Date: 9/3/2012
Who: Michelle and myself
Distance: about 30 miles
Time: 5 hours
Weather: partly cloudy, warm

Today we rented a 2-person tandem mountain bike, nicknamed the “Black Pearl”, from Criterium bike shop. We rode north on the Greenway trail toward Monument. A marathon was underway on the Greenway trail, so for the first hour or so we passed many runners going in the opposite direction. On the Air Force Academy grounds I saw a black bear about 100 yards away. It was on the other side of a ravine, walking away from our location. We also saw lots of groundhogs and a falcon. To our surprise, the Town of Monument was having a festival. We parked and locked up the bike, and enjoyed browsing around the booths. We also went in for some lunch at the Coffee Cup Cafe. I would recommend it! For dessert we had chocolate-covered strawberries and bananas on a kabob stick from one of the festival vendors.

This ride followed the long BLUE line from the bike shop to Monument:

View Colorado Chris Hikes in a larger map

Date: 8/11/2012
Distance: 17 miles
Time: 2.5 hours
Weather: sunny, warm

I rode Gold Camp Road south from the 4-way parking lot in N. Cheyenne Canyon to the junction of Gold Camp and Old Stage Road. It was 2 hours of moderate uphill, followed by 30 minutes of easy fun downhill. The weather was sunny and warm, not too hot. My legs were up for more riding, but my butt was the first thing to start hurting. Hiking does nothing to prepare your butt for bike-riding!

Ready for a day of fun:

This ride followed the GREEN line:

View Colorado Chris Hikes in a larger map

Date: 7/21/2012
Who: Zach, John, and myself
Distance: about 12 miles
Weather: sunny, hot

My nephew Zach and brother-in-law John rented some nice mountain bikes from Criterium for the day. This was a repeat of a ride that Zach and I did in December 2011. Except at the end, instead of the Chutes trail, we took Gold Camp Road to its end and rode to downtown Colorado Springs. We had lunch at Jack Quinn Irish Pub, and rode home.

This ride followed the PURPLE line (mostly), then followed Gold Camp Road to downtown Colorado Springs:

View Colorado Chris Hikes in a larger map