Mountain - Plains - Metro Denver Rides

I'm looking for some good rides around the metro area. I've heard that there are roads north of town, as in n. of broomfield, that are good for riding without heavy traffic and such. Any suggestions?

Denver has quite a few decent bike routes. Following one tends to be a nice way of cheating.
Here is their bike map:
http://www.denvergov.org/Bicycle_Program/BikeMapsofDenver/BikeMapsofDenver0/tabid/378719/Default.aspx

West of town in the Golden area has quite a few rides.
I live in thornton. Riverdale to 160th and over is a nice ride.
There are quite a few state roads and highways in the broomfield \ superior\ lafayette \ louisville \ boulder area that one can ride on and have fun. However, the speed limit tends to be fairly high.

If you head over to the mountains you have even more choices. Not sure what type of riding there is this time of year.
You could check out routeslip.com bikely.com mapmyride.com for ride choices.
Either that or find one of the friendly members of this forum to take you on a ride.
In no particular order: bmclaughlin807, snowy, pwnt, on a good day me (though I tend to wander aimlessly), and many others. I find this method to be a good way of finding new rides. Exploring is fun in its own way. Just avoid exploring on Federal and alameda. That was an annoying ride. :p

One could also join up with a bike club to find a ride or two. DBTC, RMCC, etc. If memory serves me correctly, this time of year group rides start dwindling. Many LBSs have group rides as well.

Thanks much!! I know most of the Denver and more central trails and am looking for more rural rides. I rode from my place in Park Hill last week to 120th and Sheridan to visit a friend. What a pita! Too much traffic and not terribly fun because of that.

I've been riding on the Platte and Cherry Creek Trails most weekends.

Saturday mornings I'm typically up for a ride!

Thanks much!! I know most of the Denver and more central trails and am looking for more rural rides. I rode from my place in Park Hill last week to 120th and Sheridan to visit a friend. What a pita! Too much traffic and not terribly fun because of that.

I've been riding on the Platte and Cherry Creek Trails most weekends.

Saturday mornings I'm typically up for a ride!

Any of the paths to Golden makes a nice ride... Clear Creek, Bear Creek, or C-470 ... And once in Golden, there's the famous Lookout Mountain ride... or keep going from the top of Lookout and do the whole Lariat Loop... that's always a nice ride.

For some longish road rides more to the north, you can check out some of the RMCC (http://rmccrides.com/) routes.... Team Evergreen (http://www.teamevergreen.org/) has a lot of routes online as well.

Another great group to ride with is Club Hypoxia (http://www.clubhypoxia.com/)... but the majority of their members and rides are up north, as well.

I'm going to be moving within the next week, so right now isn't a good time for me for riding, but as soon as I'm all done I'd love to ride!

See you out on the road.

Exploring is fun in its own way. Just avoid exploring on Federal and alameda. That was an annoying ride. :p

Yeah... pretty much all of the arterials are no fun unless you're doing them Sunday morning, or later at night when there's not much traffic.

Colfax, Sheridan, Federal, Alameda, Wadsworth, etc. (I guess you can tell what area of the city I live in! :p )

I'm out bike hunting to replace my commuter tomorrow. Plus, I am on call and running database builds this weekend. Hopefully in the near future I will have time on the weekends.

Lived in Park Hill for about 20 years and am now down south near Cook Park and Monaco. I tried riding north on the Platte and then out west. I'd rather start out west somewhere. Too many strange people on the trail and you go through the guts of industrial Denver going north to get there and it is pretty nasty smelling. I do SE out the Cherry Creek bike path a lot to the reservoir and beyond to Parker. There's some great hill work going east from Bronco's Parkway/Jamison and Parker Road up into that subdivision on Jamison, E. Long Ave, E. Ireland and N. Travois Trail to Inspiration Road then back east down Pine Lane to Crown Crest and Cottonwood Drive which east of Parker hits the Cherry Creek Trail again. Rode this route with a good group that rides out of Bicycle Village in Aurora, Sat. mornings at 9:30 AM. Ride speed can vary depending on who comes. This time of the year as it gets colder, it's usually a faster group. Except for one mile long path that isn't paved, I hear, you can go most of the way to Franktown on the path.

