TEAM SCREAMING TURTLES!

Building my own version of a "cyclo-cross" bike! ;)

2012-01-30T16:00:00.002-07:00

After looking at the cost's of a overhaul, fork service, new tires-tubes and some other needed maint., I decided not to put a lot of money into a 8 year old bike so I "traded-in", the 2004 Cannondale Adventure 1000 for a "leftover" 2011 Jamis Allegro 1, flat bar road bike! The Adventure 1000 was more a MTB morphed into a hybrid, I really wanted a "flat bar road bike", morphed into a hybrid so it would have a "little bit" of dirt path, (hardpacked dirt road) capabilities. Since I can't afford a decent "cyclo-cross" bike, I'm "building my own"! ;)

I was looking at a KHS Vitamin A to convert but my LBS had this leftover Jamis Allegro 1, so I'm having componets replaced to make it kind of a, "Porshe Cayenne SUV" of a bicycle. It will mostly be used on paved roads as my "utility" machine BUT, if we want to ride some of the local dirt paths, we've added "wider" more "treaded" tires (700x38C) from (700x32C-semi slicks) , changed from "trekking" gearing, (28/38/48) w/11-28 cassette to "mtb" gearing, (22/32/44) w/11-32 cassette since it won't look like a "normal" Allegro 1, I won't do "compare" photos till I get it home. Should be a different and FUN bike to ride in any case!! So stay tuned!

B.J. :)

My "new to me", utility/back up bike!

2012-01-06T19:32:00.001-07:00

Finally found a decent used bike to make into my "utility/backup" machine, a 2004 Cannondale Adventure 1000 for a unreal $150.00!!! It's now got the trailer hitch on and is set up to do the utility runs and, it's able to do some, hard packed "DIRT" trails here in Colorado Springs! No, it's not a Mountain Bike, it's a hybird with 700Cx38 semi-knobby tires and straight bars. This will make the 2012 Jamis Coda Sport my, recreational-touring "ROAD" bike so I'm now covered for all uses as we don't do "Singletrack" MTB style riding anymore. Rode it today and it's a FUN bike, it's got a Sram Dual-Drive rear hub so there's no "front" derailer and only "one" chainwheel but it's still 27 speeds!

2004 Cannondale Adventure 1000

I've already pulled off the silly little chain guard and added bar ends for secondary hand position. It's even got a small bit of "suspension" called a HEAD SHOCK, the nice thing is that you can, "LOCK" it out when riding mainly "paved" roads or trails. It's great to have a "back up" bike when you are, CAR FREE, (ie: we don't own a car!) and now I don't have to use my "road bike" to get food, etc, sweet!

I'm still only able to do 15 to 25 miles a ride due to the "Pseudo-Gout", flair up, the left knee and 2nd. toe, still get VERY sore but it's about the same level of pain, weither I "walk or ride" so I prefer to RIDE!

B.J. :)

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-01T10:49:00.002-07:00

Well it's now 2012, it's suppose to hit 40+ by noon so we are going to "try" to see if I can ride, the knee is still so-so at best but it would be excellent to get in a ride on the 1st. day of New Year if possible! Hope you all got in a ride, ENJOY!

Updates and a new arrival!

2011-12-20T08:23:00.000-07:00

After the 2nd. set of tests for GOUT, they've decided I don't have gout, I have, "Pseudo gout". It's a arthritis that mimics gout symptoms. The problem is "Calcium Prophosphate Crystals", forming in the joints, then work loose and getting into the joint fluid. Pseudo gout, has nothing to due with, "what you eat", in fact they don't really know what causes it, some say it might be hereditary, etc. It likes to flair up in the larger joint's, (like my left knee), it's still EXTREMELY painful but there's really no "meds", basicly take heavy amounts of ibuprophen and if that don't do it, cortozone shots and the last, "surgery".

As of today it's been 7 weeks, I did however "ride" my bicycle last Saturday to the shop and back, it wasn't an easy ride but I wanted to be there when my wife picked up her new, "back up/commuter" bicycle, a 2011 KHS Vitamin A, flatbar road bike. This is the bottom of the "Vitamin" line up but it will be a great commuter and we will keep the "straight bars", added a adjustable stem, comes with wider, 700Cx35 tires, with a heavier tread pattern on it so we can use it on local "dirt paths", keeping her Vitamin B as her, "recreational/touring" machine.

Jo's new 2011 Vitamin A hybird, she will use for "commuting/back up" machine!

We decided to "SELL" our Trek T-900 Tandem as it's just to much strain on my arthritic joints to hold "both" of us up, it's a bit of a bummer cause we really liked it but it was causing me pain and it' was a PIA to get up and down 3 flights of strairs to our 3rd. floor apartment. Due to the MASSIVE medical bills, I'll have to wait till early spring and see what our income tax refund brings so I can get a "utility/back up machine" for ME!! I may just pick up 2012 KHS Vitamin A myself but we will see. That's all for now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all!

B.J. :)

Still down for the count!!

2011-12-07T08:29:00.001-07:00

Just an update, went to a Orthopedic Surgeon on a follow up and they re-drained my left knee to get "better" samples for the "GOUT" test. So I'm awaiting results so we can MAKE SURE, it's gout and I can figure out how to get the "gout meds", without having a "primary car doctor". Yes, I'm one of those wretched scum that can't afford health insurance!

Walking a bit better but still can't get my left knee to let me make a "full revolution" so I can "pedal", arrrrrugh! If it's 100% sure it's gout, then hopefully the gout meds, to reduce the uric acid levels will get me back to normal, it's been "5 WEEKS" since I last rode my bike and it's killing me! The only thing that has helped is that it's been VERY cold here in Colorado Springs, CO. for several day's (- temps, without wind chill!!) So the saga continues all I want is it to come to an end so I can ride!

Happy Holidays to all!

B.J.

A bit more of a set back, ARRRRUGH!!

2011-12-02T19:53:00.001-07:00

Well finally went to the doctors and according to them, I have "GOUT" in my left knee and it's taking FOREVER to heal up, RATS! I missed so many rideable days in November and now I'm not really sure, when, I will be healthy enough to ride again! It's really killing me, I hate being a "couch potato, it's been a "MONTH" since I've got to ride my bike and let's just say that, B.J. is NOT a happy camper at the moment! :(

Well it's going to get REALLY cold tomorrow, temps in the teens, wind and light snow so even Jo can't get in a ride this weekend. LOL, I'd be happy just to be able to "ride" the trainer so I don't lose all my fitness level but even that is a no go at the moment, Happy Holidays to all of you!

B.J. :)

A bit of a set back, RATS!! :(

2011-11-22T09:28:00.001-07:00

Well November has been a tough month on ME, some how I managed to "hyper-extend" my left knee and haven't been able to ride for over a week and it's not healing very fast so I may be 2 or 3 weeks without a bicycle ride, LOL, ya it will heal up when we get our "below zero" temps in December here in So. Colorado, arrrrrugh!!

We've decided to "sell" the Trek T-900 Tandem, we live in a "3rd. floor Apartment building" and it has no elevator. It's really a PIA to have to haul that loooooong bike up thru 3 flights of narrow strairs and even a bit harder to take in down!! So it's time to admit defeat and go back to, "single" back up bicycles. It's not a real good time to sell a expensive bicycle, I do hope we can as I HATE to see a bicycle sit and collect dust. If you might have an interest pls. check out the link to our Craigs List Ad:
http://cosprings.craigslist.org/bik/2690839141.html

It's a heck of deal for someone wanted to get into tandeming for pretty cheap while still getting a really nicely decked out bicycle, thanks! Happy Thanksgiving to all!

The new bicycle is here, the new bicycle is here!!

2011-10-21T08:16:00.005-06:00

FINALLY, Jo's new 2011 KHS Vitamin B fitness/hybrid has arrived and we've picked it up from the shop on Thrusday!! It's sweet looking machine and she seems to fit it very well, it's her "first" non-ladies style bicycle she's ever owned. LOL, she even heade out in less than 40 degree weather this morning to work so she could RIDE! ;)

Both our new bikes have 700c wheel's and they just seem to "roll" easier than 26 inch wheels for some strange reason?? Looks like the weekend is going to be good for riding so we will be out and about on the hybrids instead of the tandem this weekend.

Here's a photo of her heading to work this morning:

Jo heading out to commute to work on her new KHS Vitamin B hybrid!

Updates!!

2011-10-19T16:30:00.000-06:00

Well a couple of updates on subjects on our blog, #1. They have finally finished the "Midland Trail MUP" from 25th. Street to Ridge Road, SWEET! It really makes a nice ride from America the Beautiful Park, downtown Co. Springs, CO. Now we will most likely have to wait till SPRING 2012 to see them get started on 25th. to 21st. Street!!

2. YEA, Jo's new bike is here and we will pick it up tomorrow (Thursday), I know she's been wondering if it would ever get here! It's a really pretty BLUE and I'm sure she will really enjoy it. I'll pick her up on the tandem and take her to the shop to retirive her KHS Vitamin B fitness/hybrid, FUN!

B.J. :)

Finally, PROGRESS on the Midland Trail MUP!!

2011-09-30T16:04:00.002-06:00

I've been watching the "extremely" slow process of the building of the Midland Trail/MUP from 31st. street to 25th. street all summer! It's finally showing some progress as you can now use the trail from 28th. street and Vermijo st. all the way to Ridge Road.

There's also progress from 28th. to 26th. street, there's concrete being layed in both directions but from what I can tell it's gona take 2 to 3 more bridges before the path can actually be used. Orginally it was supposed to be completed by the end of August 2011 up to 25th. street but I bet were looking at the end of Nov. before that's completed.

I see no real work on 25th. st. to trailhead on 21st. street and I'm at a loss on how or where the path is going to go. They've put a median down 21st. street at the trail head but only traffic engineers could think a 90% corner is a GOOD THING for bicycles and peds, arrrugh! :( Well here's some photo's of the progress, it will be really nice come next spring/summer riding season!

B.J.

What a great weekend!

2011-09-26T07:49:00.000-06:00

It was "really" nice this weekend, since Jo's KHS Vitamin B fitness hybrid didn't come in on Friday, we did more rides on the "Tandem". Both days were, sunny, low 80's with a bit of breeze, we just "rode around" the area but it was just so enjoyable. On Sunday we rode to Manitou Springs, got some mint choclate chip ice cream and sat at a table on the side walk and did some "people watching". We then headed back home but took our time, didn't really want to go home but Jo has her, LONG day on monday's, (8am to 9pm), so we needed to get back so she could relax a bit. Sure gong miss these warm days, the COLD is coming we can feel it in our bones!

B.J. and Jo :)

Fall is here, SADLY! :(

2011-09-22T08:23:00.000-06:00

Boy the mornings are getting chilly, although Fall is really nice time of year, I already miss my HOT summer days! Ok I admit, I really DISLIKE cold weather and if it were up to me, it would be 72 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze all YEAR long!

Had to put on the Leg Warmers for the first time since May and it's all downhill from here. Still it is quite enjoyable to ride in the 70's with a autum sunshine being mellow. Still awaiting Jo's new KHS Vitamin B fitness bike, yes, it's a silly name, they have 3 models in this fitness bike style:

1. Vitamin A
2. Vitamin B
3. Vitamin C

Been really enjoying my 2012 Coda Sport, especially since I had the shop do a "bar" switch. The stock "straight" bar was not letting me get comfortable on the bike, so I had it changed to a bar with a 3 inch or 80mm rise and that made all the difference. Having the same bar swap done to Jo's KHS when it comes in. We picked this style of bike cause we didn't want a hardcore road bike or touring bike as we will be doing any "long distance" riding on our Trek T-900 Tandem. The Fitness style bike, is basicly a road bike with a "straight bar" instead of "drop bars", which neither of us likes. With the new bars, they will now be a bit closer to "road hybrids" than road bikes and for us and our needs, that's going to work out just fine! :)

B.J.

2011-09-15T09:41:00.001-06:00

My 2012 Jamis Coda Sport, with all the add-on's!

Well I managed to get my Jamis Coda Sport home before the skies grew dark and the rain came crashing down here in Colorado Springs yesterday. Infact it's still raining today and doesn't look like it's going to let up any time soon! LOL, it's my fault, it seems everytime I get a new bike the weather turns BAD! ;)

Even though it's all Reynolds 520 double butted chrome molly steel, it's a LOT (13 lbs.!!), lighter than the Sun EZ-1 SX CLWB, recumbent and with 700c wheels it really flies! This will be my bike when I'm not able to ride the Tandem with Jo. I will be doing mostly recreational/utility-errand riding so that's why I got a "fitness bike" instead of a touring bike.

We were going to pick up used bike for Jo till next spring but we found a really great deal on a KHS Vitamin B "fitness bike" for her.

2011 KHS Vitamin B fitness bike

This is for Jo to use as a recreational, commuter bike for when she's not on the Tandem with me! We will be riding the tandem most weekends and times when Jo's off of work so we are now totally set up again with bicyles to cover all our needs! :)

B.J. and Jo

Life is constant changes, going back to the begining!

2011-09-05T18:52:00.000-06:00

Well our time as recumbent riders has come to a close, we had hoped to be able to buy a "recumbent tandem", it's just not financially possible and being almost "9 feet long", the R-tandem won't fit in our "one" bedroom apartment!! So we bought a Trek T-900 conventional tandem and have found that for us, going from bent to conventional bike and back is hard on our 50+ year old knees and hips, each type of bike uses a different pedaling style and mussel group. So we are selling our SUN EZ-1 SX, CLWB recumbents.

