Quick Ride Summary: DISAPPOINTING - Wednesday, June 17th, 2009, I rode from the trailhead at Palmer Lake, CO to Colorado Springs, CO where the trail connects to the Pikes Peak Greenway. The distance was 18 miles with a net loss in elevation of just over a 1000 feet. I do NOT recommend this trail for the casual rider or for any type of road bike. The trail surface was advertised as crushed stone but often deteriorated to mud holes with sections so steep I still slid downhill with all brakes locked. Little, if any, evidence of trail maintenance within the Air Force Academy grounds.
I have added a chart of the Percent Grade as an overlay to the elevation chart. You will notice the spikes in the grade that indicate very steep sections of the trail.
I started in Palmer Lake and the trail was quite nice and stayed on the railroad grade to Monument, CO. If the entire trail had been this nice I would be giving you a glowing report rather than reporting a complete disappointment in the overall trail.
There were shelters and other amenities at the Palmer Lake and Monument trailheads, and a nice shelter just before entering the Air Force Academy. There were numerious signs concerning the flora, fauna and geology of the region. In fact there were so many that they were actually intrusive.This trail passes along a beautiful section of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, but the expected serenity of riding along was marred by continuous road noise from I-25 and the constant drone of the airplanes overhead at the Academy.
Just south of Monument the trail left the railbed for long sections. At one time the trail surface was so bad that I thought I had wandered off the main trail onto some side trail, but was assured by a rider coming the other way that I was still on the New Santa Fe Trail. The trail had huge erosion ruts and several times I had to dismount and push the trike around obstacles and up hills that even the two wheelers could not navigate.
Finally, the trail left the Academy grounds and was back on the railbed for a nice couple of miles before reaching Colorado Springs.
In summary, the scenery was great, but the ride was at times quite unpleasant. Unless something changes I will not ride this trail again. I took no pictures of the ugly parts of the trail.
You may see all the pictures I took on this ride by visiting my Picasa site HERE
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Hello,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Megan Peterson, and I'm the Manager of Community & Content Development at PublicEarth. We're an Internet map-content start-up company in Boulder, Colorado. In general, we offer information about a variety of interests like cycling, public art, camping, etc. on Google Maps as well as onto GPS devices and in-car navigation units. Our initial focus is on the US & UK. Our site is structured and dynamic, driven by our users who create and edit content (like a Wikipedia page). Also, our site is free to all users, registered or not.
I'm very interested in having you both check out our private site. I just perused your Cycling Colorado blog, and I think it would be extremely valuable to have your feedback regarding our site. Also, I think it'd be great to discuss ways we can possibly work together. Would it be possible to discuss this via phone next week? Please let me know your thoughts, and if you'd like me to send you a login to access our site.
Thanks for your time. I look forward to your response.
Cordially,
Megan
megan(dot)peterson(at)publicearth(dot)com
Megan Peterson, MBA
Manager, Community & Content Development
www(dot)PublicEarth(dot)com