Mountain Biking - Tips Needed for a Trip to Colorado this Summer!

My wife and I are planning a trip to Colorado this summer. Last week of June and first week of July to be exact. Our excuse is my buddy (since age 13) is getting married and we've got to be there.

Anyways, been looking at some maps and we have a couple of points of interest, but wanted to get any/all feedback about places to ride, where to camp, things to do...etc.

Any locals here or anyone who has vacationed there recently with any tips would be appreciated.

Our plans are pretty open at the moment. The only restraint is we have to be in the Denver area the 4th and 5th for the wedding.

We're planning to tent camp and mt. bike as much as possible. Still haven't decided wether to take the road bikes as well. We'll probably bring along our yellow lab, so pet friendly places are a must!

Places we'd like to go to include: Ft. Collins area, Loveland area, Salida, Durango, Telluride, and I really want to ride the Fruita Trail. We want to do it all in a short period of time, but any tips or things to avoid would help!

Thanks
L8R

Excellent choice. I am rather partial to Colorado myself. :beer:

I live in Fort Collins, so I am very familiar with the trails around here. I bike on the Foothills trail just about every day at lunch. It's a fairly moderate trail with some technical sections and nice ascents. It goes by the Horsetooth reservoir, which is almost empty due to dam construction. The Horsetooth trail is also nice, I'm sure you can find a map online of that as well. Lory State Park is also another option.

There are also some great trails in Boulder, which is right by Denver. Some friends of mine just went riding by the Boulder reservoir last week and said it was great.

I hope that helps. Ask me any questions and I'll tell you what I know!

I just moved out of Colorado, Colorado Springs to be exact. There is alot of good riding in that area and up in the mountains a few miles near Woodland Park. Captain Jacks is a great single track downhill ride, about 10 miles long. I always wanted to go to Buena Vista to ride but never made it there. I know there is alot of good camping in that are and have heard there is alot of good riding. Buena Vista is about 30 miles north of Salida and 2.5-3 hours from Denver.

Places we'd like to go to include: Ft. Collins area, Loveland area, Salida, Durango, Telluride, and I really want to ride the Fruita Trail. We want to do it all in a short period of time, but any tips or things to avoid would help!

Don't know if you have calculated in driving times, but in case you are not familiar:

Denver-Boulder - about 1 hour, depending on from where to where (freeway, sometimes heavy traffic)

Ft. Collins to Durango - a good 9-10 hours or so partly freeway, and depending on how you go 2-3 good mtn passes.

Denver to Grand Junction (Fruita) - a good 5 hours - 2 passes

Grand Junction to Telluride - I would guess about 5-6 hours, but have never driven this exact route. Lizardhead Pass, I think, Dallas Divide.

Durango - Cortez to Telluride - 3-4= hours. Haven't driven it but have bikes it. Be sure to fo through Rico if you can - an amazing and picturesque little town.

Anyway, for folks not used to mountains, some of the passes can be a little scary - the two lane types. A couple of summers ago on Monarch Pass, I saw a woman from Texas absoultely frozen going down a grade (you could safely go 35-45) at 15 mph, scared to death. Colorado places very few guard rails - even next to 1,000 foot drop offs, so snow can be pushed over easily in winter time.

Anyway, have fun. Almost all of the mtns have fire closures - absolutely no open flames, even Coleman stoves. Bring sandwiches.

.

a coiuple of links you might find useful:

http://www.trailcentral.com/trails/

http://www.bikepaths.com/

http://resourceanalysis.com/trails.html

Haven't checked these links in a while, but perhaps they might be useful.

Thanks for the info guys and the links too DnvrFox.

The whole no open flames thing is a bit of a downer, but that's life!

Thanks also for the driving times, that's about what I suspected.

The plan at the moment is to come into Denver (we're driving) stay with my buddy and then head down toward Salida, down the Durango, up to Telluride, over to Grand Junction and then back to Denver. Don't know if we'll have time for all of that, plus riding, but we gotta start somewhere!

If you think of anything else let me know!

BTW, If anyone know of a Construction Manager Project Manager position available out there in CO let me know as well. This trip is serving a dual purpose, vacation/relocation search.

Thanks
L8R