Bikes: Bring balance to your life

THE TWO-WHEEL DEALIO

Roads, trails and mountains... oh my!

BY TIM KRANZ

From mountain to trail, fat to skinny — when it comes to cycling, the Pikes Peak region has a little of everything. If you’re new to the 719 and want to check out Downtown or venture a little farther afield, check out PikeRide, the Springs’ local nonprofit e-bike share. Their bikes are operable from south of Fillmore Street to Las Vegas Street, and from west of Union Boulevard all the way through Manitou Springs! You’ll see their docking areas all around town, and they’ve got an app — pikeride.org.

ROAD BIKING

The trail system in the Springs has been growing, and there are some good options for getting those miles on your road bike from the relative safety of a trail. Running north-south, the Pikes Peak Greenway has miles of trails. It’s paved from Woodmen Road to just north of Monument Valley Park (MVP). You can then ride hard-packed trails through the park or hit the surface streets to reconnect to the paved trail on the south side of the park. It continues paved south from there all the way to El Pomar Youth Sports Park. There are many more miles of hard-packed trail to ride south of the park or north of Woodmen.

A bunch of our favorite rides kick off from the Greenway Trail and head east or west. For some mileage to the east, the Rock Island Trail connects north of MVP and goes all the way out to Powers Boulevard. If you feel the need to climb, check out Sinton Trail. You can leave the Greenway Trail just north of the baseball fields on Mark Dabling Road and head west. Sinton climbs parallel to Garden of the Gods Road until it joins it. Continue to 30th Street and catch the Foothills Trail into Garden of the Gods Park, do a hot lap of the Garden (be wary of tourists parked in the bike lane) to view the sights, then finally coast the Midland Trail back Downtown (to your favorite restaurant, you’ve earned it).

MOUNTAIN BIKING

When you’re in Colorado Springs, mountain biking is true to its name; there aren’t a lot of rides where climbing isn’t par for the course. But there are a lot of rides — our mountain bike trail system has been growing along with our ridership. Consider this list of mountain biking areas: Palmer Park Open Space, Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Cheyenne Canyon, Ute Valley Park, Cheyenne Mountain State Park. All of them have significant mountain biking trails. Trailforks.com and mtbproject.com are great resources for more detail on the trails. Even better, our local bike shops are super knowledgeable.

A lot of our trails are shared, so remember the rules. Always ride in control, always yield to folks on foot and uphill cyclists. We also highly recommend a bell to let folks know you’re there.

Finally, between the rain and the snow, our mountain biking can be pretty seasonal. Our trails get muddy... we’re talking stick to your tires and muck up your chain until things won’t move anymore muddy. Rule of thumb is if your tire sinks an inch into the mud, it’s too wet. Respect the trail and call it for another day. Check out Colorado Springs Trail Conditions on social media and know before you go. If you want to pay back the trail love, join up with our local nonprofit trail builders and maintainers at Medwheel.org or Rocky Mountain Field Institute (rmfi.org) for volunteering opportunities.

A lot of our trails are shared, SO REMEMBER THE RULES.