ICU Doc

I will be in Denver in a few weeks for business meetings, and will have a couple extra days to myself afterwards during which I was thinking about heading out to colorado springs and/or boulder. a) for my time in denver, any suggestions about 30-40 mile rides worth looking into, b) would anyone have suggestions for my time in either colorado springs and/or boulder with regards to 50+ mile rides?

Thanks for any input.

mje

In Denver, ride upstream along the Cherry Creek, South Platte, or Bear Creek bike paths. Each goes to a reservoir in a park where you can ride a while before returning the same way you came. If it hasn't snowed for a while when you come, there are great rides up the canyons from Boulder, like lefthand or st vrain.

Iowegian

valygrl has posted lots of good information here about rides out of Boulder. In general, you can just head north out of town and pick your roads. It's a mostly rural area and hosts many bike riders. Boulder in general is extremely bike-friendly with MUP paths and bike lanes all over town. The canyons west of Boulder are fun too but spring can be snowy here and the roads can have icy spots in the shade until quite late so ask about conditions before heading up or head out to the plains.

AltheCyclist

Ride to Fort Collins! It's about 50 miles from Denver. After you get here, you probably won't want to leave so don't worry about riding back.....

ICU Doc

Thanks for all the ideas. Anyone else? The more ideas and options, the better

jdswitters

Usually not a tourist destination but you can drive to Greeley faster from Denver than you can get to Colo springs. From there you can take the poudre river trail, 40 miles out and back from Island grove park. Very scenic but not very fast.

Then drive another 30 minutes and head to the Bellvue Bean in Bellvue, Colorado for coffee. Get on another 12 miles of river trail and end up at New Belguim brewery, call ahead for a tour slot, they are busy but free. Right down the road is Fort Collins Brewery and Odells. Take the same route back to Bellvue except come over Bingham hill, which drops you right into the coffee shop and is a pretty good climb and descent to end on.

Then buy some colorado lottery tickets and imagine how cool it will be when they finally get around to connecting the two trails together.

valygrl

Hey! Thanks Iowegian I started to post here, and got side tracked.

Edit: this is all Boulder area:

If the weather is good and you like to climb, I'd recommend the Lefthand Canyon (LHC) - Peak to Peak - S. St. Vrain loop. This is about 5000' climbing most of it in the 6-8% range but the last mile up to Ward is pretty steep (11-14%)

https://goo.gl/maps/nDHx

You can make that longer by extending into the plains, any of the paved roads between Lyons/Hygiene/Boulder are good. If you want some climbing, but not that much & not that steep, you can turn off LHC and go to Jamestown (store) and then back out, and add some farm roads to get more miles. Lee Hill and Olde Stage are also good connectors from north boulder to LHC, they are both quite a bit steeper than LHC.

Do check the weather forecast in Ward, it can be really different from Boulder and it's not unusual for it to be very cold & even rain/snow up there when it's nice down here. Even if the forecast is good, take some extra clothes for the descent - jacket & long finger gloves minimum.

The loop is good in either direction, I prefer descending S. St. Vrain because the pavement is so spectcularly good & it's not as steep & curvy, so you can really carve the descent. And obviously, you can do part of either of these climbs and just turn around when you've had enough.

If you want a lot less climbing, (map below) make your way north, wending your way to 75th st north, past Hygiene, across Hwy 66 and up towards Carter Lake. you can either go up to the lake, and over the back side back down and loop back, or keep going up to Masonville or Horsetooth Reservoir in Ft. Collins.

https://goo.gl/maps/GfPa

The above is not really meant to be a route per say, but indicates some good roads. All of the yellow roads in the lower loop of this are also good, so you can make lots of different length rides by doing squares around the farmlands north of Boulder. Hwy 66 is fine too (huge shoulder) but the roads a bit south are lovely quiet farm roads. The not-yellow roads in that loop are dirt, and so is 55th north of Jay, even though it doesn't show that.