I'm buying a 2012 Jamis Coda Sport, flat bar road bike and we will be picking up a KHS Vitamin B, "fitness bike", for Jo in early October 2011. Will there ever be recumbents in our future, who knows, as we get older may come back and get into "recumbent TRIKES" but for now it's back to "conventional" bikes and just RIDE!

2012 Jamis Coda Sport

B.J. and Jo :)

Peoples Pedal Party, downtown C. Springs, Aug. 2011

2011-08-22T07:23:00.000-06:00

We attended the Peoples Pedal Party in downtown Colorado Springs, CO. Sunday August 21st. it's the starting celebration for the US Pro Cycling Championships races. They are hosting the "Prolouge", here in C. Springs, which is a "time trial" to set up positions for the 1st. of a series of "road races" that cover the whole State of Colorado!

We had a great time, bands, food, vendors, all in a totally blocked off section of downtown on Sunday between 4-8 PM. LOL, yes we got a bit of rain but it didn't last long and since we WON free Peoples Pedal Party T-shirts there was FREE food for us at different resturants downtown, YEA! Probably close to 1000 bicyclist on every kind a bicycle you can imagine! A great time, hope to made it too!

B.J. :)

Getting along with the tandem

2011-08-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

We've been riding the Tandem as much as possible and enjoying it, I'll have some photos but LOL, it's hard to take photos when you BOTH have to ride the bike at the same time! :) We've been riding "recumbent" bikes since Jan. 2011 so it's been a lot to get used to, the tandem seems TALL and likes to have you mash the pedals more than spin like you do on a recumbent and there's a lot of "commands" that have to be learned between the "capt. and the stroker" (we, prefer: pilot and navigator), it really is "TEAM" riding as it can be smooth or choppy if your both not on the same page.

Still, it's a lot of FUN, we rode up to the Starsmoore Center in North Cheyenne Canyon, here in the Springs. It was HOT and there's a pretty good "grade" on the road up the canyon but we really enjoyed sititng by the "babbling brook", in the shade and sharing a kashi choc/cherry bar! :) Headed out for a most excellent burger at Red Top, (arrrugh too much food!) and then decided to head home due to the 90+ heat and more humidity than normal due to constant afternoon thundershowers in July! As stated I'll add some photos from the rides, have to get them "developed"! Here are the photos!

Our new Trek T-900 Hybrid Tandem, July 2011! :)

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. and Jo :)

Our first Tandem!!

2011-07-12T12:51:00.000-06:00

I sold the EZ-Sport AX to a great person and went down and bought our first Tandem bicycle today at Old Town Bike Shop in Colorado Springs, CO. We got a Trek T-900 Recreational Style (hybrid) tandem and we will pick it up on Saturday (7/16), we have to have "both" of us there for a "fitting", we think this will be a lot of FUN!

We've been thinking about getting a tandem for a long time but with Jo being "very short" legged most were just to tall in the "strokers" section (back seat) for her and if they did fit her, they were EXPENSIVE!!!! The T-900 has a aluminum frame and chrome molly fork, deore derailleurs and "40 spoke HD wheels", etc. It's not a hardcore touring machine but I think it will do great at "recreational riding and lite touring", like overnights and weekends, which is what we can afford! Well wish us luck and we hope to see YOU on the Road! :)

Here's what it looks like:

2011 Trek T-900 Tandem

Recent Happenings! :)

2011-06-21T07:36:00.000-06:00

June has been a busy month, on the 11th. we worked a rest stop for the "Starlight Spectacular", which is a "NIGHT" ride through Colorado Springs, CO. We worked the 2nd. stop at Bancroft Park on the west side, got there at 10PM. to set up by 1AM. we had the first of 1400 riders show up! We had a good time, the riders are really appreciative of the stop. Finally around "4:00 AM", we headed home, it's kinda spooky to ride the city at that time, it's very quiet, with almost no traffic (Sunday Morning). We got home at 5AM. and just went to bed, woke up about 11AM. and then walked down to the Black Bear Cafe for a big breakfast, it was great, then just "chilled" for the rest of the day! :)

Although we are members of the, "Colorado Springs Cycling Club", we don't ride with the group much as they ride, too fast for Jo. So we make the monthly meetings and help out at events the club puts on and our dues goes to support the Advocacy work here in the city the club does. On the 18th. we volunteered to work at the "FREE Bike Valet" at a citywide celebration called "Spring Spree" in Memorial Park. Basically just a free parking area for bicycles to get folks to ride their bikes to Spring Spree, instead of using a car! Metro Rides, a city function is having these "Bike Valet" parking area's a several local events this year to promote more bicycle usage.

Jo's been "commuting" to work, via bicycle more now that it's 40+ (F) in the early morning hours, otherwise she use's the City Bus as we don't own a car! I do all the "errands" via bicycle too, it's makes so we don't have to have a car payment, car insurance, maintenance, tires, gas, etc., which let's us have some "spending money", otherwise we'd be BROKE all the time!! Looking at renting a PU truck, loading the bicycles and riding the "Rio Grande Trail" in August, which goes from Glennwood Springs to Aspen, CO. 44 miles each way. Saving to stay the night in Aspen, YIKES, it's SUPER expensive!! :O Oh well it should be fun, hopefully they will also have the Glennwood Canyon Trail FIXED by then, it's been damaged due to FLOOD waters wiping out sections of the trails. Colorado is a strange place, it's flooding up north and in the mountains, yet we've got a serious drought and BIG FIRES all over the southern parts, weird. Well that's it for now, hope your getting in some GREAT RIDES!

The Ride to Castle Rock, CO. (Included our first, "Metric Century"!)

2011-05-31T12:47:00.001-06:00

(May 26. 27, 28 2011). Wild and Woolly is a good word for our 2.5 day ride from Colorado Springs to Castle Rock and back. It was suppose to be a beautiful 3 days, well we started out in FOG, 30 degrees!! We were going to ride a "Metric Century" (62 miles/100 k in less than 12 hrs.), on the first day, (unofficial of course), so we followed a route set up by a friend. Well first of all, we found he doesn't know, "left from right" very well, had to figure out and change several times, arrugh!

Then we started getting a heavy wind, although it was a tailwind, it just made it colder. He had us zig-zaging thru lot's of HILLS, (I forgot he LOVES hills) all thru the northern section of Colorado Springs and El Paso county. Now for the really fun part, several MILES of "graded, hardpack sandy/muddy" county road construction, where the rear wheel's kept "sliding out"! Next up was a several mile detour so we couldn't follow the route anymore and had to ride down to CO. Hwy. 83, then head north. That was the BEST part of the ride as we had a EXCELLENT tailwind buy the time we got to Franktown, CO. , we finally found a place to get something to EAT at 4PM. Then 7 miles of killer uphill grades to the top of the "rock" and swift downhill into Castle Rock and stop at Dairy Queen. Found a dive motel and settled in!

The morning awoke sunny but windy, we headed out on Wolfsenburger Rd. to pick up CO. Hwy. 105 to return to the Springs, MORE HUGE HILLS, arrugh, finally got to Hwy. 105 and the WIND was roaring, they said it was a solid 40+ mph. and of course it was all "HEADWIND". Hwy. 105 had lot's of, yes you guess it, HILLS, so we did our best against the WIND and after 35 miles of it we were pooped and got a motel in Monument, CO. for the night.

Day 3, the sun is out, but it's COLD and WINDY, OH JOY!! Headed out on Hwy. 105 back to Hwy 83, the wind was a side/cross wind and we had to climb more big hills, it was tough. Finally made it back to hwy. 83 and got the FULL FORCE of the COLD headwind, like running into a wall!! Heading home, we had to put on both the polar fleece and nylon jackets, gloves, ear covers, etc. to keep from freezing! After many more HILLS we arrived at Powers Blvd. (CO 21) into the Springs. For many miles it was a good road and we now have the awful wind as a cross wind so it wasn't quite as bad. Then we found out that the older part of Powers Blvd. has almost "no shoulder" and 60 mph. 3 lane traffic, YIKES! LOL, we finally got to the "MUP" to take us home, with slightly shot nerves but in one piece. 132 miles total in 2.5 days! It was quite the "adventure"! :)

Here's some photo's:

Taking a break on Vollmer Rd. in northern El Paso County

Jo coming down a hill!!

The pond outside our motel room in Monument, CO.

CO. Hwy. 105 heading toward Monument, CO. WINDY!!

CO. Hwy. 83 S. heading into the Black Forest area, 45+ mph. head WINDS and COLD! Sure don't look that way does it!

Summer, well maybe!

2011-05-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

Finally got a pretty decent weekend so Jo and I could put on some miles "2 days in a row"! The weekend weather has been CRUD, lately so poor Jo hasn't got much "seat time" for the last 2 months. We are going to do a couple of days, overnight bicycle ride, starting on, May 26th., the weather is "suppose" to be good. We looking at heading north which is not easy from Colorado Springs towards Castle Rock. There's going to be a LOT of zig-zaging and odd back roads in the 55+ miles!!

Still we are really looking forward to getting out on the bikes and going somewhere different for a change. Winter Riding can get a bit "boring" as you go over and over the same routes. We wanted to go west up in mountains but Jo's just not ready for that much "hill" riding, she's still working on her, "bent legs" and up hill techniques as the "Recumbent Bicycle" does take a different way to do long or steep uphills, than a standard bicycle!!

We'd hoped to get to go to a large Recumbent Retreat Gathering in Washington State but without owning a P.U. truck, the "rental" fees are VERY expensive and it's hard to haul LWB bents in a standard car!! We will post up some photos when we get back! Where ever you RIDE, enjoy!! :)

B.J. and Jo :D

More of the Colorado Springs, CO. area sites by bike path!

2011-05-02T14:32:00.000-06:00

Continuing north on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, thru Colorado Springs, I stopped and took a picture of Pikes Peak, at a local pond on the trail.

Pikes Peak off the pond area on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail 04/2011

A lot of folks "fish" in this little storage pond along the PPGWT, someday I hope they concrete more of the PPGWT, thru the city from north to south. The trail turns into dirt at Mark Dabling Blvd. and stays that way, thru the United States Air Force Academy, via the Santa Fe Trail, then to Monument, Palmer Lake and up to the Greenland Open Space, south of Castle Rock, CO.

Our road bents don't do well on the "loose dirt" of the continued trail so we usually turn around at Mark Dabling Blvd. and head south via access road back to the Criterium Bicycle Shop for water, snacks, the P-break and just to kick back a bit. Then it's back down the PPGWT and heading to home!

Some "gems" in the local riding area

2011-04-15T06:15:00.000-06:00

Had a pretty nice morning ride a couple of days ago, here's a couple of photos of sights on the bike trails here in our home town of Colorado Springs, CO.

Low bridge over Fountain Creek on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail

The Julie Penrose Fountain, at America the Beautiful Park, downtown Colorado Springs, CO.

The Pikes Peak Greenway Trail is 40+ miles long, out of Colorado Springs, it goes south to Fountain, CO. and North all the way to the Greenland Open Space, south of Castle Rock, CO. It's mostly DIRT except for pieces of the trail that goes thru Colorado Springs. With our "thin" tire recumbents we only ride the concrete/asphalt parts of the trail but there's some neat sights through out the city, ENJOY!

B.J. :)

What is it with this WIND!!!!

2011-04-10T07:29:00.000-06:00

WOW, the WIND has been insane in Southern CO. for the last 2 months!!! Yes, we usually get some heavy wind at times in March but this year it blew crazely the whole month of March and April seems even worse so far!! I'm not talking about a heavy breeze, it's WIND that tries to "knock you off your bike, when stopped" or "blow you into the traffic, when your riding"!!

Out my window on this Sunday morning, it's SUNNY but the trees are bending towards the ground! Of course this "isn't" helping Jo get in the miles to get her, "Recumbent Legs" at all, summers gona be here and we aren't going to have enough "seat time" to hang for the "longer rides" and the weeks touring we hope to do, rats. Hoping for a least a "overnight" ride by the end of May. Jo's new job (lateral transfer, not a promotion), makes it so we can't take vacation in either "June or July", that just SUCKS! :( So we have to wait till the middle of August for our touring this year. Oh well, LOL, maybe the wind will settle down by then and we can get, "on the road again"!!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!
B.J. :)

A sweet start to March!

2011-03-01T21:19:00.000-07:00

Finally got the new Sun EZ-Sport AX out of the shop and on the road. March is supposed to be the "highest snow level month" in Colorado Springs, well today, you would never know that as it was very nice. 60 degrees (F), slight breeze, thin clouds, made for a sweet day to ride. Took the EZ-Sport on the "concrete/asphalt" portion of the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, thru lot's of back-streets around different parts of the city. This bike is like a "Cadillac", smooth and just FUN to ride. Here's a couple of photo's, hope you got to ride too! :)

Criterium Bicycle Shop on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail

The unexpected happens!

2011-02-17T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm on a blog called, BentriderOnline.com, like all of us that use blogs, it's a very RARE thing to actually "meet" someone on any blog. Well, I was just out for a ride as we finally broke out of the "Artic Air" flow we've had here in So. Colorado, I stopped at a LBS, that is right on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail and saw a really sweet, ICE Recumbent Trike, when over to say howdy and Lo and Behold, it was "Jane", otherwise known as, Shuttlepilot on the BROC blog.

She was just unloading her trike to ride with a friend, it's really cool to actually meet a fellow "bent" rider from the blog/forum. We had a nice chat and her friend took the photo below, (sorry there's none of her trike and only my "chopper bars"showing!)

