Loop Route with different trails

We decided to head out and ride the Sand Creek Trail, well as much as there is of the Sand Creek Trail at this time, it's on the east side of Colorado Springs and from our storage unit it's not easy to get to. We start by taking back streets to pick up the Rock Island Trail heading north up to the junction with the southern extension of the Homestead Trail and take that south till Galley Rd. Where again you have to pick up back streets and bike lanes over to Murry Blvd. Heading south on Murry and then east on Fountain Ave. Bike Lanes up to Crestone St. and thru Sagebrush Park to finally pick up the Sand Creek Trail heading south. The trail abruptly ends at Hancock Expressway but you have to go around a little shopping center and pick up one more bike lane to get there. Then west for 1/4 of a mile on the Expressway to pick up the new southern extension of the Sand Creek Trail which takes you over to pick up the Pikes Peak Greenway heading north. Rode the Greenway up to the Tejon St. Bike Lanes then heading east again to pick up the Shooks Run Trail heading north. Stopped at the Good Neighbors Meeting House for iced tea and a banana, then headed up the trail and back to the storage area to tuck in the trikes! 23 miles, sunny but with a lot of gray clouds at times, still felt quite warm. The Sand Creek Trail we don't ride often but it was a FUN ride and it let us do something a little different! :)

 

We had to go ride the Pueblo Reservoir Trail 05/23/2020

Ok, I admit we were evil, I fess up as we are in a Safe at Home status for the COVID-19 Virus but it's been 2 months now and we are just BORED with riding on only our area trails!!!! Technically we are suppose to stay within "10 miles of home" to recreate and at least stay within our County borders, well shoot us we decided we wanted to go ride the Pueblo River/Reservoir Trail in Pueblo, CO. which is 40 miles south of Colorado Springs, CO. where we live! We needed to see the Arkansas River which the trail follows thru Pueblo, CO. The trail is from the campus of CSU-Pueblo to the Pueblo Reservoir and Marina it's 16 miles one way but we usually don't do the North to South part of the trail which mainly goes thru the "city" of Pueblo, we ride to the East end of the trail first, turn around and ride back to the West end of the trail which comes out to 20 miles. :)

We stopped at the Kayak Park area, which is a cool man-made breakwater/Rapids build up for Kayaks, so they play in the water and we got a stone picnic table and ate our brown bag special while watching them run the rapids!

Our table for two at the Kayak Park

The first of 5 different man-made rapids structures that kayakers go over along the Arkansas River the Trail follows!

From there we headed East on the trail, it's all concrete with several wooden bridge crossings along the trail. With many excellent spot's and views along the river we headed to the point where the trail turns North to go into the city of Pueblo, CO. but here we turn around and head back to the West end of the trail at the Pueblo Reservoir itself. One stop on the way back is at Runyon Lake, a large fishing hole that's just off the trail to use one of the only restrooms on the trail (it's in bad shape sadly but useable),

Runyon Lake Fishing area a Restroom Stop!

We got back to the Reservoir itself on the West end of trail, (note: it actually hooks up with the road into the Pueblo West area outside the city of Pueblo itself!) headed back East to where we had the truck parked, reloaded it and headed back to Colorado Springs, only stopping a McDonalds for a LARGE unsweetened iced tea! It was party sunny by the end of the ride and almost 90F, so we were a bit worn out by the heat, unloaded the trikes at the storage unit and headed home to fix a frozen dinner and veg! :)

Sprucing up JoLynn's Trike and a bit of a ride too!

We rode up to Angletech to have a upgraded E-assist Display Unit installed on her trike. After that we headed out for a ride on a very sunny and WINDY day but it felt great to be out, even with having to wear a mask! :) We stopped for Ice Tea and then headed back to the storage unit. After adjusting my front derailleur a bit and packed all the stuff up in our little pull cart and walked the mile back to the apt. for dinner. 15 miles RT!