If you want short & sweet and are tired of going north, you can go to Eldo: https://goo.gl/maps/tv7M

And finally, the short-but-hard in town hills are Flagstaff (all the way to the top, ouch) and Sunshine. Both end in dirt, so out-and-back or get adventurous and find the dirt connectors.

The only westbound road I'd say definitely stay away from is Hwy 119, Boulder Canyon, which carries all the traffic and doesn't have a shoulder.

This just scratches the surface, but it should get you through a few days.

ICU Doc

Climbing is good. In fact, prefer it to descending on unfamiliar roads, so the LHC route sounds great

AltheCyclist

There are a couple cycling events upcoming in Colorado:
https://www.echelongranfondo.org/fort_collins/
https://quiznosprochallenge.com/

Check out the routes for some good rides. I really like the Rist Canyon ride (near Fort Collins).

valygrl

Yes, Rist is awesome!

Also, for climbing closer to Denver, from Golden go up Golden Gate Canyon to the Peak to Peak then down Coal Creek Canyon, return on 93. 55 miles 5500'

thorsteno

Here's a place to look in the springs icu doc.
https://www.bikesprings.org/routes.html

ICU Doc

outstanding site!!

DnvrFox

General map of bike trails in the Denver area. Generally no road crossings - IOW, you can go for 40 miles+ on some trails without crossing a road. Trails are generally cement and well maintained.

fenny

Do you want to do some climbs? If so, how long of a ride would you like?

From the Golden area:

- Lookout Mountain / Hwy 40 loop is about 15(?) miles
- Lariat Loop is 40 miles, it does the above + some backcountry + Red Rocks
- Want to climb a 14er? If you're going to be here in summer you can try Mt Evans, the highest paved road in North America.

ICU Doc

I am definitely looking to climb. Don't have a lot here in the NYC area. Probably 50-80 miles after my meetings are over.

Shimagnolo

Magnolia Road.

valygrl

^^^ Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

ICU Doc

Hmmmmmm....and in the interest of disclosure......

valygrl

Magnolia is the steepest road in the county. Something like 16-18% for 2 miles, then it levels off to 8-10 for another 4.

DnvrFox

I would suggest you might want to figure the altitude and differences in O2 into your ride ideas. I believe NY city is about 0 elevation, or so. Perhaps you have successfully ridden higher altitudes previously with no problems? Some folks are bothered, some are not. Just a thought.

Shimagnolo

Going from memory:
From Bldr Cyn Rd to Nederland via Magnolia was ~12 miles.
The first 5 miles is paved, with *average* grade of 12%, and lots of sustained 16% sections.
The 10% sections are where you rest.

The remaining 7 miles of unpaved is ~7%, but seems flat after what you have just experienced.
And that unpaved section is possibly the smoothest unpaved road I've ever seen.

You never get surprised by traffic from behind;
You hear them coming from a mile away, because they are running wide-open-throttle in a low gear.

AltheCyclist

If you're feeling touristy, and want a less intense (but still decent climb): try the Thompson Canyon route: Loveland area to Estes Park (home of Rocky Mountain National Park). General map is here
Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park is the biggest tourist attraction in Colorado. Estes Pk. is touristy town, you can grab a bite after your ride up, check out the Park, and then it's all downhill back to Loveland (round trip of about 60 miles). For a trailhead on US34, just west of Loveland there's a gift shop called the "Dam Store" - if you tell the owner that you're parking at the store, he usually will let you leave your car for the day (maybe buy something to reciprocate). Elevation gain of the ride is from 5000 to about 7800 feet but nothing too intense. If you need more challenge, take the spur through Glen Haven.

ICU Doc

thanks for all the input. i think i should be okay with the elevation, but clearly i need to see for myself. i've ridden ashville, nc up to mount mitchell a couple times, the highlands around tucson, and the mountains of italy. never colorado though.......

DnvrFox

Looks like you will do great.

Just in case you are not familiar with the Denver metro area, be advised it is flar as a pancake, and it is only when you get to the foothills a few miles west that you get any hills/mtns. But, you already knew that!

Have fun.