Jane and I at Criterium Bicycles on the Pikes Peak Greenway Trail, Colorado Springs, CO.

She is such a bubbly person, when it comes to "talking about recumbent tadpole trikes" and her ICE Trike even has "full suspension", ft. and rear! LOL, makes my lowly Sun EZ-1 SX, look a bit booring, even in it's lazer blue color as her trike is a "flaming candy red metallic"! Sadly we were headed different ways and I had some time restrains so we couldn't share some trail together. Happy Trails Jane, till we meet again!

B.J. :)

SOLD, our hybrids!

2011-01-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well we sold both hybrids, so now I'm getting a "larger wheeled", recumbent, a Sun EZ-Sport AX. This has a 20 in. wheel in front and a 26 in. wheel in the rear, it has a taller seat height and is longer too, which will fit my 6 ft. 230 lbs. frame a bit better. We will still keep the Sun EZ-1 SX for "Back Up" and "Commuter/Utility" uses, incase we need to have one of the "primary" bikes in the shop for service or awating parts for repairs. Here's a photo of MY new EZ-Sport AX:

2010 Sun EZ-Sport AX 20/26 wheel combo

It's going to be a couple of weeks as it's coming to my local bicycle shop from CA., via normal supply shippment to save me, "shipping charges" but with the weather being the way it is, that's not a real problem and I've still got the Sun EZ-1 SX to ride, I sure wish it was a lot closer to MAY, than Feb., RATS! Looking forward to getting to RIDE!! Hope you all have better weather were YOU are!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

The Recumbents, finally get to come out and PLAY!!

2011-01-15T21:05:00.000-07:00

Today, we finally got the weather, the ice on the roads, ect. to cooperate and we got our new Recumbent Bikes out for a ride! Nothing long as it was still a chilly, breezy day but Jo finally got to the shop and got her R-bike. After a few rounds in the parking lot we took off on a easy ride just to get more in tune with the differences of riding a recumbent and standard upright bicycle. These R-bikes are , laid back, smell the roses machines, the BEST thing is that you sit like in a recliner so you get to "see" things nomally, instead of "always having to look UP" when riding a upright bicycle.

We cruised thru several paved trails and back streets of the city, finally stopping at a coffee shop, for "LEMON CAKE" to die for, LOL. Then it started to get windy and the cloud cover came in so we headed home. Jo and I think these "recumbents" are our future in bicycling, the next one up, might be a "recumbent tandem" (bicycle built for two)!!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

The Ondo's :)

Jo and I just got "BENT:!! ;)

2011-01-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

LOL, well "getting bent", is slang for getting a new "Recumbent" style bicycle and today we put in a order for 2, Sun EZ-1 SX Recumbent bikes from our LBS!! We've been very interested in "trying" this different type of bicycle so we traded in the MTB's and went ahead and got the "Recumbents" ordered. So hopefully by next weekend we will be out riding our new LWB (long wheel base), recumbents around town!! Here's a idea of what they look like:

Sun EZ-1 SX Recumbent Bicycle

Christmas Day Ride, 2010

2010-12-25T18:46:00.000-07:00

Well I know that "most" folks want a "White Christmas" but Jo and I prefer a, "BROWN Christmas"! There's nothing like getting to go for a ride on Christmas Day, it just seems more special for some reason. All our kids are grown and all the Grandkids are "out of state", LOL, well even the "1" that lives here is in Kansas, with her Mom's parents.

We rode both street and paved trails today, it was SUNNY but chilly but only "lite winds" so that made for a excellent day to ride. The temps. got up into the mid-40 F's so it still require "winter" dress for riding but the sky was so blue, we found a open convience store for lunch, then made our way up the "Foothills Trail" to the Mesa St. Overlook for photos of US with our BIKES. Since I usually take all the photo's, it's a "rare" thing to get a photo of Me and my bike, so we will post them below, in the background is the Garden of the Gods, "Kissing Camels" rock formation and Pikes Peak. The ride was 21 miles rt., with a lot of uphill inclines and some steep hills here and there too. Happy Holidays from US, hope you too got in a RIDE!

The rebirth, comfort bike to road hybrid

2010-11-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

I took my new to me, BUB (back up bike) and converted it from a comfort bike to a road hybrid, the biggest improvement was getting rid of the "heavy" 30mm Suspension fork, changing to a "lighter" cro-mo steel road fork. The change is huge, it brings the front end down a bit and lightens the bike up. The 30mm Suspension fork had one really bad quality, with only that tiny bit of suspension movement, it kinda "stuttered" over bumps, when it compressed it couldn't rebound fast enough so it made a "pogo" type ride. Now it is a bit harsher but the cro-mo fork doesn't have the "stutter" and is ultra smooth on non-bumpy pavement, NICE! Still going to upgrade the wheel's and crankset but it's now truely "road worthy"! :)

Orginal 06 Fuji Monterey 3.0 Comfort Bike

Veterans Day Parade, Nov. 2011

2010-11-06T20:58:00.000-06:00

We rode with the "Veterans Powered Vechicals Group" in the Veterans Day Parade in Colorado Springs, CO. today. It's suppose to be the "3rd. largest Vets Parade in the Country and we had a some fun although it was a bit nippy in the morning. LOL, it's REALLY hard to go slow enough to ride in a large parade but we did it! Headed over to the LBS (Local Bicycle Shop) to get Jo and new set of gloves as she lost one on the route, then headed out for lunch and back to the apartment. It finally warmed up into the low 70's (F), which is very warm for Novemember for sure. The header photo is a couple of the many "cool" rides that some of the cyclist had, LOL, we were just representing the POOR folk on our lowly but decorated hybrids!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

Oct. 2010 CSCC Progressive Dinner Ride

2010-10-24T20:40:00.000-06:00

Jo and I attended the Oct. 2010 Colorado Springs Cycling Club "Progressive Dinner Ride". A 25+ mile ride with over 1400ft. of elevation and lot's of HILLS! LOL, well as usual Jo and I are the slowest riders in the club but they use a "No Drop" ride set up with a "sweep" rider so we are way behind but they send riders to wait at the corners/intersections so we can get to the destination. This Progressvie Dinner Ride, is kinda cool, it's starts with "snack session" at the first stop, "dinner stop" at the 2nd. stop and finally, (the best part) at Dessert stop! It's set up in homes of members of the club, (there are times I wish we had more than our tiny one bedroom apt.!!).

The CSCC is full of nice folks, most are well accomplished riders and well over what Jo and I can easily ride with but so far, LOL, they haven't asked us "turtles" to leave so we keep showing up! ;) This was our first Progressive Dinner Ride and except for the HILLS it was FUN!!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. and Jo :)

The Return of BUB!!

2010-10-20T10:20:00.000-06:00

Not to long ago, I picked up a old "ridged" MTB and turned it into my "Utility/trailer tower/back up" bicycle. I found out my Son, Steven, didn't have a bike anymore and he doesn't have a car so I gave him my back up or as I like to call it, "BUB" so he'd have some transportation, besides the PIA, City Bus!

Meet the new "BUB", ie: "back up bike", we found a GREAT deal ($100.00 dollars), a used, 2006 Fuji Monterey 3.0 hybrid and I've "added" a few things to make it more utility/trailer tower/back up ROAD bike. So without further ado, here's my newest BUB. ;)

2006 Fuji Monterey 3.0 hybrid

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

Bicyclist's, The Movie

2010-10-08T08:44:00.000-06:00

http://www.thebicyclists.com/ We rode to the first, "Bike to the Movie Night", last night a BBQ joint, (Front Range BBQ), in Old Colorado City, (the westside of Colorado Springs). Jo and I rode up first to the Garden of the Gods, then back down to the BBQ joint and got in on another ride around the area, then back to the BBQ for food and the movie. This movie is a "Indie Film Festival" winner and has a really nice story but a VERY sad ending. There was a good turn out from the Colorado Springs Cycling Club and lot's of just independent riders too so it was a lot of FUN!

Rode home in the DARK, had all the light blazing and blinking to max power and made it home safe just about 10PM. Riding in the dark on a bicycle is strange as you don't seem to feel the "time" as much as your consentrating on the area the headlights are strong in and don't have other "visual" clues to your current location. There suppose to do this once a month from now on but I think it will be a bit to COLD for the next few months as it's shown on a covered patio.

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J.

The Annual Bike Forums 50+ PIE RIDE!

2010-09-18T16:39:00.000-06:00

I'm a member of the the internet based, "Bike Forums" http://www.bikeforums.net/ One of the "topic area's" is called 50+, it's for riders that are age 50 and over, they have a yearly ride, called the PIE Ride, always the 3rd. Saturday in September. Jo and I went out on our Sat. club ride, with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club, put in 28+ miles up and down lot's of rolling hills, then headed out to the "Black Bear Cafe", here in Colorado Springs for PIE. The BF Pie Ride, has a minimum of 15 mile ride, find a pie, take photo and put in a report in the 50+ topic area. LOL, they even rate which pie is best, the status makes "Blueberry" the #1 pie, then any berry pie, fruit pie, then cream pie. Well we ended up in the low end with a "chocolate cream pie", cause all the "berry" confections were "COBBLERS", which isn't a true pie. The BBC's cream pies are excellent, just the size for "two" hungry bicycle riders,with a mellow and lite whip cream topping, Life is good! :)

B.J. and Jo :)

09/11/2010 "Ride for Heros", NEVER FORGET!!

2010-09-11T17:10:00.000-06:00

Jo and I did a, Police/Fire/Military Charity Ride today, in memory of "9-11", we did the 11 mile "Patriot's Ride" and decorated our bikes in red/white and blue. All the event monies and merchandise sales go to the 3 different support charities so it was a very worthwhile run. The thing besides the "ideal" of the ride was that it was "inexpensive" to enter and let US, decided what to give to each charity, instead of the event organizers trying to "get it all up front", like most bicycle charity rides we've looked into. You, didn't "HAVE" to form a team or collect pledges, could if you wanted to but it was so nice to be able to be a part of a bicycle charity event as a "individual" and not have to "BUG" other's for pledges of monies, JMHO, YMMV.

It was DARK and CHILLY when we headed out from the apartment at 6AM. and we wished we'd put on the jackets right away, LOL! The gathering had about 350 riders, main group was the "Heros Ride" a, 28 mile, HILL FEST and the one we did, the "Patriot Ride" a 11 mile Rails-Trail loop ride. They had several fire trucks, police units, (even the Bomb Squad Truck), Emergencey services crews, ect. on display and even a "landing" of the local "Flight for Life" helo and tours for the kids! We headed home via the same route, 26 miles total but a lot of FUN for a major good cause!

B.J.

It's ALIVE!! ;) The BUB

2010-09-07T09:42:00.000-06:00

I picked up a old Chrome Molly framed "Ridged", (no suspension), MTB, real CHEAP and with parts/accessiories from the "parts bin", it's now back from the dead and actually a enjoyable ride. LOL, it's not pretty, I've got lot's of "flat red primer" spots on all the chipped paint spots on the frame. LOL, it's kind cool looking like a strange custom paint job, so I might just leave it. It's going to be a "BUB" or back up bike that I can use for utility or lroad riding or even some dirt paths so I can keep my converted Jamis for road/touring. Well here it is in all it's glory (or maybe gorry), enjoy!

B.J. :)

Presenting, JO, the bicycle commuter!!

2010-08-26T17:09:00.000-06:00

We picked up a used, women's hybrid so Jo could see if she'd like "commuting to work", via bicycle instead of having to take the city bus all the time, (we don't own a car or motorcycle). She's been riding in between 2 and 4 days a week, over the last 2 weeks. She's found a route thru, local parking lots of stores, etc, that keeps her off the very busy Academy Blvd. as she works at Academy Blvd. and Bijou St. She has been getting a bit of ribbing as she works for a Chevrolet Dealership but most of the time they think she's just a bit nutty, LOL!! Here's a photo I took today, as she headed out to work!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

It's hell being a poor bicycle rider! :(

2010-08-06T11:31:00.000-06:00

Bicycling next to our 30 years of "motorcycle" ownership is fairly inexpensive but there's a world out there we'd LOVE to try, the problem is FUNDS!! We'd REALLY like to try a "recumbant tandem", LOL, I know it's a real departure from our "coverted MTB's" but WOW, it just looks like it would work out good as there's a substancial leg length difference between Jo and I, (I'm 32" she's barely 26", I'm 6 ft. she's 5ft.) and that difference seems to be an expensive one on a "diamond framed tandem".

Still even the Recumbant tandem with it's super adjustability is a VERY expensive bicycling unit. Were looking at $3000 dollars for the Sun AX series RT we want, it's got the ability to let the stroker pedal at "their" pace, independent of the captain's pace. This would be a HUGE plus for us as I'm normally about 4 mph faster than Jo on the same road surface. When you live on a mere, $25,000 a year, "$3000" is a HUGE chunk of change out of the meger budget!!

Sun Recumbant Tandem AX series

There's almost no real "used" market in recumbant tandems, like in diamond framed units so it would be just PURE luck if we could find a R-Tandem we could afford. I really think the tandem would make us a bit faster and LOL, since I put Jo in front and "SHE" set's the pace when we ride or tour, I'm almost as close as if we were riding a tandem. ;) Hopefully one day we can figure out a way to give and Bent-T a try but for now it's "onward and upward" on our Converted MTB Road/Tour Hybrids! :)

B.J.

We finished the tour! :)

2010-07-16T19:33:00.000-06:00

For a full report of our tour, pls. go to: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/ondofirsttour

Here are some pictures:

The last test ride is in!

