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Showing posts from April, 2015

Road Riding

Sorta, kinda, maybe road riding that is. With the cold front that blew in on the 16th, our plans for some camping and some fun in Salida were snowed out. All the trails were snowed in with heavy, dense cement spring snow. What to do, what to do. Go for a road ride of course! Well, a road ride the Thelen way, which doesn't include skinny tires. In fact, there were nothing skinny about our tires for this adventure. After doing chores in the morning on Sunday, it was time to ride. The goal? Ride our fat bikes up Old Stage Road and then come home down Gold Camp Road. It was all roads, so it has to be a road ride, right? We didn't need to load down with our backpacks because of the frame bags on our bikes, but still made sure that we all the warm clothes we would usually carry. It was clear down in Colorado Springs, but clouds lingered on the mountains, lurking beyond the horizon. The weather could turn in a moment and we needed to be prepared. Having never ridden up Old Stage

Speaking Out Against Stables in Bear Creek Park...

In case anyone is still not aware, the Broadmoor has purchased a plot of land off Hercules Drive, adjacent to East Bear Creek Park. This plot of land is on the southern edge of the park, with the entrance in the middle of the large hill on Cresta. Currently, that plot of land is zoned residential as the original plan was to build several condo buildings there. However, the Broadmoor wants to run commercial horseback rides from that land, with the goal of providing the true "western experience" to their guests. As such, they want the land down-zoned to agriculture so that they can build stables for 20 or more horses.   The Broadmoor envisions twice daily rides through Bear Creek Regional Park and beyond, stating that they want to be able to take clients through the National Forest up into the Jones Park area. The El Paso County Parks has already agreed to provide the Broadmoor with a 20 year permit for the commercial enterprise .   With permit in hand, the next step is to co