THE INCLINE: FROM 600 to 6,000 FT.

By Nate Van Noord (RO staff)

Aaron, my former housemate from Detroit, came to visit last summer - his first time to Colorado. He was in the midst of training for his first marathon, the Detroit Marathon, and was hoping to continue his training while here. I warned him, though, that Detroit’s elevation above sea level is 600 feet and Colorado Springs 6,000. He said he couldn’t wait.

So, before he arrived, I sent him a list of potential spots and he picked a run at the Garden of the Gods and hiking the Incline. Our Garden run wound through the park, gave him some views, and ended at Siamese Twins.

The next afternoon, after he finished his virtual work meetings, we headed to The Incline in 90-degree heat. On the shuttle bus to the start, I mentioned a little bit about the history of The Incline. It was originally a railway for about 80 years until 1990 when a rockslide washed out the railbed and the Cog Railway decided not to repair the tracks. It then became a fitness trail that attracts folks from all over the country, if not the world, for its 45% grade and 2,000 feet in elevation gain.

I also mentioned a few people have ascended over 1,000 times in a year and the fastest time to the top of the 2,700 steps is under 17 minutes. With the heat, he assured me, he was just trying to finish this bad boy. 

There were surprisingly a handful of others on the trail surviving the heat with us. Halfway up, we took a break for a couple minutes.     

After soaking in the view, we kept on trucking and made sure to walk in the bits of shade on the edges of each step. We passed a woman six months pregnant, a dad and 8-year-old son, and a couple in their 70s.

We made it to the top in 34 minutes - not bad for a couple flatlanders.

After taking the Barr Trail back down, we headed to Yellow Mountain Tea Shop in Old Colorado City for a little cool down. 

Three months later, Aaron finished the Detroit Marathon in 3:31 - and this Spring a half marathon in 1:31.

FINDING A PASSION: FROM HATING TO LOVING RUNNING

By Jamison Brandenburg (Friend of Routes and part of Trailblazers Running Group)

As a kid I abhorred any activity that included cardio. I played baseball from the coach pitch level all the way up until my freshman year in high school, and as anyone familiar with the sport knows, it requires a minimal amount of running. Whenever we had to run during practice, I always referred to it as the ”devil’s exercise” (maybe being just a tad dramatic). 

During high school I got heavily involved in band, another activity that doesn’t require a high level of physical fitness but kept me active. Now I wasn’t a lazy kid growing up. I loved being outdoors hiking, backpacking, fishing, and disc golf. But still no high intensity cardio.

Flash forward to my junior year of college and meeting Emily, my partner. Emily grew up with an active family, her dad walked onto the track team at Texas Tech and she ran cross country in high school. After falling out of running regularly Emily and one of her close friends decided to train for the Niagara Marathon in New York. 

To avoid the Texas summer heat Emily would run during the evening in the small town we lived in. I didn’t love the idea of her running alone at night, so I’d go with her kicking and screaming the entire way. “I hate this”. “This is stupid”. “Why are we even out here”. These were all common phrases I uttered on our runs together. Emily was a great sport and tolerated me for the most part. 

During the spring of 2020 I landed a job based out of Woodland Park, Colorado, just northwest of Colorado Springs. I had embraced running as an exercise that allowed me to eat whatever I wanted and maintain a fairly healthy weight. Knowing that I needed some encouragement to continue running once I moved up to Colorado, I signed up for a race called the Pikes Peak Ascent, not fully grasping what I signed up for. 

I soon started running on trails and quickly came to realize that trail running was basically hiking but faster, and I already loved hiking. Things started clicking for me and soon a local trail runner out of Woodland Park reached out via Strava and we became friends. Through Rachel, my new trail running friend, I met a whole community of like-minded people who enjoyed spending time outside just as much as I did. 

All of a sudden running became more than just a way to eat whatever I wanted. Trail running became community, friends, belonging, and acceptance. Trail running became a way for me to explore my new backyard and spend even more time outside. Trail running became a way to test new limits, challenge myself mentally and physically, and spend time with people I love.

RACING THE ROYAL GORGE

Cy Knowles joined Routes staff in the summer of 2021, and will be a Junior at Palmer Ridge High School this Fall. He moved here from Minnesota a couple years ago where he did his first downhill mountain bike race in 7th grade. This was only the beginning of Cy’s love for MTB and racing.

Cy Knowles and Ethan Werschky on top of the podium! And to be clear…the other podium finishers didn’t stick around to claim their spots. Ha! So they did in fact win in a field of other riders within their division.

Cy recently completed The Royal Gorge Groove - an XC mountain bike race. Despite the very windy conditions and 1,700 feet in elevation gain, he and his relay-mate, Ethan Werschky, took first place in the U18 division. (Ethan also just started working at Routes!)

