Originally Posted by
jimbojonez
Hello from the Great Lakes region (Madison, WI specifically)
I'm visiting Denver in early October and staying the the Lakewood and Wheat Ridge Area.
I already have one day planned doing a loop thru the city and visiting some of the Brewpubs downtown,
here is the route i was going to make a loop out of, if anyone has any recommendations to change this up i would appreciate any feedback.
I was also looking for some recommendations for some other routes to take on the other days I am there. I prefer spending my time on Rails to Trails type trails with nice views. I see so many on TrailLink that its hard to get a feel for the ones i should really spend time on. Id really appreciate any advice the locals have for cant miss trails. I'm used to doing up to 100 miles, so i'm open for anything
I'm a novice mountain biker and will be bringing my mountain bike also and am looking for any recommendations for some novice level mountain biking areas I should check out.
Thanks for any advice you have.
If your ever coming to south central Wisconsin, check out my trail biking blog for routes in the area.
http://bartsbiking.com/
First on your map. As others have said the 'bike path' that you routed out in Golden is a mountain bike trail, and a rugged one at that. US 6 (aka 6th Avenue) does indeed have a bike path that follows it from Golden to the Jefferson County Courthouse. It's not flat but it is worth the ride. Stop just off 19th Street (top of the hill) to visit a
dinosaur trackway.
We have a lot of roads and trails that used to be rails but not a lot of 'rail-to-trails' like Wisconsin has. Also weather in the high country can be iffy in early October. It can be stunningly gorgeous or snowing like a sumabich. All that said, there are a couple of trails that are worth the effort. There's the
Santa Fe Trail from Palmer Lake to Colorado Springs. It runs through the Air Force Academy and goes off the rails about 5 miles outside of Colorado Springs. It's an easy ride but does involve a bit of hill climbing and downhills on loose surfaces. Early October would be an excellent time for this trail.
There also the
Rock Island Trail near Falcon. It's a prairie trail which means that it is very flat and there's
no trees. The outbound leg is going to be featureless but the inbound leg (toward Falcon) will give you spectacular views of Pikes Peak.
Also around Colorado Springs is
Gold Camp Road. This is an old trolley line and parts of it are open to cars. There is a road block near the tunnels and you can ride up about 9 miles.
Around Buena Vista, there is the Midland Trail around Buena Vista which is less rail trail and more trail. There is also the
Mineral Belt Trail in Leadville. This is a wonderful ride and breath taking...both literally and visually. You could also ride on parts of a railbed in Frisco. The ride up Ten Mile Creek from Frisco to Copper Mountain is a railbed and is spectacular as well.
Of the trails I've listed (and there are many more old railbeds in Colorado), I'd suggest the Santa Fe Trail in Colorado Springs...to get you lungs used to vacuum we call air up here...and the Mineral Belt Trail as well as riding around Frisco.