2010-07-10T17:52:00.000-06:00

Well, the last "test" ride with the bikes fully loaded was done today, 30 miles out of Hwy. 24 E. and the bikes seem to be doing well and we will take a rest day tomorrow (Sunday) and then head out on the tour on Monday morning at 7AM. It's gona be quite a ride but we can't wait for the start!! We will put some more photos on the blog!

One week to go!!!

2010-07-05T16:42:00.000-06:00

Well, next Monday we head off on our, "first" multi-day mini-tour on the bicycles, although I can't wait, it's also a bit "scarry"! :O It's been many years since I was out "on the road" and even that was just a Century Ride (Hardscrable Century out of Florence, CO.-1984!). Sure I bomb the city streets and even some of the local highway's out east of Colorado Springs BUT, this is different, the is "several hours over 3 or 4 days", sharing highway's with non-local traffic, OH BOY!!

You start to "over worry", bike breakdowns, body breakdowns, did I bring enough back up water and food, ect. Although the ride is between 40 and 50 miles a day and were "moteling" for this one, there's a LOT of no where, in those miles! It's not like there's a 7-11 every 20 miles, there's only one stop before the first motel in Florence, CO. and that's at Penrose station, 35 miles from our start point in C. Springs, the 2nd. day, there's NOTHING between Florence and Westcliffe, (there is the TINY hamlet of Wetmore but half the time, there's nothing open!), the last day is a bit better, there's Hillside Station, Texas Creek Cafe before we get back into Canon City for the night.

Yep, it's gona be quite the challenge for a couple of "newbie touring" riders like Jo and I but what the heck, "Bring It ON", in 7 days, it's start to Florence, in 7 years, who knows, maybe the WORLD! ;)

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!
B.J. and Jo :)

Training is NOT my thing!!

2010-06-29T15:26:00.000-06:00

Today my ride's goal was to find "many hills" and ride them with 40 lbs. of gear in rack trunk and panniers (saddlebags), to add at least some training for our first "multi-day mini-tour", starting July 12th. The whole tour is 200 miles over 3 to 4 days, a lot of hill's and one pretty good "mnt. pass", (Hardscrabble Pass, between Wetmore and Westcliffe, CO. ) Today was warm, sunny but with a constant 20 mph. crosswind with gust's so it was kind like a headwind in most directions and will finding and ridding hills, my 26.5 miles was kinda tough but rewarding.

One objective was to find out how the bike handled the extra weight, that was a success, the "frankenbrid" handled like a dream, no twitch, even going up steep hills, etc. Now the "motor", ie: ME, well, it's too bad you can't yet have your "brain" stuffed in a robot's body, LOL. It's kinda funny, that semi-steep uphill's seem "worse" than steep up hills?? On the flats, the load is no biggie but on a semi-steeping hill, with a longer grade, you can really FEEL the weight. I can't tell you how GLAD I am that we decided to "Hotel" this mini-tour, (still saving for a BOB tralier), instead of tent camp!! It's a lot lighter load to have to "pedal up the hills with" when your moteling.

Here's hoping the "wind" with be at our backs for the first couple of days, giving us more "TIME" go get our touring legs going! Still it's so cool the time is getting closer, even with the intrepedation, we can't wait to get, "On the road again"! ;)

B.J. and Jo :)

Bike down time, equals a re-vamp for the homemade utility trailer!

2010-06-25T17:28:00.000-06:00

Had a problem with the bicycle, it's now fixed by the LBS mech's but they couldn't get at it till "today" so I had a couple of days of , "down time" so I did a re-vamp of my homemade utility trailer. We've been without a car for several months now and although my Mom, does come a get my wife Jo for food shopping a lot, (Women time as she calls it, LOL), there are times when there's no way to get "FOOD" in the cupboards, unless we do it by bicycle!!

I had the LBS make me a custom hitch as the orginal hitch wouldn't work with "bikes with disc brakes"! Basicly I took a used "bicyle kid trailer" tore off all the old dead nylon outer coating and took off the top braces. Orginally I had a 3/4" piece of painted plywood for the bed to hold the tub but it made the trailer pretty "HEAVY"! So I walked down to Home Depot, got a nice 48" long piece of bar stock metal, cut it in half and made "twin braces". Attached these to the framework and bolted the "tub" to the new braces and got rid of that old plywood board! Repainted the whole trailer, added a brace for my "flag" pole and added a "blinking taillight". I pulls really nice and I've been able to hold 2 weeks worth of food in it! The next upgrade is a "larger/deeper tub" unit.

We just got "updated" wheel's for my wife's bike, (deore sealed hubs and mavic rims, double butted/SS spokes). The LBS asked me how I was going to get the "old wheel's home", I just bungie corded" them to the sides of the tub and headed home! Yep, it's not stylish at all but it get's the JOB done so I'm happy with it!

(Note: the orange bungie cord is to make SURE the lid stays on in high winds and the "trailer hitch" is "folded underneath for storage!), Yes, my wife is so COOL, she let's me keep the trailer in the kitchen as it's a hassle getting in and out of the bedroom, LOL. ;)

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

Worked the"Starlight Spectacular" night ride, it was WET & COLD!

2010-06-13T11:14:00.000-06:00

Well I worked my first "Starlight Spectacular" night ride "Rest Stop" last night, it was WET and Cold, the temps, got down to 39 F degrees at 2AM. Even with the cruddy conditions, they "turned out" by the hundreds, with bikes all lighted up in many ways and many in "costume"! We had several types of snacks, watermellon, oranges, etc. for them to much on and they surely packed it away to keep up the carbs to burn to fight off the WET and COLD.

I truely marvel at these folks, they looked like drowned rats from a sinking ship but they smiled BIG and laughed a lot and ENJOYED the maddness that Mother Nature threw at them, so much for bicycle riders being wimps! The above photo is the CS WEST Bicycle Shops, employees, made up as the Pac Man" family! It was a sight to see. We finally got the last of the riders out of the "Rest Stop" around 2:30AM and did the tear down and clean up. I got back on my bicycle about 3:30AM and headed home in the dark but at least most of the RAIN had died off, YEA!! Rolled into the Apt. at 4:00AM. and headed for BED!! It was a lot of FUN but I sure hope for better weather next YEAR!!

B.J. :)

Bike to Work Breakfast, June 9, 2010

2010-06-09T09:58:00.000-06:00

Well just like last year, when the "bike to work" breakfast comes to town, it decided to turn the weather "back to FALL"!! Cloudy and chilly but at least not as COLD as last year. Colorado Springs has the "bike to work breakfast", each year during June as that's considered "Bike Month" in Colorado, (maybe other parts of the USA too??) and it's just a fun thing to do. For me it's more like, Getting away from work" but for Jo, she still has to "go to work", just the later shift today, RATS! :( Finally remembered to take the camera this time so I'll add a couple of photo's on the blog. It's basicly FREE, they ask (not required) a $1 per wheel donation, good food, scrambled eggs with onions and peppers, fruit, homestyle potatos, juice and you can eat your fill!. They had a great turnout, this year. They made a Big Deal about the "Mayor's Ride", you could ride from UCCS with the Mayor, City police (bicycle cops), ect. but that's too far for us as you have to be there at "6AM"! The Breakfast is 6:30AM to 8:30AM, they give out door prizes, which includes a "New Bicycle" usually from Ted's Bicycles. It's FUN, come join us in 2011!

B.J. and Jo :)

Busy week, should be FUN!

2010-06-07T06:37:00.000-06:00

We did a club, Tour De Latte ride on Sat., then went to the LBS to have "new upgraded" wheel's installed on Jo's bike, also go her a new 3-led headlight so we will be ready for our work at the "Starlight Spectacular", Night Ride here in the Springs this coming Saturday! http://www.starlightspectacular.org/
We are working the "2nd. Rest Stop" at Bancroft Park, on the Westside of town in "Old Colorado City area". The ride starts at "MIDNIGHT" on Saturday (11:59 PM) and last till the wee hrs. of Sunday Morning, should be a bit of crazy FUN. We couldn't afford to "ride the ride" so we volunteered to work it.

Weds. is the annual, "Bike to Work Breakfast", held at the Pionner Museum, downtown and at 3 Salsa Bravo Resturant's, thru out the city! 6:30 am-8:30 am, we go to the breakfast downtown. LOL, being a mediclly retired house husband, for me it more, Ride away from work! ;) Jo has to switch with the other lady in her dept. and end's up working the "late shift" so she can make the breakfast, which kind sucks but she's worried about being "late" so it works out. Hope the weather is MUCH better than last year, it was actually, cold and foggy last year, we had to "bundle up" in JUNE!! :O

We are still working on our first, "Multi-Day" mini-tour, trying to get in miles but it's not easy, so it's gona be a bit of "tough it out" tour, arrugh! Still looking very forward to getting the bicycle's, "on the road again"! ;) July 12th. is the start date, will take photo's and post a journal on CGOAB.com, when it's completed. Don't have a laptop or a fancy smart phone to be able to "post" while were riding, rat's! :( Well, that's it for now, hope you've got some good rides in, Summer is "going" FAST, we wait forever for it and it just "blows by" so ENJOY it while it's here! :)

B.J. and Jo

Ride of Silence, Colorado Springs, CO. 05/19/2010

2010-05-20T07:01:00.000-06:00

Rode with over two dozen bicyclist's last night for the "Ride of Silence", the route was to a memorial marker for two cyclist's killed a year ago. It was sad as these were really young folks, that has their whole life ahead of them, taken out in a second by a distracted driver, who ran a stop sign. If she'd have taken "30 seconds" to stop, they'd be "ALIVE" and she wouldn't be in Jail, THINK when you DRIVE, thanks.

The riders wore sign's, stating, Share The Road, Ride of Silence, ect. and "black arm bands" representing the "Fallen Cyclist's", in a prosession, that went threw down town and out to the memorial. The group was "silent" and respectful and our hope is that at least a few of the "DRIVERS" got the message to "THINK" when you drive. This is a "National Level" and also a "World Level" movement, hopefully next years even will be MUCH larger.

Ride of Silence Web Site

You Tube Video for Colorado Springs Ride of Silence 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wbLDdXnSzE

Take care, Ride Safe

B.J. and Jo

A great day to RIDE, except!

2010-05-16T20:39:00.000-06:00

Jo and I put on a nice ride from our home to Manitou Springs, walked around the funky little town, ate a nice thin crust pizza and put in a good 30 miles on a NICE and SUNNY day!! It was really great till we were coming up the hill on Tejon St., south of downtown. First we got passed by a nice lady on a sweet road bike, she let us know she was coming up on our left and even gave us a thumbs up :) We caught her at the traffic light, we did a slight jog right to let her have room to get by us, cause she's a lot faster, then some "JERK" came hauling up, passed Jo and I on the "RIGHT" side without warning!!! It was just LUCK that Jo pulled back left just as he passed, otherwise he'd have ran into the back of her!!

I tried to catch him but he was a young punk on a racer style bike so no way, rats! You know we as cyclist's have to put up with abuse and stupid moves from the "brain dead cagers" in cars, it's a damn shame when you get the same thing from a fellow bicycle rider!!! !@#$%^&*()_+|

Be carefull out there folks!

B.J. and Jo :)

WIND, ARRRRRRUGH!!!

2010-05-12T17:13:00.000-06:00

For most of the month of April and so far in May the "WIND" here in So. Colorado has been a RIPA!! Doesn't matter weither it's "a warm day or a cold day", there's ton's of WIND! 25-30mph. sustained with gust's up to 40+, man, it's enough to make you want to add a "electric motor" to the bicycle. ;) Every weekend has been cloudy, chilly, etc. I sure wish summer would finally make it's way here and STAY!

We've only got the rest of May and June to try to get in some miles for our 1st. multi-day bicycle tour (ok it only covers 200 miles so maybe I should call it a multi-day ride but for US it's TOUR!) and we still need to get in a couple of overnighters before then, need to win the lotto, ya that's that's the ticket, then we could fly to Tucson, AZ. and RIDE! ;) I REALLY hate riding in a headwind, HILL'S are bad enough, having to ride up them in a wall of wind is a major bummer! :(

B.J. :)

The Transformation is complete!

2010-04-27T14:49:00.000-06:00

To quote a famous "Star Wars" phrase, "The Transformation is Complete"! My new to me in March 2009, Jamis Trail-X 3.0, hardtail, MTB is now transmorgified into a "Road Touring Hybrid Machine", (insert evil laugh here), it's been a year of several upgrades and complete changes, finishing with the addition of "Planet Bike, full fenders". Now I have a "go anywhere" road touring machine, modeled after a certain "Co-Motion Panga", hardcore touring machine for a LOT less money! :) The bike is called, "Frankenbrid", yes you weight wennies will have a major cow and the "touring bike purist" will throw a nose in the air but I'd take my creation to the ends of the earth, (if I had the funds, RATS!). The only limit's are in the "55 year old, FRED" motor that powers it! ;)

It's been FUN, making a bike what you want instead of just going out and "buying" off the shelf, I've enjoyed the strange looks during discussions with the folks at the LBS! Out riding, it get's reactions, weither good or bad, I guess is in the eye of beholder!

Whatever you RIDE have FUN!

B.J. :)

Sometimes it just more FUN, to ride without the club!

2010-04-25T17:30:00.000-06:00

Poor Jo had to work a 12hr. shift on Friday and all day till 7PM. on Sat. this week so we "skipped" the Sunday Social Ride with the club as to be honest, riding with them is more like a "training" ride for Jo than a "social" ride. We headed out for ride south of town, mixing, path's, streets, roads and even highway. Heading south on back roads to C & S road and Hwy. 85/87, back via Hwy. 85/87 and Las Vegas Rd, (which I wouldn't ride on a bicycle unless it's on a SUNDAY!), Jo set the pace, nothing blistering with a 9.2 mph Avg. speed over 34 miles.