The Chatfield Ride down Platte River from REI after riding the creek trail to get there is a great ride. From our side of town that's about 48 or so miles round trip. Always looking for more riders. Looks like I'll be riding Sunday this weekend.

Oh and here is link to another map of area. www.denvertrails.com

[QUOTE=DataJunkie;5564392]
There are quite a few state roads and highways in the broomfield \ superior\ lafayette \ louisville \ boulder area that one can ride on and have fun. However, the speed limit tends to be fairly high.
QUOTE]

I live in Erie, right off of highway 7 and there are lots of roads to ride on that don't have a lot of traffic. As Data said, it takes some exploring but, in general, the roads north of highway 7 and west of I-25 are all good. There are exceptions such as highway 285, but even that has a good shoulder. The nice thing about most of these roads is that they are laid out in a grid, so they intersect making it hard to get lost.

A great loop from Erie or Lafayette is County Line Road all the way through to the North side of Longmont, highway 66 (I think) to Lyons. Lyons to Boulder on either 36 or Hygeine Rd/75th St. and then back to Lafayette/Erie on any of a number of roads - Valmont, Arapahoe, Baseline.

Hoff

Thanks for all the input!!
I did a nice ride this morning just around town, CC trail and Platte trail. Of course I got ANOTHER flat (see my thread in road cycling "Speaking of flats...") The evil flat fairy seems quite enamored with me for some reason. Not sure what to do about it..but that's another thread.

I'm still mad at the Aurora Bike Village for their high pressure attempt to get me over the top of my budget when I was bike shopping, so I'm not going near the place until my spirit has calmed :lol: I don't mind the industrial scenery and I actually enjoy the crack heads on the north side of downtown along the platte trail. Just the crazy urbanite in me I guess.

BUT what I really want is some wide open roads.......

Thanks for all the input!!
I did a nice ride this morning just around town, CC trail and Platte trail. Of course I got ANOTHER flat (see my thread in road cycling "Speaking of flats...") The evil flat fairy seems quite enamored with me for some reason. Not sure what to do about it..but that's another thread.

I'm still mad at the Aurora Bike Village for their high pressure attempt to get me over the top of my budget when I was bike shopping, so I'm not going near the place until my spirit has calmed :lol: I don't mind the industrial scenery and I actually enjoy the crack heads on the north side of downtown along the platte trail. Just the crazy urbanite in me I guess.

BUT what I really want is some wide open roads.......

For a nice little bike shop that will not pressure you to spend more than you can afford, try Cycle Analyst (http://cycleanalystinc.com/) I really like the shop.

We don't really know anything about your riding... what distances are you looking for, and how are you with climbing?

I ride the north platte quite a bit. The only area that has given me issues is from directly north of the flour mill lofts to pepsi. Now I just take a detour through downtown that takes me past union station and along a road that parallels the platte. Then I join up with it at pepsi. I started getting sick of people spitting at me, avoiding individuals on god knows what, and generally fearing for my well being. That and last summer I was pushed off the trail in that area. While many vagrants may be decent people there seems to be a fair amount of drug users, gang bangers, drug dealers, people with mental health issues, etc mixed in with the down and out. I would rather mix it up with semis and buses.

Oh and +1 on the "what type of rides do you enjoy" question from BM. :)

Bicycle village in Westie is my main choice for bike shops. Golden Bear in Broomfield is good as well and I have heard nothing but good things regarding cycle analyst. Heck, I replaced my destroyed touring bike with a fixie from BV and still need a bike to haul my kid around with. I am going to visit cycle analyst to hopefully find something cheap that fits the bill.

