Road Cycling - Pictures - Platte/bear Creek - Please Enjoy

Pictures - Platte/Bear Creek #1 of 4 - Please Enjoy

I did a route starting from Carson Nature Center in SW metro area of Denver, and headed north about 6 miles on the Platte River Trail (Mary Carter Greenway). This trail is about 40 miles long. Then I went west on the Bear Creek Trail about 11 miles. This involves going up Mt Carbon, not a terribly high hill, but with some marked grades. Came back, had lunch at Subway, for a total of 34 miles. Great fun.

I know that many of you do not enjoy pictures of rides, but I have great pleasure in taking the pics and attempting to get them into a presentation that will actually upload (less than 100K), which can be kind of a challenge. So, if you enjoy ride pics, such as they are, please enjoy. If not, then what can I say?

mORE PICTURES!

And More

And these are the last!

is that paved all the way???
wow, that's impressive for a 'bike trail'
nice to not have vehicles, but then you have to deal with pedestrians yes?
is there a speed limit on that trail?

I personally like seeing where other folks ride
so thanks for posting these

would love to see rides from other places.
though I reckon a lot of you would post blurrs for your rides :D

is that paved all the way???
wow, that's impressive for a 'bike trail'
nice to not have vehicles, but then you have to deal with pedestrians yes?
is there a speed limit on that trail?

I personally like seeing where other folks ride
so thanks for posting these

would love to see rides from other places.
though I reckon a lot of you would post blurrs for your rides :D

Probably saw 100 bikers and about 25 peds over 34 miles. Two golf carts where the golf cart trail and the bike trail join over one bridge. Weekends would be a different story, although not in the early am.

Technically, for the Platte River portion, it is 15 mph, although folks totally disregard.

Yes, it is either asphalt (tarmac? in England) or mostly cement. There are about 400 miles of similar trails throughout the Denver metro area.

There are very, very few actual bike/roadway intersections, as the trails generally follow creeks and cross under the highway along with the creek. I can go 30 miles out my back door with only 3 minor street crossings.

sounds convenient for ya
forgot to mention before, it looks like a beautiful ride

Well done Denver! Looks like a nice ride.

Thanks for sharing.

Man, look at all those mountain bikes on a perfectly paved trail. Makes no sense I tell ya.

Nice looking ride! I've ridden the C-470 trail and gone up the Platte River trail to the Bear Creek turnoff, but never actually taken it. I'll have to pop across and do the whole thing some day soon... :)

For anyone interested in a map of where these trails sit in Denver, I've attached one below...

Key
1 C-470
2 South Platte
3 Bear Creek
4 South Kipling

The ride over Mt Carbon is likely the single most challenging hill east of the foothills. You would enjoy the ride very much. Lots of Bull snakes on the trail!

That map shows 4 of the many trails.

For a complete listing of Colorado Trails, see:

http://www.coloradolottery.com/about/trailmaps/index.cfm

For the Denver Metro area only, see:

http://www.coloradolottery.com/about/trailmaps/trails_popup.cfm?region=metro

Major missing trails include:

1. The Clear Creek Trail (Platte River Trail to Golden)

2. The Sand Creek Trail (Platter River Trail to Aurora)

3. The Big Dry Creek Trail (East from the Platte River Trail into Littleton)

4. The Lee Gulch Trail (Platte River Trail east into Littleton)

5. The Cherry Creek Trail (Confluence Park - Platte River Trail - to Parker)

6. The Little Dry Creek Trail - Clear Creek Trail north

7. The Ralston Creek Trail - Clear Creek Trail north

8. The Highline Canal Trail - recreational trail over 70 miles through southern metro area following scenic Highline Canal. Heavily used for biking, jogging, walking. This trail is over 20 feet wide in most places.

Numerous local trails in Golden, Parker and other suburbs

A whole listing of trails using streets in Denver.

The ride over Mt Carbon is likely the single most challenging hill east of the foothills. You would enjoy the ride very much. Lots of Bull snakes on the trail!

That map shows 4 of the many trails.

For a complete listing of Colorado Trails, see:

http://www.coloradolottery.com/about/trailmaps/index.cfm

For the Denver Metro area only, see:

http://www.coloradolottery.com/about/trailmaps/trails_popup.cfm?region=metro
Thanks... good links... I've used that site a fair bit myself.

There's also a good listing of routes (incl. road) at www.coloradobicyclerides.com. For MTB rides, www.trailcentral.com.

Posted the map above as a simple positioning map... the complete network of Denver metro trails is phenomenal and needs a much bigger map than that to read clearly!

Very nice, I wish we had trails like that around here. I think our longest path is about 4 miles or so.