March 9, 2021- The LAST nice day ride!!

 Monday was warmish but totally cloudy and windy so we walked instead of riding bikes but Tuesday was warmer with partly sunny skies so we figure it's the LAST nice day for a bike ride for probably the next 5 days as a Low Pressure Front is heading to NM. and it will bring cold and more winds a with the possible upslope winds we might get our first really DEEP snow, RATS!! 66 F, partly sunny and breezy but it was still a nice day, we headed into Manitou Springs, actually riding all the way into the downtown area itself for short walk thru! We found a little park with a empty picnic table for our brown bag lunch.

Headed over to 25th. street to re-pick up the Midland Trail over to a back street in Manitou Springs to head downtown as the trail is blocked off at Beeker's Lane due to intersection reconstruction! Did our little bit of walk thru the downtown a lot of traffic for a Tuesday afternoon but it was right a lunch time for a lot of folks! Got back on "Lover's Lane" (yes, that's the name of the street!!) and headed back the same way except we stopped at the Colorado Springs Bike Shop to use the rest rooms and check out a "top tube" bag for a bit for packing abilities on my bike! From there the Walnut St. bike lane over to the Palmer-Mesa Greenway to the Pikes Peak Greenway over the Popcycle Bridge back to the apartment for the day!! 19+ miles RT. From here the weather is going "down hill" and we will be "stuck" on the stationary cycle trainer, ARRUGH!!!! :( Here is a Relive Video Tracing our route:

 

March 6 & 7, 2021-Two great days of rides, a rare sight in March in Southern Colorado!!

 We have been really lucky to get 4 days of riding weather so far in March here in Colorado Springs, CO. as March is considered our "2nd. Snowiest Month" of the year on a normal basis. Usually if it's not snowing, it's gray and COLD. We've had 4 days in the 60 F temps and got a weekend with two days in a row!! We got out and about on the bicycles both days, it sucks to be poor but it's GREAT to be retired when the good day come along in the winter months! Here's a couple of You Tube Videos of our rides, enjoy! 

IF and only if we get the stimulus checks they talk about we are looking into getting "different bikes"! Jo's Townie is just a bit to "tall" for her and so far, even though I've changed seats, set the nose height up and down several different places I keep getting a "ache in the middle of my back"? So I guess the "crank forward" bike don't work well for us after all, RATS!! :( We are looking at Giant bikes that are a neat "cross" between a fitness and a comfort bike, the problem is that they are NOT in stock so who knows when we can actually do the change over. For now we will pay for the bikes and then WAIT till they can be built up and delivered! Such is life of a bicycle rider in the years of Covid-19 virus! :( Looks like we can get in one more day on Tuesday this week, then the SNOW is coming back BIG TIME for Fri-Sun, BUMMER, oh well just got "RIDE" when the sun shines! :) 

March 2, 2021- A ride with a mission but the mission got changed!!

 Well we got a beautiful day for a late winter day's ride in today. We decided to head out and see if they'd ever got the "new concrete" on the Homestead Trail headed east. So we headed north on the Pikes Peak Greenway heading north up to the Cottonwood trail heading east of the Greenway it's had sections that were totally worn out asphalt and lot's of grass/weeds growing in the cracks, etc. We rode first up to the Cottonwood Regional Park and had our brown bag lunch. Re-joining the Cottonwood Trail over to the junction with the Homestead Trail. Started heading and all the sudden my front derailleur just quit working?? I worked on trying to adjust the derailleur but to know avail, I couldn't get the unit to pull off the BIG Chain wheel so I did a manual adjust so I could use the "middle chain wheel". We decided to turn around and head for Angletech and have Kirk take a look. We headed now west on the Cottonwood Creek Trail back to the Greenway and picked up the Sinton Trail up to the bike shop. We got there and Kirk found the front derailleur "spring" had snapped!! So he dug around and found a replacement and fix the front derailleur. :) It was after 2 PM. so we headed back to the apartment. 23 miles on a 60 F and sunny day, except for the breakdown it was great! 

 Here is a Relive Video tracing our route for the ride: