May 13 and 15, 2022-Riding All By Myself, Jo is still recovering from a bad reaction to the 2nd. Covid-19 Booster Shot :(

 Well sadly I have been riding "alone" for a couple of weeks as Jo, my wife, had a very bad reaction to the "2nd. Booster Shot of the Pizer Covid-19 vaccine" and ended up in the hospital for a WEEK!!! :( She is slowly recovering; she is up to being able to eat full meals and has walked a couple of 5K walks!! :) The problem is that the DAMN hospital would not release her unless she was on oxygen, DUMB as the ONLY time she has ever needed it is when she's sick and in the Hospital. She sees our family doctor on the 19th. and I PRAY, she will let her "get off" the oxygen and we can cancel the service, it's such a RPITA to have to carry or mount a small oxygen bottle to the rear rack on the trike so she can ride, Jo decided she didn't want to try to ride her trike till she could find out if our doc would tell her, it was ok to "cancel the oxygen!! The major problem with the oxygen on the trike is the small size limits the "distance" we can ride before it runs dry!!!! :( Neither of us are, Happy Campers right now!

My wife knows me well and sent me out for a ride or two by myself to blow off some steam so I did a ride all the way to the current end of the concrete trail on the Cottonwood Creek Trail on "Friday the 13th." ;) 25 miles in very breezy but sunny conditions, it felt GREAT! 

  On Saturday I took Jo on her first "outdoor" walk since leaving the hospital we did a flat and easy 5K with several short stops and she did great. On Sunday the 15th. I was out for a "Ride with a Mission", LOL. I joined up as a "Ambassador" with Bike COS, the local area city sponsored bicycling program and my first time to be a "Ambassador" will be at the Early Bird Bike and Hike at the Garden of the Gods Park on Weds. May 25th. Gads the start time for our "shift" is at 6AM so I needed to know "how long" it takes me to ride the trike from my home to the park to be there on time! I did a "timed ride" and found it takes me a minimum of 1 hour. It's a total "uphill grade ride" with some steep sections on both the Sinton and Foothills Trails to get to the GoG Park. I will have to leave home at "4:30 AM" to get there by 5:30 AM. YIKES, being retired I NEVER get up that early and hardly ever ride in the DARK but that's what's going to have to happen, LOL it's going to be a LOOOOOOONG day! ;) 

Finished off the timed ride by heading back down Sinton and then downtown via the Cascade Ave. bike lane to pick up Shooks Run Trail heading back north. Stopped at the Good Neighbors Coffee House for a unsweet iced tea, then headed back home. 20 miles, less wind than Friday's ride and partly sunny but warm conditions. I'll let you know how my first "Ambassador" gig works out! Have a great week and RIDE any time you can! :)

May 6 and 7, 2022- Just some short "clear the HEAD" rides, as Jo has been in the Hospital since Tue May 3rd. :(

 Hello all, well it's been a very rough 1st. week of May so far, on Monday we headed to Walgreens to get our 2nd. Covid-19 Booster Shots, by Tuesday morning Jo woke up Shaking really hard and freezing, then started constantly throwing up!!!!!! :O We went to emergency room at Penrose Hospital Main and finally got into see the doctor at 6 PM. I told them that she was having a really bad reaction to the 2nd. Covid Booster Shot, they gave her meds and fluid thru a IV and she settled down. We got home about 11:30 PM. RATS, when she woke up on Weds. it started all over again so we went back to the Emergency Room and again waited for hours to get her into a room and seeing the doctor! The decided to keep her in their "Observation Floor" overnight and then decided to actually admit her to a hospital room. She has been thru way too much in the last two years but after giving her mass meds it does seem to be getting better, just very slowly. Today is Sunday, Mother's Day and she has to spend it in a hospital, MAJOR BUMMER!

Inbetween her sleeping a lot and needed tests, I snuck in a couple of short but sweet rides just to "clear my head" and try to calm myself down to be strong for her. On the 6th. I did the normal ride up the Pikes Pike Greenway to Criterium Bicycles then took the detour trail (trail reconstruction on the PPGG past Criterium Bicycles so it's blocked off), back heading south and rode to the end of Wood Ave. turned around and went home to change and head back up to see Jo. Here's a video: 

On the 7th. I found out that they have finished Phase 2 and 3 of the PP Greenway make over and opened it up to ride. I took a break and got the trike out to ride up and check it out. Yep, they took down the construction barriers at Criterium Bicycle Shop so I rode the new "concrete surface" up to just before Woodmen Rd. and turned east on the Cottonwood Creek Trail, it's been a 1 year since this way was open. WOW a huge improvement the old asphalt was potted, had huge frost heave crack and ruts and was very BUMPY! The new concrete is smooth as glass and it's made the area from a "chore to a JOY" to ride, awesome job done by the City and the construction crews!! 

 It will have a official "Ribbon Cutting" ceremony on May 27th. it was great of the city to go ahead and open it up for use early! Now we have our Loop Ride back if we don't won't to ride all the way east to the Cottonwood Regional Park, it's really good to have it back in action. Hopefully Jo will be out of the hospital in the next couple of days, wish us the best and thanks for checking out the BLOG! BJ :)

May 1, 2022-Love to RIDE USA May National Bike Month Challenge starting 1-31 May!

 On Saturday April 30th. we walked in the "Walk to Defeat ALS, Colorado Springs Event at Prospect Lake in Memorial Park with the walk and the walk back to our apartment it was 7.41 miles!! We decided to do a EASY ride on Sunday for the start of the Love to RIDE USA  May National Bike Month Challenge which goes from May1-May 31 each year! We headed north of the PP Greenway and picked up the Templeton Gap Trail heading east to Union Blvd, then picked up a side street over to the on street T-Gap bike lane heading south. Stopping at Nancy Lewis Park for our brown bag lunch. 

We decided to head back over to the Pikes Peak Greenway and head north up to Criterium Bike Shop, then south on the PPGW detour trail for a glass of unsweet iced tea at Panera Bread! I just joined to "Unlimited Sip Club", so I pay a small monthly fee and can drink all the iced or hot drinks I want once a day as long as I do it at one of the area stores! :) 

After our iced tea, we headed back down the Pikes Peak Greenway from the University Commons Center heading south for a slow easy ride home! 17 miles RT, Sunny and warmish with at least a more mellow wind than lately! A decent start to the challenge so we are happy! :)