The funny thing is that we rode a "longer" ride without the group, than if we'd rode the "Social Ride" with the group, just not as fast and Jo wasn't worn out by the time we got back home! LOL, I guess that means we will NEVER ride a "FITNESS" ride with the club, although, that's just where they hand you a map and you go do the run at your pace so it might be better in a way. We'd not be holding anyone up, like we do on the "Social Ride". Oh well, I guess if they decide were just "too slow", they will tell us not to ride with them and we will just "ride off into the sunset, abiet, slowly together! :)

B.J. and Jo :)

A great weekend riding

2010-04-12T15:59:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I rode with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club in the first of the year, "Tour de Latte"! LOL, ya a fancy name for a social ride around the area then heading out to different local coffee shops. Since neither Jo nor I can drink coffee (not enough bathrooms on the planet!!!), I had a fresh lemonade and a non-gluten sugar cookie instead. It was a nice ride, nice pace (no racer boys!!) and it was really nice to meet some of the club members being a newbie. Totalled about 20 miles there and back but really enjoyed the ride. If your looking for a bicycle club in Colorado Springs: CSCC This is a very "varied" group and even though Jo and I are probably the "slowest riders" on the heaviest bicycles, we still like it a lot! :)

Sunday, Jo and I decided to "go for it" and get a bit of highway riding in, so we got out, there wasn't any sun as there were a mostly high clouds but it was already 50F so we don'd our jackets and went to pick up Hwy. 24 E. to the first little town outside of the Springs, Falcon, CO. We started out on the trail heading east to get to Powers Blvd. and pick up Constitution Ave. heading south. Up one large hill a few smaller one's, Jo made them all without stopping or walking, that's show's she's improving! Got to Hwy. 24, a 4 lane, quite busy highway but it has a "wide" and decently paved shoulder so we could ride safe and let the traffic flash on by. With clouds we had a very rare situation, "NO WIND", strange for April in Southern CO. We rode the miles out of Falcon, as the sun was working it's way thru the clouds and it was starting to warm up. Went to Wendy's for lunch, then headed back home in the Sunshine but the WIND made a return. Luckly it was a "cross-wind" not a direct headwind so we just enjoyed the ride. This is only the "2nd. time" we've been "out on the road", for our 1st. season back on the bicycles in 2009 we stayed on Paths, Trails and Streets to get our miles in, learning to "block out" traffic is still a bit scary but we are catching on.

We plan on a overnight, maybe 2 mini-tours in May and June, then in July we've decided to ride our first "Multi-day" tour. It's not going to be "epic", infact many would say it's a ride they could do in a weekend but for US, it seems daunting! We will be riding the bicycles from Colorado Springs to Leadville, CO. there we will ride the 20 mile "Mineral Belt Trail" The Mineral Belt Trail, Leadville, CO. and then head back home to the Springs. We will be taking 2 to 3 days to get there, one day for the trail and 2 or 3 days to get back. So we will be out on the road for at least a week. Really looking forward to it!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!
B.J. :)

Thar she Blows!!!! :O

2010-04-05T13:40:00.000-06:00

It's been VERY windy for a while, I got a case of cabin fever and headed out today anyway! 27-30 mph. steady winds and 39-45 mph. gust's. LOL, man do I SUCK in the WIND. Part of my 21 mile ride today was on the paved, Pike Peak Greenway Rail Trail, just heading down a hill and hit the brakes, a HUGE tree had been knocked down by the wind gust's and covered the whole trail! Had to backtrack to the street and worm my way back on the trail via the new "water treatment plant", (yikes)! Got back on and headed up the trail to Criterium Bicycles, which is a nice shop, that's "right on the trail", stopped in for a break, filled up the waterbottle and picked up some more "Sport Beans" (by Jelly Belly), it's the only "boost" stuff I can stomach, the rest of the different stuff tastes like crud or flavored bark to me!!

Headed up the trail past the shop to the Monument Creek Trail Junction, turned off the trail on the access road, back to the shop and back on the PPGWT heading south, thru my new found emergency path and headed home, the WIND never let up so it felt like a headwind really no matter which way you went. Still it beat riding on the "Trainer" any day! :)

B.J.

FINALLY, a ride in "Shorts and Short Sleeve's" in 2010!!

2010-03-30T17:09:00.000-06:00

SWEET!! 70 degrees, partly cloudy, got to put in 30 miles in "shorts and short sleeves" for the first time in 2010, man it felt good not to be bundled up like the "Michelen Man" to get a ride in. Mainly a lot of doink'in around on the paths and bike lanes in all area's of the City of Colorado Springs. Saw a LOT of bicycle riders out, LOL, many must be playing "hookie" from work. The only semi-bummer is a pretty strong "headwind" coming from the east/northeast so it was a bit tough on the ride towards home. Stopped at Cy's Drive Inn, a old 50's style diner and got a evil "dog" and a lovely, "Steward's Root Beer" in the dark bottle, (I you can, try it, it makes other RB's takes like dark water, jmho!) This upcoming Easter Sunday, is suppose to be "65 (F) degrees" so after "breakfast with Mom" and food shopping, we will either ride the "Sunday Social Ride", for this Sunday, known as the "Jelly Bean Ride" or just head out on our own and enjoy! Hope you get a "Shorts and Short Sleeves" ride in SOON, it's the way riding a bicycle should be!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN

B.J. Ondo :0

A nice change in the weather for Sunday!

2010-03-29T11:06:00.000-06:00

On Sat. it was snowing, 40+ mph. winds in the AM, thought forsure there wouldn't be any "bicycling" on Sunday! By Sat. late afternoon, the wind was still howling like a banshee but the ice and snow had melted off the streets and the nearby rail-trail. So Sunday was rideable, still a bit chilly and breezey but all in all a pretty nice day so I again joined the "Social Ride" of the Colorado Springs Cycling Club. Being the "slow" guy, I took the job of "Sweep Rider", which is fine by me and Rich took us on a ride over many HILL's so I got a good workout. Still wish, they would say take "30 mins. to 1 hr." and stop for a snack but then I'm just a WUSS! ;) LOL, maybe it's because at 50+, I don't have the "Iron Bladder" that the younger or more fit riders seem to have, sigh! :( It was FUN and I even got "thanked" for riding sweep, that was kinda nice, me being a newbie and all. Total for the ride 20 miles, add the "get there and back miles" and I put in 32 miles with lot's of hill's so I was pretty toasted when I got home. A nice day in March for a ride!!

B.J. :)

First "Social Ride" with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club

2010-03-22T10:15:00.000-06:00

Well we decided to join the local bicycle club, here in the Springs. The Colorado Springs Cycling Club, we rode the "Social Ride" on Sunday and it was "good and bad".

Good: Nice folks, pretty friendly, the Ride Leader, Rich, was very sincere and asked Jo several times during the ride, if she was doing ok. A nice 18-20 mile ride, good weather for March.

Bad: You can tell, these folks have riddend "many miles" and probably many "years" together, the pace was too fast for poor Jo, she's more like 10mph. and we were running at 15 mph. trying to catch up, which we never really did so we basicly rode by ourselves. The ride was a "No Drop", which means they are supposed to leave a rider at corners or intersections where the group turns or vaires off the route. They did a pretty good job but a problem with a couple started back at the park and they and the "sweep rider" got really behind, the "group" should have stopped much sooner to let them catch up, jmho.

We heard a few complaint's that we weren't keeping up, but the speed on a "Social Ride", should be set to the "slowest rider", not to what the "group" wants, again, jmho. I e-mailed Rich, before the ride letting him know that JO is a very slow rider at this point and "I" won't leave her so we'd be SLOW! Jo actually told one "rider" to "get a life" cause he was complaining and thought she was out of hearing range. LOL, boy did he get an ear full, my Jo does NOT, pull punches, she's very direct and to the point! I will admit that at least one of the "riders" told the guy, "Jo was right", if you wanted a faster pace, you should have ridden the "Fitness Ride".

2. For a Social Ride, we didn't stop anywhere along the way except for a "quick potty stop" at a 7-11 type store and we had to "hurry" so as not to hold up the group (although WE weren't the last riders to the stop). We decided to let Rich know we'd take the "Sweep" rider position, made sense as we are the slowest riders, during the 2nd. half and that seemed to make things a bit better. The group as a whole needs to follow "stop lights" better, several ran a "Red turn arrow" twice, that's a good way to get HURT, jmho.

Conclusion, we will keep trying the Social Ride, either they will get tired of us and ask us not to ride with them or maybe they will "slow" down and "smell the roses" a bit more, with some "SLOW" riders like us in the mix. I think they'd get more "non-racer" types in their Social Ride if they did. These are just our opinions and we all know what opinions are like, ;) It's still a very good club and it was FUN to be out with other riders, even if we only met them at the start/stop points. We enjoyed ourselves, hopefully we won't be hated to badly!

B.J. and Jo :)

Getting to ride, 3 days in a row, YEA!

2010-03-18T16:52:00.000-06:00

Got to ride 3 days in a row, that hasn't happen for a LONG time, today's 33+ mile ride was my first with the Colorado Springs Cycling Club (CSCC), since 2005. It was a tough one as they set a pace a bit faster than my normal and they took us up and over this unreal 4 stage HILL!! Man it was a killer, the only thing that didn't make me feel to bad, that I had to get off and walk the bike a bit was I made it farther than most of the group before I started walking the last steep incline before the top! Not bad for the guy with the least amount of "conditioning" and the "heaviest bicycle" ;) It was nice to ride in a group again, it's been 5 years.

This group is kinda neat as it's a Thursday ride, called the Old Pharts Ride, most the guys and gal's are retired and older, LOL, at 54, I might be the "baby of the group"! Well it's supposed to "Winter Storm" tonight, Friday and Saturday so it was great to get a "taste" of Spring for a few days!
:)

B.J.

Just a nice day

2010-03-13T21:02:00.000-07:00

We dont' have a car so we have to make "arraingments", to drop off our bikes for their yearly overhaul. Today, although the weather was fair, windy, semi-cloudy, we did some "doinking" around on our bikes. We rode to several shops, looking for a mirror for Jo, it was a nice way to spend the day, Jo can't seem to use the "small" mirrors that hook on helmet's and eye glasses so with our new euro style "trekking bars", it can't use the "normal" mirrors available for most standard types of handlebars.

We checked out the St. Patrick's Day parade a bit, went to lunch and then ended up at the bicycle shop to check Jo's bike in for it's overhaul. We hung around a while waiting for my brother to pick Jo up, we found her a new set of wheel's, now to save the funds, saw several things "we can't live without" and Jo got to try a "recumbant" style bike, could be her future. I rode my bike home from the shop back to home, in a strong headwind and grayness of clouds but I arrived to a nice steak dinner, SWEET!

B.J. and Jo :)

Upgrade, SWEET!!!

2010-03-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Finally got my new Shimano Deore triple crank/chainwheel set installed, along with a new Sram 8 speed casette and chain so the "frankenbrid" has a new drivetrain! You can actually feel how much "stiffer" the new crankset is over the OEM set that came with the bike (Suntour). It's a nice upgrade and will make a enjoyable bike even more so, jmho. Of course the clouds chased me home from the bicycle shop, there talking about SNOW tonight, rats!

It's a bit of a bummer, that when a lot of places are seeing signs of SPRING, March in Southern CO. is actually the "snowiest" month of the YEAR! If it doesn't snow it's COLD, WINDY, ect. so we have to wait till late April for something that resembles Spring. The only good thing is the snow is normally "heavy and wet" so any amount of "over freezing" sunshine brings on a quick melt. I've seen it snow 6 in. overnight into the early morning and it be gone by sundown in March.

Gota get Jo's bike into the shop for it's yearly overhaul, wishing we could afford to get her updated wheel's but that might have to wait till Spring, 2011, bummer! :( Come on Summer!!!

B.J. and Jo :)

Peak Region Bicycle Show

2010-03-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

We attended our 2nd. Peak Region Bicycle Show, here in Colorado Springs, on Sat. The weather, sunny with a chilly 15mph wind was good enough to RIDE the bicycle's to the show this year so we headed out into the gusting wind. The show was a bit bigger this year but still quite small overall, several bike shops, clothes mfg's. Charmichal's Training, bicycle art, etc. It's a FUN way to start looking forward to the spring/summer bicycling season. We bought some on sale T-shirts and picked up a lot of "info" pages,mags, etc. Had a evil hotdog, (HEY we were riding! ) and enjoyed the company of many other bicyclist's.

They even had, Valet Parking for bicycles "inside" so that was nice, not to have to worry about the bikes out in the wind. After we were done looking, we took off for several miles of "local rail-trail" riding up to the southern border of the Garden of the Gods, turned back and headed home. 30 miles of riding and 2 hrs. of bicycle show, a short walk down to Taco Bell from our apt. for dinner, made for a really nice day. For Jo it was even better as she hasn't been able to ride for a month due to bad weather every weekend, arrrugh so she was all smiles. Angle-Tech had some really COOL recumbants, wish we were RICH! Oh well, that's life, ;)

B.J. and Jo :)

Feeling a bit "New Age'd"

2010-03-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it's a nice day out and sadly, the only ride I got in was to take the "Frankenbrid", (My bike) to the bike shop for it's season overhaul and ride the city bus back, how New Age, LOL. The bike is getting a new Shimano Deore triple crankset (crank arms and chain wheels), new disc brake pads and being overhauled to make sure it's ready for the coming (although slowly) Spring riding season! Got the Peak Region Bicycle Show this weekend, which should be FUN, so I'm looking forward to getting my bike back before the show so Jo and I can RIDE to the show as the weather looks like it will be ok on Saturday, YEA!

