January 8, 2021- Riders BEFORE the Storm!

 JoLynn and I decided to do a ride on Friday the 8th. as the Weather Guessers said we had a COLD front sailing in on Friday night and it would snow all day Saturday. It was at least sunny but the "breeze" was chilly!! Started out in the mid 30 F's with the temp suppose to hit 40 F by afternoon. We headed for the Templeton Gap Trail as it's been a while since we've done it. It's got a couple of very steep grades and I really like my newly added Truvativ FireX GPX Triple Crankset 22/32/44. I was able to get up the steepest incline only using the 3rd. rear cog and the 22 tooth chain wheel so I still have two steps lower gear I could have used, YEA!!

Headed up the trail to Union Blvd. which has a Sound Wall with a sidewalk along it we use to get over to a back street to pick up the Old Templeton Gap Road bike lane. Stopped at Nancy Lewis Park for a break, then headed towards down town Co. Springs on the bike lane till it ended. JoLynn wanted to stop and buy a Mega Millions and Powerball ticket, stopped at a 7-11, then headed over to Weber St. and found out they had installed a bike lane!! We took it to Pikes Peak Ave. bike lane thru down town itself over to the Colorado Ave. bike lane to pick up a side street in front of the US Olympic/Paralympic Museum over to the path into America the Beautiful Park, headed north on the short path past the over pass towards another bike lane over to the Palmer Mesa Greenway path over to the Pikes Peak Greenway then back to the apartment. 13 miles RT, yes the chill was in the air but the sunshine stayed till we got back in and the bikes tucked away!! 

January 7, 2021-A ride up to Angletech to have service done to my RANS Fusion

 It was a chilly and cloudy day but I was having MTB triple crankset installed on my RANS Fusion cf bicycle up at Angletech our Recumbent/RANS dealer here in Co. Springs, CO. The normal way is to take the Pikes Peak Greenway over to the Sinton Trail, then bike lanes to the shop. They have closed off the trail (due to some kind of damage) and made a "detour" but it was ICY and Slick and on a upslope!! There was just enough semi-dry space to keep the bike off the ice but even with MTB style shoes I was slipping all the way up! LOL, at 65 I don't need the extra work!!

Using the back street detour I got over to the Centennial Blvd. Bike Lane and over to the shop. 32 F, Cloudy and breezy but only a 7 mile RT, LOL, it was even more fun waking the bike down the detour slope! Here's a short video of the ride, the detour starts at 17 min. 46 sec. mark.

January 4, 2021-First ride of the the year, was just an errand run but it felt good!

Finally, it's been COLD and snowy here in So. CO. for over a week, yes Jo and I are weather wimp's!! If it's not at least 40 F and SUNNY we use the "in-home cycle trainer" as we don't like the COLD and it's just not FUN to have to dress like the "Michelin Man" just to get in a ride! We got the snow to quit for a couple of days but the temps barely warm enough to melt the ICE on the roads. As of the 4th. it was clearing (except for several ice patches in different places on our entire route) and the sun was out with a high temp of 45 F or better so we got in a short errand run for our 1st. ride in 2021! 10 miles RT using bike lanes, back streets and urban trails. We walked the bikes over the icy patches, at 65 years old a FALL is not a good thing!! We did find a empty picnic table at the southern end of the Shooks Run Trail and ate our brown bag lunch. We thought about riding further but after battling the icy patches I think Jo was a bit worn out so we headed back to the apt. and tucked the bikes in for the night. Here's a short vid of the ride:

  Today is suppose to be WINDY and bit lower temps so we will "ride inside" and hope it doesn't SNOW on Weds. so we can try for a ride on Thursday as the up coming weekend looks like CRUD, more cold, maybe snow flurries and more WIND, bummer! :( Here's to 2021 may it be a banner year for all our riding! :)