gcottay

Please provide details. Especially since many environmentalists are also cyclists and since few MUPS are in private hands, this seems exceedingly unlikely.

lphilpot

Wow.... that's really nice! My town has a grand total of about 3,500 feet of bike path, no MUPs and definitely no scenery like that!

DnvrFox

It is great. And, I can go north on the same Cherry Creek Trail, and in 7 miles, be in Cherry Creek State Park, which has a lake and a 9 mile trail around it, and from there I can go 20 miles to downtown Denver, and north or south 25 miles or go further west 20 miles to Golden or Morrison, to Bear Creek Lake City Park (with a lake), or, from Cherry Creek SP, I can go east for many miles or from my house, I can go directly west to Chatfield State Park and Waterton Canyon, taking me up into the foothills along the Platte River, and north and south along the Platte River.

Whew - that is too much. Here is a somewhat dated map, as many more trails have been built since this map was made. Many have been connected, and extended south and north - off the map - from my house, which is the trail described in this thread. (My house is in the lower right hand corner). Many trails are very scenic, following streams and creeks. You can go 40 miles on some trails without ever intersecting one roadway.

GoGranny

Great photos! Now there are even more places I have to visit......

xizangstan

Hey, Denver - Do you ride all the way down the canyon to the old Castlewood Dam? There's a large stone dam there that broke and started a huge flood that devastated Denver back in the early 1930's. That was at the beginning of the Dust Bowl days, and apparently rain was sparse, but when it did come down it came down in floods. The old dam couldn't hold a heavy rain storm and the center broke out. There used to be a nice, large reservoir there. I knew the man who owned the entire canyon, State Senator Joe Winkler. Nice man, gave the land to the state for a state park.

DnvrFox

The road on the west entrance turns to dirt/corduroy right after the entrance station, and I don't ride that.. The east entrance is off of Parker Rd, and I don't ride P Rd, either. The broken dam is there, but I would have to walk.

I remember Winkler.

jbman100

Yes that what I thought. I don't like Scott Road because it just rattles the heck out of me. That plus the ride behind the swimming pool on dirt doesn't float my boat either. My favorite ride which I haven't done this year is the CC path south starting at Orchard and Parker Rd to C470, C470 to Chatfield, Chatfield to REI, REI to CC Park and CC Park back to Orchard Rd and Parker Rd where I get on the path. Roughly 75 miles and only have to cross a few streets on the C470 leg. I do wish that they would complete the path out of CC Park to hook up again heading south at Arapahoe Rd.

My commute is from Orchard and Parker Rd to 14th and Broadway downtown. Bike path all the way till 10 and Speer and then side roads to work.

DnvrFox

Don't go there. Stay on Schoolhouse Road to Bayou Gulch Road, catch the sidewalk, go across the Pradera Bridge and catch the CC Trail at the end of the bridge to your right. I don't like that one section, either, and a friend of mine got injured there.

As far as Scott Road goes, it doesn't bother me one bit. Maybe it's my Lemond?

John_V 

Went and rode my normal wilderness park MUP today after work. The park name is Flatwoods and has a very nice 7 mile loop with a 2 mile service road on one end and a 1 mile service road on the other. The entire ride from entrance to entrance is 13 miles. Here are some photos from today's ride that add to the photos that I posted on Monday. The photos certainly aren't as nice as what some of you guys have been posting but the Florida riders will definitely recognize the scenery.





This bridge has been under water all week. Finally got to a point where you can cross it.


The photos were taken between 4:30 pm and 5:30 pm. As you can see, I was pretty much the only rider there.

GoGranny

As a newbie rider, I sometimes feel self-conscious about my little 5-to-7 daily rides. Now that I've seen pictures of your after-work ride, I feel better.

Though my longer rides are mostly in Western Maryland and I've posted that as my location, I actually live in the West Virginia hills. My daily routes all consist of constant ups and downs as I roll over the limestone ridges of WV's Eastern Panhandle.

I can't quite wrap my mind around the concept of a bike path that is paved and goes on for 15 miles with no elevation change. Come on up to WV some time, and I'll show you a real after-work workout!

