Bean Bandit for Valentines Lunch! It's even a bit romantic with its inside Mexican courtyard and fountain! No safe place to lock up the trikes and no windows to keep an eye on them, oh well not every adventure can be done by trike! All the best and HAPPY TRAILS. 😍

It's Winter, January is as usual, at hit and miss month weather wise!

 Have managed to get in a ride here and there, alas, with weather and medical appointments, winter just seems to be really hard to get to do continues rides! We did get fortune enough, to find out about an event a couple of days before the ride. 

This is the Alex Pretti Memorial Ride for Colorado Springs, CO. Alex Pretti was gunned down by ICE agents in Minnesota, he was a VA Nurse and supposedly went to help a lady who got pushed down and then was surrounded by Agents, they saw he had a gun, he had a Permit to Carry a firearm. The encounter, got out of hand and he was shot. Now, I wasn't there and will never know what really happened! 

Alex was also a long-time bicyclist and a great customer at a local area bike shop, the Bike Shop decided to have a Memorial Ride for Alex, it was posted by FACEBOOK, and they asked Bike Shops around the country to also have a Memorial Ride for a fellow cyclist. There were over 250 bike shops across the USA that on Jan. 31st. at 11 AM, held a Memorial Ride, we joined the one here in Colorado Springs. Not to protest but to show solidarity and remembrance of a fellow cyclist!!

The start of the Memorial Ride in Colorado Springs, CO. at Building 3 Coffee House, Lincon Center

Jo on the eastern (dirt) Pikes Peak Greenway, heading to America the Beautiful Park in downtown

230+ riders, stopped to fix a flat by the "CREW", heading to America the Beautiful Park

 

We arrived at the Julie Penrose Fountain in America the Beautiful Park, gathered to hear speakers and take a group photo. Some headed back to the Lincon Center for a gathering at the Goat Patch Brewery. We don't drink liquor, we decided to ride up to Sinton Trail and get a cheap hot dog lunch at the Mavrick Station Store, then to Angletech to buy a better helmet MIRROR for my new SENA R1 Smart (intercom) helmet. 

The old-style helmet mirror I had was designed to attach to glasses and just wouldn't work with the new helmet. Safe Zone Helmet Mirror, very adjustable and easy to attach, with a much larger mirror!! We prefer helmet mirrors over trike mounted mirrors, more view of different angles rearward. A bit pricey at $43.00 but worth it and made in the USA! :) 

The weather started out quite chilly but warmed nicely with lots of sunshine, a nice improvement for days before, good ride, nice company, no problems, except the flat tire someone on the ride had! 

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February 1, 2026- Food and Supplies Run and headed to the Creekside Coffee House- We don't own a car, so it's been tough with the weather to get to the food store, we were out of everything! Sunday was even warmer than Saturday, headed to Walmart Market Place via the Rock Island Trail and side street or two. Pulling the cargo trailer behind my trike, did the shopping, loaded up the trailer and panniers, then back home to put away the frozen and cold items, then headed out to the Coffee House. 

LOL, we forgot it was Sunday, the Creekside Coffee House is hooked to a local church, it's closed on Sunday's! We rode the PPGW north and picked up the Cottonwood Creek Trail east to the CC House, turned around and headed back on a fast downhill to the Starbucks on Woodman and Academy Blvd for iced tea to go with our brown bag lunch! The sun on the patio felt good and we finished lunch and headed back down the Cottonwood Creek Trail to the PPGW south and back to apartment as it was nearing 4 PM. Nicely, the sun is now up till about 5:15 PM so we can ride a bit later in the afternoon!  

Cottonwood Creek, from one of the MANY bridges that cross back and forth over the Creek on the Cottonwood Creek Trail. The view looks west towards Pikes Peak

Well, that's a rap folks, today, Monday Feb. 2 Happy Ground Hog's Day, it very gray, cloudy and chilly and I have medical appointments/classes, for both Tues. and Weds. Hopefully be able to get in a ride on Thursday and Friday. Maybe also on Sunday, Taxes getting done on Saturday so no ride RATS! Till we come together, next time, Happy Trails!