It took the pair just over three hours to complete the 24-mile course. 

Cy had only hiked in the Royal Gorge prior to this race. After biking it, he said he would, “100% do this race again”. His general sentiment? It wasn’t too “techy”, the atmosphere & vibe was great, and the views were simply amazing. To boot, he enjoyed a post-race burger at Happy Endings Caboose Cafe in Canon City.

He did this race as a warmup for his XC season, and also plans on doing the Revolution Enduro Race in Snowmass at the end of the summer.

We love having Cy on staff at Routes! He’s growing his skills as a bike mechanic like crazy, and he continues to bring the kind spirit we value to both the community and his fellow staff.

If you see Cy at the shop, on the trails around town, or getting a post ride burrito at El Rincon, be sure to say “what’s up”!

KIDS ON BIKES - CREATING COMMUNITY THROUGH CYCLING

By Nate Van Noord (RO Staff)

Back in Detroit, where I moved from in the summer of 2021, there is an organization, Back Alley Bikes, that gives kids the opportunity to work on bikes and eventually earn a bike. They empower kids to get on the road for fun and for transportation. They have been very influential in changing the transportation culture of Detroit beyond being just the “Motor City”. 

When I moved there in 2006, there was one bike shop in the whole city. When I left, there were seven. That same year, I rode in a Critical Mass bike ride event…and there were seven of us total. Now, Critical Mass ride events in Detroit regularly have over 10,000 riders.

After moving to Colorado Springs, I immediately was struck by our access to the trails around town and was hyped to see all the folks out there riding for recreation. I was disappointed though, to see so few peeps riding the roads for transportation. 

Where were the bikes carrying commuters each day on our city streets? Where were the kids cruising across town to their friends’ houses? Where was the population that carried a mindset and torch…to promote alternate forms of transportation as a great and positive community dimension?

Fast forward about a year later, a community influencer named Mark Schenberger stopped by our south COS Routes location one day to visit with me, and I was encouraged to hear that he and all the good people over at Kids on Bikes are trying to change that.

Mark rode his Surly over to Routes from the Kids on Bikes office a few miles away. He recently rode this same bike solo from Denmark to Turkey for four months.

Mark first shared a little bit about his story.

He attended The Ohio State University (Go Wolverines!) and studied abroad in Copenhagen - the mecca of bicycle commuting (where you see businessmen riding to work in suits and moms dropping their kids off for school on cargo bikes). His time in Europe inspired him to contribute to the growing movement of alternative forms of transportation back in the States. After graduating, he took an Americorps position at Kids on Bikes.

Mark explained that Kids on Bikes started in 2005 and originally gave bikes away to kids who reached academic goals. They soon realized they wanted to do more….  

Through the years, they have provided opportunities for hundreds of kids to learn the fundamentals of operating a bike, everything from which side of the road to ride on to fixing a flat, and eventually giving them the chance of earning their own bike. Once they do, they help the kids pick a safe route in their neighborhood to ride and they ride it with them. 

They also set up bicycle libraries in different neighborhoods around town. Kids and adults in the community can access the tools inside these shipping containers for free.

In addition to all of that…they organize rides to school! How cool is that! A couple weeks ago, they had three different rides of 30-40 kids and their parents pedaling to three different elementary schools. They were even led by a 3-time Paralympian, Tyler Carter.

In 2016, Kids on Bikes launched a very cool new part of their organization - the Pedal Station. They have been operating the Pedal Station as an integral part of their strategies for long term sustainability since then. The Station operates as a bicycling community center and sells used bicycles to fit any budget through its retail store. They also offer a wide assortment of new and used parts and accessories. They accept bikes for donations and folks can volunteer as well!

Organizing family bicycle rides called “PopCycle Rides” is yet another very cool angle of what they do. These rides are on Sundays from 1-3 at America the Beautiful Park throughout the summer. They are a great way to celebrate bicycling cross-generationally, and give families really fun and easy activities to engage in together.

This summer, they will host their annual “Great Bicycle Carnival” and their weekly camps with hundreds of kids attending throughout the warm months.

One last notable activity to mention for this great organization - Kids on Bikes is in the midst of building the Cresta Pump Track at Cresta Open Space. They are hoping to complete it by summer of 2022. It will be a learning opportunity space to build skills for riding the Cheyenne Canyon trails nearby.

This organization does so much!! And they do it with lots of support from the communities around them.

The mission of Kids on Bikes is to empower kids to live healthy, active, and happy lives. They are doing just that…as they bring joy and freedom to kids and families in our community one bike, one ride, and one mile at a time.

