Bonita Oliva and friends participate in six-day bicycling event in Colorado
Bonita Oliva left home Thursday morning, July 21, heading to Manitou Springs to participate in a six-day bicycling event in the area. Bicycling friends Cathy Scott and Signe Geist flew from Florida to the Colorado Springs Airport where Bonita picked them up. The three had signed on to the Amazing Bicycle Colorado in the mountains of Colorado and had rented electric assist bicycles or ebikes.
They arrived in Manitou Springs three days before the bicycle ride began hoping to become acclimated to the altitude and stayed in the historic Cliff House Hotel, receiving special rates because it was the host hotel for the bicycling event.
In all, 21 bicyclists from all over the U.S. participated, assisted by a number of support staff. All stayed in the hotel Sunday night and again at the end of the ride.
Friday was spent renting the ebikes, touring the town, and looking for the various springs which gives the town its name. Masks were required to ride the shuttle bus to the Pikes Peaks Cog Railway and the Manitou Incline.
Saturday morning Bonita and Cathy felt they were extremely lucky when they checked with the ticket office of the Pikes Peak Cog Railroad and learned that the two front row seats in the first car had just become available for a trip later in the day. They also made reservations to climb the Manitou Incline the following day.
The two trips prior to Bonita’s and Cathy’s had been canceled because of an obstruction on the tracks but their train was allowed to go. It was cloudy and foggy, spitting drizzle and some snow before reaching the top of Pikes Peak. The temperature was in the upper 30’s and the view limited by fog. The visitors’ center appeared to be new. The railroad had been recently rebuilt and the cars were nearly new. The conductor provided excellent commentary throughout the trip which lasted an hour one-way.
The following day, Sunday, Bonita and Cathy were at the foot of the Manitou Incline at 9:00 a.m. It is a series of 2,768 steps, railroad ties spaced at varying heights, which begins at approximately 14,000 feet altitude and rises 2,000 feet. It was built in 1907 to support construction of a hydroelectric plant. It turned into a tourist’s attraction with railcars transporting thousands to the scenic Mt. Manitou overlook. Repeated rock slides forced the railroad to shut down. It was rebuilt as a trail and opened to tourists in 1990.
Cathy, who is 16 years younger than Bonita, reached the top in a little over an hour. Bonita took two hours to reach the top, counting 10 steps before stopping for air as she neared the top. They returned to the bottom on the Barr Trail, a four-mile series of switch-backs after noon, and very hungry.
In the evening the bicycling group gathered to have dinner at the Cliff House.
After breakfast the next morning, Greg Cobble, owner of Ebike Tours and Rentals, delivered the ebikes rented by Bonita, Cathy, and Signe to the hotel for the ride through Manitou Springs and the Garden of the Gods. Several other women had transported their own ebikes from California and Florida, but the majority of riders brought their regular hybrid bikes with tires wide enough to ride on gravel.
Bonita’s rented bike was referred to as the “army bike” as it was army green and resembled a motor scooter with very fat tires. An extended seat over the rear tire could accommodate a passenger. It was a single speed with a button for more and less power and a throttle that helped getting started. After being warned to not accidently engage the throttle causing the bike to suddenly speed off, Bonita opted to unplug it. However, after pushing the bike up a hill in the Garden of the Gods because she couldn’t get the bike started from a standing stop uphill, she reconnected the throttle cable and learned to take advantage of the power it provided.
The ride from the hotel through the Garden of the Gods was about 8½ miles. It was Bonita’s first time on an ebike and as it was a highway, she was extremely nervous and didn’t see much of the scenery.
After returning to the Cliff House, the bikes were loaded into a trailer and hauled to Cripple Creek. The cyclists carpooled, stopped in the town of Woodland Park for lunch, and then continued to the Wildwood Casino and Hotel, a brand-new facility in the already casino-crowded town of Cripple Creek. Bonita could leave her vehicle for free. Dinner was tossed green salad, barbequed beef, corn on the cob, and a mixed fruit pie.
Tuesday morning, the group toured the Cripple Creek Heritage Center and Museum of Mining, an excellent museum showing the history of the area, the discovery of gold, and the development of mining. The bikes had been shuttled to the top of hill outside Cripple Creek for a ride around a huge open pit gold mine to the small town of Victor.
After touring the town on foot and eating lunch, the riders continued on completing the circuit around the open pit mine back to Cripple Creek.
A popular attraction in Cripple Creek was a roving donkey herd that wandered around the town. A hot-line number existed where you could call to be told the location of the herd. Both the towns of Cripple Creek and Victor had been badly affected by the pandemic with many businesses closed.
After breakfast Wednesday morning, the riders and bikes were shuttled to an area near Victor where the Phantom Canyon Gold Belt Tour National Scenic Bylaw began. It had once been a railroad but no trace remained. It was a gravel road, badly wash boarded, with loose gravel and pot holes, and downhill for 27 miles. Then pavement began and continued four miles to Canon City.
If Bonita had asked for help, the fat tires might have been deflated and the ride more comfortable. The scenery was said to be beautiful but few riders enjoyed it, concentrating on avoiding pot-holes and staying upright while being shaken silly while most of the time desperately gripping the brakes. Lunch served on the trail was peanut butter and Nutella wrapped in a tortilla.
Thursday was a free day. In the morning, Signe, Cathy, and Bonita and the two Florida women had made reservations to do a 9-line zipline near the Royal Gorge. After lunch, the group drove on to the Royal Gorge where they crossed the chasm in a trolley and walked back across the bridge. A large herd of mountain sheep were in the area enjoying the irrigated grass.
On Friday, the riders were given options on the distances they wanted to ride back up Phantom Canyon Trail to Cripple Creek. A couple opted not to ride at all. Bonita wanted to return to Kansas that day to attend the wedding reception of her nephew in Salina on Saturday.
Saying good-bye to old and new friends, she loaded up with the luggage and the Wolf Pack (Dale, his 12-year-old daughter Lilly, and James, all from Mountain Grove, Missouri) for the drive back to Cripple Creek. Because of a mechanical problem, the hour and a half drive turned into to a two- and half-hour drive. Bonita arrived back home at 9:00 that evening.