Jo and I are looking forward to our first "overnight" bicycle tour, trying for mid-May, still not 100% sure where we are riding to and back but it's been fun to think of idea's. It's not going to be a long ride as we are JUST getting up to the "touring mindset" from being strictly "Recreational/Utility Riders" in 2009. It's looking like the first "mini-tour" is going to be what we use to call a "visa tour" back when we were motorcycle tourist's, ie: stay in a motel, take min. equiptment on the bicycles. Couldn't afford the "travel" trailer this year so it's just what we can carry in the Paniers (saddlebags). Can't wait to get out on the road!

B.J. and Jo :)

Snow, snow go away, go back to Canada and STAY!!

2010-02-25T08:45:00.000-07:00

Got it a short bill paying, errand run yesterday on the bike, total 16 miles, looks like I'm only going to get 100 miles in Feb., that's 103 LESS than in Jan. and March is the "2nd. snowiest month" of the year in So. Colorado so it's more "miles, grinding it out on the trainer on the road to nowhere"! ;) Was really hoping to save the cost of a taxi ride and get "FOOD" via bike and utility trailer on Saturday but if it snows to much today and Fri. morning the bike path or roads won't be clear enough to go to Wally-Mart, RATS! Sure am sick of the COLD and the SNOW, yes, I was born and raised here in Colorado Springs but I've always disliked winter, (except during the week of Christmas!), I just don't care for the crud and my bike gear is only good down to 35 degrees F and SUNNY! Oh well, we will keep the local Yellow Cab in business for another year. :)

Cold, but got ride in anyway!

2010-02-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

Got in 27miles today, the first day in a while, that's been warm enough for me to ride! My gear is only good (barely) to 35F and Sunny, today was 40F but with lot's of high clouds a chilly breeze and very filtered sunshine. Just a ride over to the Garden of the Gods to get in a few miles, also stopped at the LBS and bought a set of rear panniers (sp?), the first step to getting into some overnight/weekend touring in 2010 :).

We hope to do a weekeder at least once a month come May to Oct. With MAYBE a multi-day tour but that's only IF we can work out the funds to do a big one. Basiclly going to just "point the wheel", see how far we can get in the "first half" of the vacation days, then turn around and come back home! Nothing fancy just some decent water repliant (ie: NOT waterproof, really expensive) so we will have to pack everything in plastic bags to keep the rain or spray out. Still got more miles on the "trainer" than on the bike for Jan. and so far Feb. too, we haven't had a 50F degree day in Feb., that's a bit strange and March is usually the worst month, cold, winds, sleet, snow, etc. so it may be May before I get the "road miles to out do the trainer miles" ;)

Ride!! B.J. :)

Riding between storms

2010-02-03T09:43:00.000-07:00

Jan. and Feb. seem to be at best a time of riding "between storms", ie: having to wait for the "ice/snow" to melt enough to get in a ride safely, seems to becoming the norm. I have a friend who has a P.O. box on the north end of the Springs and has been "out of state" for sometime now. I usually ride my bicycle up there a 18 mile round trip with lot's of small hills/inclines and I don't usually sightsee much so I like to think of it as a "Training Ride". I avg. 15mph. over the 18 miles so I felt pretty good, I still pant to much, trying hard to breathe thru the nose only but I'm not there as of yet. I had to wait for 2 weeks for the Sinton Pond Rail-Trail to clear up so I could do this run yesterday. LOL, I get a lot of funny looks from the PO user's but just smile and tell them I'm getting my exersize. Did stop in for a yummy danish at the little Mom & Pop bakery on the way back, RATS they were all taken. Decided to try a applesauce cake donut, I'm not much of a donut fan but these were quite tasty. Looks like today I'll be on the trainer, cloudy, chilly and a chance of scattered snow showers this afternoon, if it snows, the weekend ride is doomed but if not, I should be able to ride on Sat., yea!

B.J. :)

A ride with a friend!

2010-01-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty stormy here over the last few days, after checking the weather, I found a "window" of time between storm systems! I called my friend Kelly and we went on a ride, he's a serious MTB'er so when he had a "short cut", I should have know it would have some "off road"! LOL, what he considers a very mild trail is what I consider a normal MTB trail, this one has a bit of ice and snow but myself and the "Frankenbrid" survived nicely so I know it hasn't totally forgotten it's MTB roots! :) We wandered on over and checked out a bike shop, then did some "sidewalk surf'in" to get back to the paved trail.

A nice couple of hrs.+, even though Kelly got a flat, still if felt good to get on the bike in the sunshine and it was nice to chat with him as I mostly ride "alone" on the weekdays so that was a treat. Well we headed back being chased by "dark clouds", after I got home, put the bike up, it started lightly snowing, so the timing was perfect! :)

B.J.

Another 1st.

2010-01-17T17:56:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Jan, 16, Jo and I got out for her first real "road ride", we did about 30 miles on Hwy. 94 out east of Colorado Springs and she had a great time! We didn't make the goal, but we had folks to meet in the early evening on Sat. so we had to head back to get a shower and get dessert for our monthly "game night". Still we really feel our "converted MTB's" to roadworthy bicycles really do a great job, on the "road". We will start looking for some panniers (saddlebags) for our upcoming "weekenders" of touring in the summer. Sorry for no photos, I forgot the camera, RATS!

B.J. and Jo

Finally a real "Road RIDE"!

2010-01-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

Just decided I wanted to do something more than just the local rail trails and paths, I've been riding lately. Took off east of Powers blvd., picking up Constitution Ave. out to Hwy. 24, then over to Markshuffle Road, to Bradley Road to Powers to Fontaine Blvd., again picking up Bradley Road all the way to Northen Security, where my Mom lives. South Academy over to some backstreet's, Chelton, all way to LaSalle and then Clemson and home!! 32.69 miles, with great views of Pikes Peak, Cheyenne Mnt. and the Sanga De Christo's mnt. chain wayyyyyyy off to the southeast!. Lot's of "open space" type of riding, it's been a LOOOOOOOOOOOONG time since I've done a pure road ride, last I remember was a 50miler for my 50th. birthday back in 2005! I'm really looking forward to this summer so Jo and I can do some overnight and weekend touring! A great day today, 55F+, Sunny, 5mph. wind and even a sweet headwind on the way back home. Tackled some BIG hills today and my legs kinda feel it but it was awesome! PS. ya dummy forgot the digital camera, RATS!

B.J. :)

Weather is a PIA!!

2010-01-06T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today the wind is COLD and 40+ mph, another Artic Cold Front is here and so it's "no riding"! Although I did get in a 23 mile "chilly" ride yesterday, had to "layer up" the clothing and a barclarva, still it was sunny and it felt really great to get to RIDE instead of being on the bicycle resistance trainer! Today though was more work on the "Klingon Torture Device", ie: our Bicycle Resistance Trainer, LOL, I did enjoy the training a bit more today as I decided to "Spin and Headbang" to the rocking sounds of "Ozzy Osborne's" No More Tears! ;) If we don't get any snow with this front, we "MIGHT" be able to ride on the weekend, till then it's gona be way to COLD to venture out on the bicycle. If your stuck indoors, we feel your PAIN!

B.J. and Jo :)

New Years Day Ride, Jan. 01, 2010

2010-01-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Well, thankfully it didn't SNOW on the 31st. like they thought it would and New Years Day dawned cold but SUNNY!! The high temp (at 1PM.) was going to be 40F so I put on the layers and headed off in 35F degree weather with a brisk feeling 5-10 mph. breeze. Man it felt SO GOOD to be on the bicycle and NOT on the resistance trainer, that's where my butt's been planted for the last 2 weeks due to ICE on the roads and temps too low for it to melt till the last couple of days! Yea I did have to do a lot of "finding the path" thru ICE still thick and wide in the shady spots, especially on the streets and trails heading east/west, north/south streets and trails were in pretty good shape.

I was trying to hook up to the "Pikes Peak Greenway Trail but there was some much ICE, I went down a road I hadn't before and found something kinda cool! It was a Trolley Car Museum/Station I didn't know existed, back in the early days of Colorado Springs, I guess these were a normal everyday sight! So I took a couple of photos and will have to return when it's open to check it out!

One funny thing is that the city dug out what they call a "trunnel", (bikeway under the street" that's on the main path I use to head to downtown Colorado Springs, during the summer months I won't use it as it's full of broken glass, sharp rocks, thron's, etc.!! Today however they must have run a plow thru it as it was "clean", nice, too bad they couldn't run a sweeper thru it in the spring/summer months, it's a lot safer than crossing that intersection for sure! Well it was getting chillier with the stronger wind coming but it was great to be outside and get in a New Years Day ride too!

Miles: 15.73
Avg. Speed: 7.79 (Way too much DANCING for New Years, tired leg syndrome!!)
Top Speed: 20.7
Wind: 5 to 15 mph.
Sunny

Merry Christmas, a bit to "WHITE" to ride, RATS!

2009-12-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

Well it's 19F degrees, partly cloudy with a 16+ mph.wind, which make it about "0F" feeling to the human body so it goes to say "we ain't gett'in to RIDE", RATS!! :( Still Jo and I are just kicking back, we put some time on the Resistance Trainer (exersize bicycle) after breakfast and will do another "round" tonight so were still pedding but getting nowhere! ;) We did get a couple of last minute gift's for the bicycles, new halogen headlight's and rear reflector's, decieded just "incase" we got caught out in the dark due to say a bike breakdown, ect. we'd better have some light to be seen by! These are Cateye HL-500 unit's, the style is older and from what I read there the "first Halogen" bike lights.

They have kinda see thru bodies, even though Jo's is basicly "pinkish" and mines, "blueish" so they even light up the handlebar area. The only bummer is that I had to take off my "2nd. handlebar waterbottle holder" so I'm back to only "2 waterbottles" and going to Plan C, to figure out where to mount a 3rd. waterbottle cage, rats! Still it will be a lot safer having a headlight on the bicycles and we even got Jo's on 1/2 price, LOL, "pink" is not a real popular color in the bicycle world it seems. ;)

It's not looking good for a New Years Day Ride either at the moment, we just keep getting "Artic Air" masses coming down from Canada, "Snow, Snow go away, go back to Canada and STAY"!!!!! Hope your getting in a good Christmas Ride, put in a extra mile or two for US!!

Happy Holidays!

B.J. and Jo

Rat's it's "Back to the Trainer"!!! :(

2009-12-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

Well, looks like it's "back to the trainer", ie: indoor exersize bike for the next week, today is the warm day at 32F and cloudy, tonight it's suppose to SNOW and then we go back into a deep freeze with Artic Air coming down and keeping the "high" temps in the 20F's or LESS, BUMMER!! :(

So we will continue our workouts on our $20 used, Weslo Pursuit 650 Adjustable Resistance Cycle, wow what a title for a "exersize bicycle", LOL! ;) It seems that since we've been using the trainer on the UGLY days in Dec. that when we do get to "RIDE" in the outdoors, the bicycle seems so much easier, LOL, you take a beating in 45 minutes on the trainer that I swear on a bible takes 2.5 hours on the bicycle! :O

The main thing for us is it keeps "reminding" our mussles that Yes, we do plan to continue to ride bicycles, as the old DOORS song went, "Waiting for SUN"! :) Well if your taking a beating on a trainer, we feel your pain, it's help's to have an iPOD and listen to some good old Classic Rock and Roll, it makes you spin to the beat, DISCO is real good to a 120 beats level.

Take care, Ride (or Train) Safe, have FUN!

B.J. and Jo

We both got to RIDE today!!

2009-12-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

Even, with a very chilly breeze today, Jo and I got in a good ride on the bikes! I got the "trekking bars" installed on Jo's bicycle on Saturday so now we have both bicycles "converted" to 90% road riding, instead of being mostly MTB off-road bikes. We did one of our 3 "normal" routes, from the apartment down to pick up the Rock Island Trail/Path down to Weber St. and downtown, then side street's over to pick up the main, "North/South" trail system called the "Pikes Peak Greenway". We ride that up north to Criterium Bicycle Shop, stop fill up the water bottle, releive the bladders and snack on a choc/cherry Kashi Bar, YUM! ;)

We were wishing we'd have put the "sweatshirts" in the rack packs for "1" more layer as the breeze was now a 10-16mph. headwind! Still it was Sunny and it was GREAT to be on the bikes and not stuck in the apartment on the "trainer bike"!! Poor Jo's gota go back to work tomorrow on Mon. and it looks like the last semi-decent day for the REST of the WEEK, BUMMER!! Hope you got to get in some miles, come on Summer!! ;)

Happy Holidays!

B.J. and Jo :)

Got to ride 2 days in a row!

2009-12-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

It sure was nice to get in a bike ride, 2 days in a row in December!! Although there was a bit of a chilly wind on todays ride, there was quite a bit of sunshine. 15+ miles but you take what you can get in December! :)

Happy Holidays!

