Mountain - Plains - Colorado River Road out of Dotsero?

I'm flying to Denver to visit a friend tomorrow. We're going to Glenwood Canyon staying Friday night. We'll have Friday and Saturday to ride. I've been looking for good road rides in the area and saw a route on mapmyride taking the Colorado River Road out of Dotsero north. I'm wondering if anyone has ridden this route. I'd appreciate any information on traffic, road conditions, etc.

If you have other suggestions for 40 to 60 mile rides in the general area I'd sure appreciate it.

Thanks.

Tom

I've never ridden north of I70 in that part of the state, but I'd imagine that just about any road that runs along the CO River is probably a good bet.

I have, however, ridden CO 133 from Carbondale (~15 miles south of Glenwood Springs) south to McClure Pass, which was about 50 miles roundtrip and it was pretty amazing. Even if you don't make it all the way up to the pass @ ~8800' it's still a beautiful ride. Carbondale is @ ~6300', so you'll be gaining ~2500' in 25 miles if you make it to the pass -- the last 3 miles are the steepest. But, you'll be rewarded w/ a nice descent back into Carbondale. When in Carbondale pick a place on the old part of Main St to reward yourself w/ some food and/or booze -- it really is a cool part of town.

Caveat / disclaimer: When I moved to CO it took a few weeks for my lungs to adjust to any rides over ~6500', so it's really up to you as I'd venture to guess that the route out of Dotsero (that follows a river) would be less taxing on the lungs, legs and ticker).

Whatever you decide, try to get most of your riding in on Friday as it's gonna cool down and maybe rain on Saturday.

I have a to-do list in the area, but haven't ridden much there yet.

Somewhere in this forum there is a reference to a new bike path from Glenwood to Aspen - paved, car-free, something like 80 miles round trip but you don't have to go all the way or I think there is a shuttle bus so you can go one way and get a ride back or vice versa. I've seen bits of the path in GLenwood Canyon from the highway but never ridden it - it looks fantastic. I've ridden the Carbondale to Aspen part before the bike path was finished, and it's good they put in the path - too much traffic on the roads.

Colorado National Monument and Grand Mesa are in the area, both are supposed to be stunning, but you have to like climibing.

I've ridden McClure, and I agree it's very nice - not spectacular, just nice, pleasant.

Hopefully a local will chime in about current conditions - we had a lot of snow last week, followed by a very warm week, so it's hard to say what the conditions are. I heard Fruita conditions were OK, so it's probably OK around Glenwood, Aspen and McClure are a question for me.

Here's (http://www.cotrip.org/rWeather/All_Regions_042209_230005.html) a road condition page - some web cams to look at.

The Glenwood Canyon trail is nice. Not difficult.
Beautiful! Here are a couple of views from last fall.
West entrance
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo201/cpapman/Westent.jpg
Elevated section
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo201/cpapman/elevated.jpg
Under the highway
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo201/cpapman/Underhiway.jpg
West side of Hanging Lk. tunnel.
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo201/cpapman/westentHanglk.jpg
It is a very unique ride.