We don't really know anything about your riding... what distances are you looking for, and how are you with climbing?


Heh, that would be helpful wouldn't it. I just got back on my road bike after 6 years. Busy life means that I like to get the best workout from a ride that I can. Stressful life means that I love the escape of a good long ride. I've been doing between 20-40 miles per ride thus far just around town. Don't seem to have any issues with fatigue, although I've not gotten a computer yet so who knows how slow I might be going :lol: I am a runner though, so I didn't hop on the bike completely out of shape.

I like hills but I'm not quite ready to hit mountain roads yet. I guess my ideal ride lasts darned near all day, has a mix of flats and hills, takes in some great scenery and is a kick ass workout. My realistic ride is 3 hours (give or take), a good work out and plenty of fun.

My wife is off next Saturday. If the weather cooperates I would love to ride with someone else.
BM, are you going to be done moving by then?

I am not on call for once. Yay.....

Thanks much!! I know most of the Denver and more central trails and am looking for more rural rides. I rode from my place in Park Hill last week to 120th and Sheridan to visit a friend. What a pita! Too much traffic and not terribly fun because of that.

I've been riding on the Platte and Cherry Creek Trails most weekends.

Saturday mornings I'm typically up for a ride!

What route did you take? The best way to get there would be through Stapleton to the Sand Creek Trail then to the Platte. Ride north to Clear Creek and then west to around 64th and Pecos. Just to the west about a half mile is Dry Creek that will take you northwest to Sheridan. Overshoot Sheridan and ride up to Harlan. Take Harlan north to Lake Arbor and then go around the east end of the lake to a trail that goes due north. The trail branches to the left about a mile further north. Take this left hand trail to Otis and keep going north to Lamar. Take Lamar to 88th Ave and then east to Harlan. Take Harlan (a bit busy for a few blocks) north and it eventually turns into Westminster Blvd. Watch for a trail on the right and take that one to at least 112th. From there you might have to go through the neighborhoods to the west of Sheridan to avoid Sheridan traffic or just suck it up and ride the last 8 blocks on Sheridan. There may be other trails up there but I haven't been to that area for ages.

Good luck.

I'm looking for some good rides around the metro area. I've heard that there are roads north of town, as in n. of broomfield, that are good for riding without heavy traffic and such. Any suggestions?

Here's one (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/24973) to Brighton. To get to the start from Park Hill go east to Stapleton and catch the Sand Creek Trail.

Here's (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/5151) a good one in the Boulder area.

Here's one (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/24973) to Brighton. To get to the start from Park Hill go east to Stapleton and catch the Sand Creek Trail.

Here's (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/5151) a good one in the Boulder area.

For some reason I thought the Sand Creek Trail wasn't completely finished. Is it paved all the way?

For some reason I thought the Sand Creek Trail wasn't completely finished. Is it paved all the way?

Sand Creek is unpaved for a significant distance within Denver and will probably stay that way. It's mostly paved from Quebec and E. 46th to the Platte (with a few exceptions). Through Old Stapleton, you can pick it up off of Smith Road behind the Wally World (a bit to the east). It's kind of sandy here but ridable. If you want to avoid the sand, ride down Quebec to the Sap Brothers truck stop. The trail picks up behind there. Just be careful around I-70...those people are crazy!:eek:;)

Sand Creek is unpaved for a significant distance within Denver and will probably stay that way. It's mostly paved from Quebec and E. 46th to the Platte (with a few exceptions). Through Old Stapleton, you can pick it up off of Smith Road behind the Wally World (a bit to the east). It's kind of sandy here but ridable. If you want to avoid the sand, ride down Quebec to the Sap Brothers truck stop. The trail picks up behind there. Just be careful around I-70...those people are crazy!:eek:;)

Thanks so much!!! This creates a whole new loop for me as I'd been hoping I could utilize that trail to some extent, just hadn't checked it out. I don't think the sand, I assume its like the cinder running paths in stapleton, will be a problem for that short distance.