B.J. and Jo Ondo

The "TEST" ride

2009-12-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

The weather has been warm enough to melt the majority of the ICE we had from last week so I actually got out for a ride to "test", the new "Trekking Bars"! Yes, I'd say these are a big improvement over the MTB bars with extensions as, #1. I don't get the small pain in the bottom of me neck, #2. It give a total of 4 hand positions and makes so I don't have "overextend" as much. #3. I'm able to use "double waterbottle racks" so I can now carry "3" bottle of water! At first I was weary of these funny looking "European Touring Bars", otherwise known as "Butterfly Bars" but I didn't want to put "drop bars" on this bike as it still has to be able to be a "Rec. and Utility" bike but now it's got some "touring" built into it! The ONLY thing this bike can't do is "hardcore" MTB trails, but it's still capable of a hardpack dirt trail if we decided to take a shortcut! ;)

B.J. and Jo

The new handlebars are here!!

2009-12-15T07:30:00.000-07:00

I finally got a set of "trekking or butterfly" bars installed on my "frankenbrid" conversion so now the bicycle has been totally transformed from a "Mountain Bike" to a more "road worthy" touring bicycle! Without a lot of income it's taken a few "months" to make the changes but I think it will really help as Jo and I want to start "Weekend or Overnight" road touring in late Spring/early Summer 2010.

Our dream is to one day ride "multi-day" tours but that's more for the future as Jo works retail so she only has the weekend and even though she get's 2 weeks vacation, the place she works has a cow, if she takes more than "1 week at a time", bummer. Our other limitation of course is "always" MONEY, as in "not enough", RATS! :(

Still we are ever so slowly working our way to the goal, now it's getting Jo's bike totally converted and getting our old, slow, bottomends "out on the ROAD! ;)

Happy Holidays!

B.J. and Jo :)

Dec. Riding, BAH HUMBUG!! ;)

2009-12-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it's better than no ride at all, it's been WAY COLD here in the Springs! Several day's below zero and It's just built up the ICE and there's several drifts around our car outside so it's goin be "hump'in" on the trainer till the "big thaw" comes along and let's us get the real bicycles out on the road again!!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND YOURS!!

Ways around Mother Nature!

2009-12-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, the weather has been "CRUD", snow, winds, temps in the teen's and below zero at night for 7 days!! Being a POOR cyclist we can't afford a sweet wind or fluid trainer for those days you can't "get out on the road". Found a old exersize bike on Cragslist for $20.00, YEA!

Well after "cleaning, overhauling" and having to go out and buy a cheap "tap and die" tools set (left pedal thread stripped out when removing the pedal), to re-tap the thread on the "1-piece crankset" (astabula style), were in business!! The WIND is blowing it's brains outside as I type, so it's SO NICE to be able to do some "spinning", while it's snowing and blowing outside!!

Happy Holidays to YOU and YOURS

B.J. and Jo Ondo :)

Oh the weather outside is fightful!!!!!

2009-12-05T08:44:00.000-07:00

Major Bummer, it's been SO COLD, below zero at night and high's in the 20's in the day and it don't look much better for the "whole" next week, RATS!! I've got to find a used exersize bike ASAP!! Hope you've got better weather and get in some miles!!

Happy Holidays

B.J. and Jo :)

Rider on the Storm!

2009-12-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Well to be honest I don't do "training rides" but If I did, the route I took today would be it! It's a lot of my general rec. ride on local paths and backstreets but today I added the Sinton Trail, which is 85% uphill and a good uphill grade to the Post Office off of Centenial Blvd., here in the Springs. From the PO back down to the trail is a very good bike lane with now down hill grade so I slam it up into the BIG GEAR's and haul bunn's as fast as me and "Frankenbird" can peddle! Then it's "Reward time" a sweet run down the Sinton Trail, thru urban fortest and smooth as glass asphalt!

Felt so good I decided to tackle a city street and traffic over to my LBS on the Westside of town, bought some bottled water, hung about the shop for 30 minutes and then headed home via more of the same. Not, offical but I figure 25 miles or so, good thing as they say a cold front is coming in tonight and we could get 3-6 inches of SNOW over Wed/Thurs. and the weekend won't get out of the LOW 30's, burr!

Happy Holidays!

B.J. and Jo Ondo

2009-11-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

Had a excellent day for a ride, end of November in Southern CO. and I'm riding in "shorts", a nice 60+ degrees and almost no wind, YEA!! Well it was just one of my "normal" rec. routes basicly from the old northend over to the 31st. Street entryway to the Garden of the Gods. Was taking it easy, then I remembered that my car insurance was due TODAY, so I went into "training" mode and hauled home, grabbed the bucks and went to the Insurance House (name of the place). So not only did I get in a good ride but I'm sure I was pacing WAY over my normal, LOL, I even passed some road bike riders with my Frankenhybrid, which I'm sure was a shock! Insurance paid, now a mellow ride back home, I felt really good today, like I could ride forever, (ya in my dreams!) still it was sad to see the sun heading down under Pikes Peak at 4PM. Got home just before dusk!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!
B.J. and Jo :)

A chilly pre-thanksgiving ride

2009-11-25T15:25:00.000-07:00

Well even though it was "blustery" and not exactly warm, at 11AM. I got out on the bicycle and ran some paths up to the northern part of town. It was pretty chilly on the way up but it REALLY got chilly on the way back down, seems the mild Cold Front came in and WOW, dropped the temps quite a bit! Even though it was sunny the wind heading straight south to north was cold, I had to put on my barclarva (ski mask) to keep my head warm and zip up my thick wind breaker to the top. Probably only 10-15 miles but it's a a RIDE. With us going to our nices for Thanksgiving we won't be able to get in a ride, RATS, they say it's going to be "mid-50's" for Thanksgiving, it figures! ;)

PS. IF I can get my crappy Tracphone to finally load up the photo's I took to my E-mail I'll add them!

B.J. and Jo :)

Bicycle Maint. Class 11-21-09

2009-11-24T14:26:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday (11-21) we attended a bicycle maint. class put on by the Colorado Springs Bike Shop! It was a good class, dealing in general and "when riding" maint. to keep you going. We learned a few new things and enjoyed ourselve's greatly. At the end of the night we found out we WON the door prize of a pair of cycling socks each so it was a big success for us!! Afterwards we went out to Louie's Pizza (downtown Colorado Springs) and had a pizza so it was a really great evening!

B.J and Jo :)

A nice "bicycle" type of day!

2009-11-22T09:21:00.000-07:00

Jo and I got in a nice ride on Saturday, it was a bit cool as there were a lot of "high clouds" but we enjoyed the day together. Just rode the local rail-trails and back street's up north to Criterium Bicycles on the Pikes Peak Greenway, stopped topped off the water bottles, tried a new flavored water drink and munched down a granola bar!

On the way back we stopped off at the "Breadheads" bakery in the old Bonn Shopping Center and got a cherry filled pastry puff, YUM! :) Made our way back home to get ready for a "bicycle maint." class at our local LBS at 5:30 PM. tonight!
Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. and Jo :)

If older means wiser, I guess I'm NOT!

2009-11-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the temps finally came around and most of the snow/ice had melted off the streets and trails so I headed out for a short ride as I had to pick up Jo from work at 3PM. and the Sun's gone down by 4:15PM anymore. I'm riding thru quite a bit of "slush" on several "rail-trail's" and side streets I usually ride my "training" route on and it's all mushy, nothing solid so it just means I'll have to wipe down the bicycle when I get it home.

Well that's when disaster struck, I headed down a side street heading for Americal The Beautiful Park (downtown Colorado Springs, CO.), hauling thru more "slush" and then "CRAP", it turns into a solid sheet of ICE!!! I tried just letting the bike slow down, no brakes or crank turning, thought I was gona make it then "WHAM", I'm on the ground with the bike on top of me! Well luckly the van driver was a good ways behind me and he stopped and helped me up off the street. Man I wacked the left side of my head, YEP I was wearing a helmet, YEA, still I had a good headache and my left hip ached. I thanked the driver, pulled my bike over to a bus stop and rested for a good 30 minutes.

Decided that I felt ok, at least the headache had gone and I didn't feel anything was broken. I decided to ride the bike over to my local bicycle shop (The Colorado Springs Bike Shop!) and have them do a check over, the bike seems to work fine but it's best to get the pro's opinion, jmho. Gabbed at the manager for a spell, got info on "trekking bars", the mech. said the bike was ok, except for the outer edge of the left pedal was bent in a bit. I took off went back to home on a different route (mostly street's, that I knew were in the "sunshine" so no more mishap's! Yea it's Thursday and I'm a kinda hurt'in unit for sure, gona be sore for a couple of days I'm sure but all in all I'm ok!

Here's a photo of the marker at America The Beautiful Park and my frankenhybrid road bike, enjoy!! PS. Watch out for ICE!!! :O

The Grandaughter's New Bicycle!

2009-11-09T13:08:00.000-07:00

After getting in a good ride on Saturday, we went to the local bicycle shop and picked up a used 20in. singlespeed for our grandaughter. We added some new pieces and topped it off with a "PINK" seat. Took it over to our Son's cottage and got a BIG smile from Esabella! She's been having to "share" a bike with the little girl who lives in the main house on the property. Steven on has her on the weekends so now she's got a bike at home with her Mom and one with her Dad! She and the other little girl took off down alleyway so things should be a lot more FUN for those two! A very good day, hopefully it will start our grandaughter on a lifetime of enjoying riding a bicycle!

B.J. and Jo :)

From MTB to Hybrid, the total change over for your viewing pleasure!

2009-11-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo's of our "MTB's to Hybrid conversion", The biggest change is going from 1.95 dirt knobby tires to 1.75 multi-usage tires, which really did make riding on paved road or path a bit faster, (basicly like gaining another gear!). Added handelbar extensions for different hand position, rear rack, suspension seatpost, handlebar level waterbottle cage, etc.

We don't own a car and so it's bit tough to have to "RIDE" to the local MTB off-road areas, then spend all day, pulling hills, then RIDE back home. We decided we liked riding paths and backroads more so we "converted" the MTB's for more of that type of riding. Yea I know the "smart" thing would have been to just "BUY" a road touring bike but alas we just DO NOT have the funds for either of us to have "2 Bikes, RATS"!

I also had a "hitch" made so I can pull my "homemade" cargo trailer to get food, or larger items we can't carry on the city bus so having a MTB frameset and gearing REALLY helps!! :)

B.J.

The coming of winter, RATS! :(

2009-10-31T15:48:00.000-06:00

Wow, did the summer go FAST!!! We've basicly decided that we wern't getting to ride much "off road", up in the mountain trails so we've changed our Mountain Bicycles into what they call a "Hybrid". IE: there now more "ROAD" orientated so we ride them mostly on the concrete/asphalt bicycle paths and side streets around Colorado Springs.

In Summer, 2010 we hope to get out away from the city and do some minor touring to some of the outskirts and smaller towns away from the Springs. Planning to do some of the "shorter" rides, that seem to be offered at a lot of the State Century Rides, mostly 25 to 50 miles, hopefully some overnighter's too. We won't have a "CAR" of any kind after Thanksgiving 2009 so I had a "hitch" made up and now can haul my homemade "utility trailer" with my bicycle for food shopping and getting larger items we can't carry on the city bus.

Hopefully we will be in better "financial" shape and can afford to "rent a car" for a few weekends next summer to go ride some of the excellent paved trails up out of Aspen and Glennwood Springs, CO. ! :) Since it's a day away from November, all we can do now is RIDE when we get a decent winter day but we can't afford the expensive "Gore-Tex" riding gear for really COLD weather. Our current gear is ok down to "40 degrees (F) and SUNNY", if it's cloudy, our gear won't cut it, RATS! So ride when you can, I'll get a updated photo of our "Hybrid" bicycles and post it soon! :)

"Get on your BIKE and RIDE"!

B.J.

Finally a NICE day to ride!!

2009-05-19T10:54:00.001-06:00

On Sunday May 17th, Jo and I finally got out on a weekend bicycle ride in GREAT weather! We rode the Rock Island trail to the Pikes Peak Greenway to ride the Templeton Gap Trail. T-Gap Head's east off the PPGreenway and follows a HUGE drainage canal. It's it mix of hardpack dirt and asphalt, some not in real good shape but and some really nice concrete. The T-Gap runs thru a park and luckly "under" some busy road, then heads north next to Austin Bluff's parkway, (New Bridge) and hooks up with Palmer Park, which has a really great set of "Mountain Bike trails" from "mild to wild".

Instead of playing MTB, we headed back the way we came, then took the PPGreenway up to Criterium Bicycles (Shop), refueled and refreshed and then headed back home. The sun was shinning, hardly a cloud and the breeze was just enough to cool you a little, EXCELLENT!

B.J. :)

Nothing like March in April, Arrrrrrrugh!

2009-04-30T17:25:00.000-06:00

Got in my normal 20+ miles yesterday, today the wind was kinda high and I get my butt kicked by any kind of "HeadWind"!! EVERY weekend in April has been rain/snow/wind/cold and this coming weekend looks just as bad and it's going to be MAY, RATS!!

Poor Jo just doesn't have a "safe and sane" route to work she could ride a bicycle, major thruways, TONS of insane traffic and total idiot's behind the wheel of their bicyclist killing machines, YIKES! This means she ONLY get's to ride on WEEKENDS and she REALLY needs time of bike for the 25 mile off-road ride we hope to ride in the ElephantRock Cycling Festival coming up in the 1st. weekend of JUNE! :O Just gota hope that the rest of the weekends in May are NICE show she can get some miles in or it's gona be a tough ride for her! :(

On a happier note, Jo and I have decided that when we BOTH go on social security (soonest: 62 and 3 months, we are 55 now), we are going to cycle from WA. State to Maine, ocean to ocean on the northern route, over 4000 miles, gona take "4 months"! Sure it's a dream but if we start working NOW, who knows it has a decent chance of coming true! :)It would be the ride of our lifetime's AWESOME!!