AzTallRider

Are you really narrow-mided enough to believe someone isn't enjoying a ride or MUP because they might be in the drops, going fast? Or that a roadie is incapable of enjoying the scenery?

Retro Grouch 

Since the poster hasn't responded I suspect he's referring to mountain bike trails. There are several cases of wilderness hikeing trails being closed to any mechanized, including mountain bike, use. The objection is that mountain bikes leave a continuous wheel track on the downhills which contributes to erosion.

John_V 

I would love to come up there and ride. Our plans when we retire is to go all over the US and ride. But for now, that is what I have to ride at. It actually isn't that bad as you can really get up some speed when you really want to.

BTW, we do have rolling hills in FL but they are north of where I am (around the Orlando area are the better hills) and it's a bit of a ride. There is a MUP that is north of me, but not as far north as Orlando, that has some nice rolling hills. I ride that every once in a while when I train for charity rides. Most of our charity rides are around Orlando.

oilman_15106

Jessuss, you MUP looks better than 99% of the roads here in Pa.

I have a MUP related story. Got my 5 year old granddaughter out on our bikes and did 3 miles! She still has to warn me when she is about to stop abruptly when in front. Since the wife ran over one of the training wheels with her car the kid had no choice but to learn to ride without them. It is wonderful to see a kid discover the joy of riding.

xizangstan

I was in California recently, playing a role in a movie. We flew up to Oakland and San Francisco from the Burbank airport, for a couple days of shooting. I was amazed how many people there are in San Francisco, cranking along on their bikes, up and down those crazy steep hills all over town. Bicyclists everywhere! Wow, those people are really in great shape!

GoGranny

Nothing like San Francisco in my immediate area, thank goodness. I'd be walking up those hills.

John_V 

This area is actually owned by Southwest FLorida Water Management District and is leased to the county specifically for the use as parks. It's a flood control area and a well field. Both the county and SwiftMud (as they are known) maintain the parks and the road. My understanding is that the road was actually a shell road for them to get to the pump stations and they paved it as part of the lease agreement with the county. It's a great place to ride but I must agree that it would be a little bit better if it had some hills.

CrankyFranky

Wow, Denver - the trail system looks GREAT so far... and more to come? Sounds as if the good people of Colorado have their priorities in order!

I'd be a happy camper indeed if I had ready access to this type of environment. There's nothing like being able to boom along surrounded by such beautiful scenery, and no cars or trucks... A few weeks of 40-milers of that, and I'd finally be in shape enough to handle some good climbs! You're a lucky man!

... the Windy City looks pretty good too!

Let the naysayers grumble- more MUPs are better than less!

DnvrFox

Well, some would argue that our school system is woefully underfunded, and getting more so, and ditto with Higher Education and social services. But, who am I to quibble?

All of our lottery profits - after winning and administration - go into the open space/trail/park efforts, and many counties and some cities have a taxpayer-voted open space tax.

Retro Grouch 

Smart move really, ear mark that lottery money for something we can see.

We earmarked our lottery money to education and that's where it religiously goes. Then the politicians took the money that USED to go to education and transferred it to other stuff. Net result to education is zero and we have no way of knowing where the lottery money really went - probably to pay the Lt. governor's travel and hotel bill.

DnvrFox

https://www.coloradolottery.com/GIVIN...HE-MONEY-GOES/

"Every time you visit a park, walk on a trail, or paddle a kayak course, you’re seeing Colorado Lottery dollars at work. More than $2.2 billion has been returned to the state for parks, recreation, open space, conservation education and wildlife projects since the Lottery started in 1983.. . . "

John_V 

Sounds similar to what happened here in Florida. The Lottery was voted in on the premises that it would go for education. However, our politicians figured a good way to give it to education and still pocket more money. If a school board budget was 5 million dollars, the school district would get 2 million from the lottery and 2 million would be taken away from their budget. So as far as the politicians are concerned, they made good on their promise to use the lottery money for education.

George

I sailed on that lake front for 23 years and I rode motorcycles along the lake front all the time.