Sand Creek trail is complete from the Platte to Colfax between Airport Blvd & Tower Rd.
Not really sandy anywhere. Mainly concrete & packed dirt/gravel.
If You head W on Colfax (from East end of trail) to Highline canal trail and follow it SE, it will turn to sand E of Tower Rd along Sand Cr.

You can get a Google Earth view of over a thousand miles of Front range trails from the Map page of the URL from the signature line.

Sand Creek trail is complete from the Platte to Colfax between Airport Blvd & Tower Rd.
Not really sandy anywhere. Mainly concrete & packed dirt/gravel.
If You head W on Colfax (from East end of trail) to Highline canal trail and follow it SE, it will turn to sand E of Tower Rd along Sand Cr.



That's not quite correct. The section from Smith Rd to Quebec isn't packed but is rather sandy. You can ride it but expect some loose stuff. The section from Smith Rd to Havana is almost nonexistent. There's been lots of construction out there and the trail alignment has changed. I'm sure this is temporary but that section is in very poor shape. Thankfully, the whole section from Havana to Quebec is short.

Here are some more rides. I'll post more as I create them.

Innercity Half Century (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/11482)

Lookout Mountain from west Denver (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/5159)

Perry Park (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/23504) Ride starts and ends in Sedalia and goes down to Larkspur. Pretty ride.

Flattest ride in Denver (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/23531). Follows the southern end of the Highline Canal.

All these are great fall/winter rides. Lookout Mountain should only be done if it's dry. There are patches where you'll find ice on Lookout after a storm.

These are great! Thanks!!!!!

Here's a couple more

Denver to Parker and back (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/66606)

Boulder Half Century (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/66608)

That's not quite correct. The section from Smith Rd to Quebec isn't packed but is rather sandy. You can ride it but expect some loose stuff. The section from Smith Rd to Havana is almost nonexistent. There's been lots of construction out there and the trail alignment has changed. I'm sure this is temporary but that section is in very poor shape. Thankfully, the whole section from Havana to Quebec is short.


Quick question about the trail. You said that you can pick it up around Sapp Bros? I was out there last night and the night before, albeit in my car on Quebec... I see where the trail meets Quebec on the east side but didn't see where it picks up on the other side. Do you head down that frontage road along 270 for a bit or something?

Thanks so much for all these mapped rides! I was really hoping I could do the 50m metro denver ride tomorrow but something has come up and I probably won't get to ride this weekend at all....ermph!

Quick question about the trail. You said that you can pick it up around Sapp Bros? I was out there last night and the night before, albeit in my car on Quebec... I see where the trail meets Quebec on the east side but didn't see where it picks up on the other side. Do you head down that frontage road along 270 for a bit or something?

Thanks so much for all these mapped rides! I was really hoping I could do the 50m metro denver ride tomorrow but something has come up and I probably won't get to ride this weekend at all....ermph!

I think it comes out at 49th up by the hotel on the north side of Sapp Brothers. Then you ride down the Frontage road for about a block to 47th.

This is the satellite view of the Sand Cr trail (Brown line).
Trail comes down SE between buildings & Sand Cr to 47th where it is in the open and doubles back to go under Quebec.

Here's (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1446400) the old DBTC Ft Lupton Century route as far as I can recall. Some of these roads might be dirt still but, if you find one that is, just go east or west a mile and you'll find another road. By turning at certain points on the route you can cut the ride to 25 mile, 50 mile or 65 miles.

Here's (http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1446417) a nice ~40 mile ride from Denver to Arvada and back. It is a rather involved route with lots of twists and turns but worth the ride. It includes a nasty climb in the middle of it (Arvada Res.) and some bike path riding (it's easier to make connections). But it also uses Easley Road which, along with Riverdale Rd, Valmont Rd and Cherryvale Rd, is one of the nicest rides around. It starts at Berkeley Park off of 46th and Sheridan. There is parking there.