B.J. :)

Man it feel's so good to sweat!!!

2009-04-23T18:43:00.000-06:00

I gota tell ya, some of the weather here in So. CO. in late April has been really bad but the last few days are starting to make it feel like summer is slowly heading our way! :) It's been so good to get in a bicycle ride or two and have to take "clothes" OFF, rather than put them on. Still mainly doing rail-trail rides so far to get some "MILES". Heading toward 400 miles since Nov. 08 so the avg. speed is getting a bit better but still anything over 25-30 miles just wears me out totally!:(

Jo's getting close to 100 miles but doesn't look like she's going to get in anymore this weekend as she has to work Sat. and we gota go to a BBQ at her sister Sue's on Sunday. She has to take a few hours off on one of the weekdays to keep her at no more than 40 hrs., gona have to get her off her butt and make her take short rides during that time to increase her mileage. She's taking her vacation in early June, were going to try to ride in the Elephant Rock Cycling Festival, only a 25mile off-road ride (combo dirt/asphalt roads) so she need to put on some miles.

I'll have to say it's not looking like she's gona be much into Mountain Biking (singletrack off-road), looks like I'll be turning the bikes in more of a "Hybrid" to do more rail-trail and asphalt roads than "singletrack", trails in the mountains. Jo's just too "timid", LOL, I had thought seriously about buying "Hybrids" instead of MTB's but live usual my "Heart" took over from my "Head" and I was hoping she'd take to singletrack like a natural or I could "persuade" her to become the next Allision Dunlop (Long time Women's MTB racing champion), LOL, it's not looking like I'm going to WIN! Oh well, I want bicycling to be something WE do together since we can't even DREAM of affording motorcycles anymore, RATS :(

Maybe there's truth in the saying "You can't teach a old dog new tricks", LOL!

Till next time, See you on the Path!

B.J. :)

A Blast from the Past!!

2009-04-11T19:32:00.001-06:00

To let you all know, I'm not totally NEW to bicycling, here's a couple of old photo's I found when we moved! The first is ME in early 1984, on a road ride with one of my best friends, Jon Norrell, (sp? forgive me Jon!), I was riding my NEW Univega Gran Tursimo 18 Speed, triple chainwheeled, LD style touring bike. We were riding out east of Colorado Springs, CO. on a blustry early Spring day! I was a member of the old "Strada Bicycling Club" and rode/helped out on a few "Hardscrabble Century Rides.

The second photo is one of my favorite's, it's my Son, Steven, pointing to the NORBA sticker (National Off-Road Bicycle Association) on the back of our old Cordoba after loading up from a "Novice Level", Mountain Bike Race, somewhere in the hills of Ft. Collins, CO. in late (Sept., I think) 1985! I rode a Raliegh Mount Crested Butte MTB, ya it's a "Ridged" as we didn't have "Suspension" back in the "old days"!! ;) Very found memories of the little over a year that Steven and I raced mountain bicycles together. His 20 inch MTB was a 5 speed Ross, we had a great time!

As we use to say: The first one to hit the brakes on the down hill, BUYS dinner!! ;)

B.J. :)

Play'in in the dirt!!

2009-03-17T16:38:00.001-06:00

Unbeleiveable day in March in Southern CO.! Usually it's cold and wet, rain, snow, drizzle, etc. Today it was almost 70 degrees, a bit on the breezy side but LOTS of sunshine! I wanted to put some miles on as I've been riding with Jo and she's not up to much more than say 15-20 miles in a day. Also wanted to do some DIRT, I'm not a hardcore singletrack rider but I've been doing too much concrete/asphalt, coaching Jo. Decided to head out to the Santa Fe Trail, which starts just south of the USAF Academy and goes all the way to Palmer Lake, CO. I'm not up to the whole distance to Palmer Lake so I decided to ride to the "South Trail Gate" of the USAFA, the trail goes all the way thru the USAFA from S. to N. There's lots of short steep uphill climbing and kinda "Yahoo" down hills too! ;) I decided I felt pretty good, when I got to the south gate so I headed to the "southern overpass (car road)" which is quite a ways north of the south gate.

It was kinda sandy in a lot of places along the trail but it's flowing trail, you don't really noticed it much as long as you "power" thru the washes. I finally made the overpass, it's like 70ft. tall over a canyon, where the trail goes thru.

Lot's of FUN and a lot of WORK too for this old fat guy mnt. bike rider! ;) Total of 35 miles, my longest single day ride in 3+ years so I'm stoked but I'll admit I'm BUSHED!

Happy Trails to YOU! B.J. :)

Working towards the goal!

2009-03-09T14:29:00.000-06:00

Finally saw the odometer on my bicycle computer, trip over 200 miles since the 1st. of the year. Jo and I are trying to come up with transportation to make a bicycle ride at the end of August. The 50+ riders forum on Bike Forums is having a special ride out of Glenwood Springs, CO., there's a most excellent 44 mile (one way), new off highway bicycle path system from G. Springs, to Aspen, CO. It looks awesome in photos so we really want to make it our vacation this year and RIDE with the 50+ group.

We've been "training" by riding as much as possible in the winter but due to weather, it hasn't been easy!! Jo's only got about 30 miles since getting her Jamis MTB in early Feb. so it's tougher on her but she's coming along. We rode probably the "meanest" MUP (rail-trail) in Colorado Springs, it's the Homestead Trail and it's multi-surfaced and has many, many HILL's!! :O It's approx. 10 miles long, up and down hills all the time, you get a tiny downhill, then your struggling up steep grades for the next tiny downhill! Here's the reststop at mile 5 and the "flatest" part of the trail.

We needed a water and food break and I was really happy that I could make most of the hill's without walking the bike, poor Jo did a quite a bit of walking on the steep's hills but with only a few miles under her belt it's to be expected. We will probably not work on HILL's for a while and ride more for distance till Jo get's stronger. Our goal is to ride the entire "Pikes Peak Greenway Trail", from Fountain, CO. to Palmer Lake, CO. is very close to 40 miles with very vaired terrain and surfaces, IF we can do that, we can probably do the 50+ group ride as there is a "shuttle bus", that pick's up YOU and your Bicycle in Aspen, taking you back to Glenwood Springs. If I feel ok, I'll try to ride the "44 miles" back for a total of 88 miles in one day, (YIKES). That's all for now, we are REALLY enjoying our new Jamis Trail-X MTB's a lot! :)

B.J.

At last my Jamis Mountain Bike is HERE!!

2009-02-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

Finally I got my new 09 Jamis Trail-X 3.0 Hardtail MTB. Yes, it's a entry level hardtail but at least it's the "top of the entry line for Jamis"! Had a AWESOME day to get a new bike today! It was 60+ degrees and SUNNY with very little wind to best day this late winter/early spring so far! :)

Haven't put on the computer yet so I have no idea how far I rode today but it was SO nice that I just road trails, rail-trails, road, LOL, it didn't matter, I was totally in the zone! Even other riders seemed to smile back at me, LOL, I bet my smile was beeming as bright as semi-truck headlight!!;) The bike is such a HUGE step above the old 08 Roadmaster Mnt. Sport SX (Wally-Mart MTB-clone), I've been riding for a few months now, ya I'm a happy camper finally, can't wait to RIDE again! :)

Jo's got her new wheels!!!! :)

2009-02-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well today, Jo got her new Jamis Trail-X 1.0 and we got in a decent little rail-trail ride. She hadn't ridden a bike for 3 years so I was a little concerned that she'd be really leery but she just got on and rode down the path like a "longtimer", cool! :)

Decent Weather, finally

2009-01-24T14:38:00.000-07:00

Got in a good ride, up the Sinton Trail and over most of the Templeton Gap Trail too. Sweet Sunny, warm Jan. day in Southern CO. over 60 degrees (F). The above photo is of a creek running along the Sinton Trail, the photo below is of the "Singlewide Tunnel" the trail takes under one busy street. It's good thing it's short as it's dark as pitch and either entryway is on a downhill slope :O

Yep me and the POS DSB MTB had a good run, it was a bit tougher as the Sinton Trail is mostly uphill from East to West but it was excellent reward time, coming down the trail! :) All in all a very enjoyable day, it's supposed to snow soon again, gads I hope spring comes soon!!

BTW, Finally some GOOD NEWS! Put a deposit on a 2009 Jamis Trail-X 2.0 MTB, TODAY, just awaiting our income tax refund, and it's MINE, yes a real MTB, with Disc Brakes even, finally. Jo is looking at either a Jamis Trail-X 1.0 MTB or a Haro Comfort Bicycle, either way we can ride the trails and paths together and I can ride some singletrack on my own. We thought about a Tandem, (bicycle built for two) but decided our likes and styles are different enough that we'd like seprate bicycles more, later!

B.J. :)

Meeting friends on the paths!

2009-01-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

We finally got a nice day, it hit the mid-50's and the wind was lite so I got out and rode more of the Colorado Springs, CO. "Rail-Trail" system, put on 23 miles in a couple of hours. On the way back I ran into a friend, Glenn Anderson on his really cool "feet foward", semi-recumbent bicycle. It was refreshing to actually ride along the trail with someone, most riders I just meet for the moment we pass, like two ships in the night as they say.

Some riders won't even wave or say Hi, seems a bit stuck up but to "each their own", I guess! LOL, I even say HI to the Dog Walkers and Runners! :) LOL, I guess it's hard to give of the air of "stuck up", when you ride a $70.00 Dept. Store Bicycle. ;)
I've had trouble with the front wheel jerking and squeaking ever since I got the bicycle. Found out it has "dents in the rim", after I took to a shop and had it trued up. Got a replacement wheel from Roadmaster Bicycles but the shop wanted $20.00 to true and adjust the axle/bearings, seemed like much for a "Steel Wheel". For $35.00, the sold me an alum. rim wheel, WOW, it feels a lot lighter!! Can't beleive how much better the bicycle FEELS, I swear it feels 10 lbs. lighter on the front end! Now the brakes stop smoothly and very quietly, SWEET!! I'll be purchasing a new Alum. rim rear wheel soon, ya it's basicly the same price for the wheel set's as the whole bicycle but the improvement is awesome!!

See you on the Trail, (path, whatever, LOL!)

B.J. :)

Finally a Ride in 09!

2009-01-09T15:13:00.000-07:00

It's been really cold and WINDY here in Colorado Springs, CO. since the 1st. of the New Year so I haven't been riding much! Finally got a decent day on Jan. 8th. and put in another 20 miles on the bicycle paths/rail-trails. Went up the Pikes Peak Greenway to Criterium Bicycle Shop, it's a EXPENSIVE shop but the sales guy wasn't busy so he happly answered my questions on a Cannondale Street Tandem. Gads Tandems are PRICEY, we can only think of affording the "very bottom line KHS" come spring so we may bail on the tandem idea, which in reality is kinda a "Major Bummer" as I think Jo would really enjoy being a "Stroker".

She doesn't get to ride much, her job is 10 or more hours a day, Mon-Fri and she's pretty tired by the end of the week. Being a househusband I get more time on the bicycle and that makes it HARD for us to be compatiable riding "single" bicycles. Still I hate to buy a "bottom line" tandem, their kinda complicated and the better components you get can keep you for a lot of "breakdowns". Oh we will see what the future brings. The photo is on the Rock Island Rail-Trail, in a unique row of trees, enjoy!

Take care, Ride Safe, have FUN!

B.J. :)

Cha, Cha, Cha, Changes!

2008-12-30T11:34:00.000-07:00

Decided not to do anymore "singletrack" style riding till I get a higher quality bicycle. The department store, Roadmaster Mnt. Sport SX, I ride does admiral job on the paved and dirt bicycle paths and regular road surfaces but it's just not able to do the "rocks, roots, etc. of singletrack", without major damage.

Yep it's a bit disapointing but what the heck, I do enjoy riding along a specific bicycle path/trail and don't mind a little road work, if the traffic isn't bad. LOL, I'm a wuss, if car traffic is HIGH and there's little or no shoulder, I ride the "SIDEWALK", I know that a big FOPA, with many hardcore bicycle commuters but I'd rather stop a yield to a walker on the side walk, then get hit by some idiot in a 4000 lbs. car anyday!!!

The weather has been the pit's lately, HIGH winds and COLD temps don't make excellent bicycle riding weather. Being a POOR guy I can't afford "hunderds of dollars" in Hi-Tec bicycling clothes and gear so I don't normally ride unless it's "40 degrees (F) and sunny. Finally got in a ride on the 29th., nice 20 miles mix of paths, street, it's excatly 20 miles to the bicycle shop in downtown Colorado Springs, CO. that I use. The Colorado Springs Bike Shop are good folks, and Bless Them, they happly work on my POS department store bicycle and keep it running "better" than it was ever intended to, LOL! ;)

Jo and I looked into getting into a "TANDEM", you know a bicycle built for 2 but transport logistics and storeage kinda killed the idea, rats! Due to our financial circumstances we are "Renting a ROOM" from her sister and a Tandem would take up too much space in her garage. 2 bikes can be put on a "stacker" holder and only take the room of one bicycle, where a tandem is LONG and heavy. So it looks like we are back to praying Uncle Sam will give us a decent tax return and we can get a couple of "Bicycle Shop" level, lower end Mountain Bikes and set them up for "commuting" with racks, shorty fenders, etc. We can only barely afford 2 bicycles so we could never afford to have "specific purpose bicycles", only in our dreams.

Hope you got to get out and RIDE

See you on the Trails! B.J. :)