If you would like to support all the great work Kids on Bikes is doing, check out a few of their website pages for volunteer and giving opportunities below.

Learn more about Kids on Bikes!

Volunteer with KOB and the Pedal Station!

Donate to Cresta Pump Track!

Join the Kids on Bikes Newsletter!

KOB on Social: Facebook and Instagram

RACING, VOLUNTEERING, AND FINDING COMMUNITY

A fun personal story from a friend of Routes and local community member…

Moving to a new state amid a global pandemic was not ideal. Leaving my family and friends to pursue this new adventure with my boyfriend of two years was already a leap out of my comfort zone that I didn’t think I was entirely ready for…or capable of. That I arrived as Colorado shut down and mandated masks didn’t help. Soon, I secured a traveling job that put me at risk of infection and kept me from exploring my new home. Then I received an email that crushed me.

“It is with deep regret that we must cancel the full marathon and relay for this year….” 

madmooseevents.com

I had been training for a year to do the Niagara Falls International Marathon with my best friend…and having to take the deferral to 2021 felt like all the work I’d done didn’t count. It seemed like life was dumping disappoints on me, and I needed a positive goal to focus on. I registered for the Valkyrie Trail Marathon in Cheyenne Mountain State Park to give me something to work towards ⎯ a challenge to distract me from how left out I felt as all my friends’ lives moved on without me.  

Months passed and I couldn’t shake this feeling of being utterly untethered. There would be pops of color when friends and family came to visit and then it would all dull back to the same gray of my everyday life. I ran to keep myself from admitting that it felt like I had made a mistake. I couldn’t understand how I could be so torn between such a beautiful state, holding the possibly of the life I always saw myself living and still wanting to move back to a state filled with humidity, mosquitoes and all my loved ones. I don’t know that I’d ever felt so lonely. 

September faded into winter and then spring, and the Saturday before my race I flew home from a work trip in Seattle. That Thursday my dad and sister flew in to spend the weekend with us and to cheer me on.

We hiked some of the course and at the Garden of the Gods and made tamales from scratch. A blink later, it was Saturday morning. My dad and sister left early for their morning volunteer shift, helping to set up the start/finish line and the aid stations.  

My boyfriend and I drove to the state park blasting Pusha T’s “Untouchable” on repeat. I felt recharged on the weekend’s positive energy and ready to go. My sister, dad and boyfriend were going to post up at the aid station I would pass four times throughout the race, and every time I saw them the whole table of volunteers erupted into cheers. It carried me through. 

madmooseevents.com

I finished my first trail marathon 24 minutes under my goal time while enduring some major stomach issues the last 5 miles. I was exhausted and so grateful for the whole experience. 

It wasn’t until we got back home late that afternoon that the true magic of the race unfolded ⎯ after forcing down lots of fluids, cooling down and reliving the race mile by mile for my family. 

My dad handed me a mask with a sharpied phone number and said, “I made you a friend. Here’s her number.” 

Little did I know, this was the turning point I had been needing. 

Another volunteer assigned to the table started chatting up my incredibly quiet dad, and today, she is one of my best friends. She helped me build a strong and supportive sense of community here in Colorado, and I have finally found where I fit. Within the running community here, I’ve found my people and everything that was missing.

SANTE FE OPEN SPACE

On Thursday, April 7th, El Paso County had its grand opening and ribbon cutting of Sante Fe Open Space in Palmer Lake - located on the east side of the New Santa Fe Regional Trail. It is a 60-acre site of rolling and moderate terrain with 1.75 miles of singletrack trail for hikers, bikers, and horseback riders. The open space consists of thick stands of scrub oak, mature Ponderosa pines, grassy meadows, and the remnants of an old ranch. The county purchased this beautiful piece of land that boasts views of Mt. Herman and the Front Range in May of 2017. The west entrance is ½ mile SE of Palmer Lake Recreation Area, which offers both parking and a restroom, and the east entrance is 2.5 miles NW of the Hwy 105 Trailhead parking area. Both entrances are along the New Sante Fe Regional Trail. The county has built maps at each trailhead and signage at each trail intersection. The open space is open daily from dawn to dusk.

This trail system is simple, well thought out, and beautiful. Whether you’re headed out for a leisurely stroll, a long gravel bike ride from Baptist Rd. to Greenland Open Space, or a run from the front door of Routes Outfitter and back to Trails End Taproom…you are guaranteed to enjoy this new addition to our delightful trail systems in the Tri-Lakes areas.

It’s exciting to continue to see our area grow its offerings like this. The northern El Paso County area on the Colorado Springs front range is simply amazing.

A beautiful landscape surrounds the newest Santa Fe Open Space trail system built by El Paso County Parks and Rec.