Originally Posted by
valygrl
Yup, laughing at you.... hee hee! And be careful of the deer on that road, they can jump out in front of you any time.
Iowegian's suggestions are good, but for something more beginner-friendly, try making squares/loops using the following good roads in the "plains":
East/West: Jay Road, Neva Road, Nelson Road, St. Vrain Road, Hygiene Road, Lookout Rd, Valmont, Baseline, Table Mesa/South Boulder Road, Hyw 66 (not yet, but after they finish the construction)
North/South: Hwy 36, 61st/63rd, 71st/75th, 79th, 95th (a little too busy, but good shoulder), East County Line Rd (not really recommended b/c too busy and no shoulder, but people ride it anyway)
Diagonal: Hwy 119 towards Longmont
There's a nice cafe & a gas station in the town of Hygiene for getting water/snacks.
Best easy one-hour, pretty low-traffic: get to baseline and cherryvale, go south on Cherryvale to the end, turn right on Marshall, cross over Hwy 93 and go out to Eldorado Springs, return the same way.
For a moderate hill climb, go to Jamestown via Lefthand Canyon.
For a bigger hill climb, add Old Stage or Lee Hill as your connector from town to Lefthand Canyon.
For a harder loop (60-ish miles, not beginner), loop 36 - Lefthand Cayon to the top (Ward, store), Peak to Peak Highway, Raymond (bad store), St. Vrain Canyon (=Hwy 7) to Lyons (lots of stores), and back either on 36 or out Hygiene Road to Hygiene to 75th. Or ride this in the other direction to avoid the very steep last mile climb up Lefthand Canyon into Ward.
Other out-and-back hill climbs
NCAR - Table Mesa Rd. west of Hwy 93
Flagstaff (moderate to the observatory, hard after that)
Sunshine Canyon (starts as Mapelton in town, changes name)
SuperJames (Jamestown as described above, keep going after you get to Jamestown until it turns to dirt)
Magnolia Road - off Boulder Cyn (=Hwy 119) - this is the steepest road in the county, you probably want to wait a few years until you are strong.
Roads that might seem ok on a map but you should avoid:
Hwy 93
Boulder Canyon/Hwy 119 to Nederland
Arapaho
Pearl Parkway
(edited to put paragraphs in order)