# Where to ride in the Rockies?



## rcnute (Dec 21, 2004)

If one were to travel to the Rockies for a week of riding in the mountains, where would he go?


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

*If you're in the Boulder area*



rcnute said:


> If one were to travel to the Rockies for a week of riding in the mountains, where would he go?


I usually ride up to Ward. The easy way is to go on 36 and go west on Left Hand Canyon. The hard way is to take Lee road. I usually take Lee road because it's supposely compared to L’Alpe d’Huez (I can't make the comparsion since I've never ridden L’Alpe d’Huez but the some of the locals have compared). The only difference is that L’Alpe d’Huez is couple thousand feet higher. I also ride my mtn bike up on Flagstaff road to trail head of Walker Ranch. Again, IMO Flagstaff road grade is comparable to Lee road. Walker Ranch is a great local Mtn. bike trail. Good Luck!


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## swimbikerun75 (Mar 25, 2002)

*Safe roads in the area?*



WAZCO said:


> I usually ride up to Ward. The easy way is to go on 36 and go west on Left Hand Canyon. The hard way is to take Lee road. I usually take Lee road because it's supposely compared to L’Alpe d’Huez (I can't make the comparsion since I've never ridden L’Alpe d’Huez but the some of the locals have compared). The only difference is that L’Alpe d’Huez is couple thousand feet higher. I also ride my mtn bike up on Flagstaff road to trail head of Walker Ranch. Again, IMO Flagstaff road grade is comparable to Lee road. Walker Ranch is a great local Mtn. bike trail. Good Luck!


I know that Boulder is overflowing with cyclists, and the awareness of the locals as to where they can expect to see a cyclist is probably as good as it gets, but what about the tourists in the area?

My wife and I were driving up Flagstaff Rd. this weekend while checking out the area, and she told me the the only way she would support me riding up that (no shoulder, tight curves, short visibility distance) is if Tyler Hamilton himself invited me for a ride with him.

Do you guys tend to not worry about roads with no shoulder as long as the general speed of the road is slow? Still plenty of options in the area with wide shoulders, but it seems if I ever want to get a ride into the foothills and mountains, I'm going to have to ride in the lane and pray that all of the drivers see me.


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## Bocephus Jones II (Oct 7, 2004)

swimbikerun75 said:


> I know that Boulder is overflowing with cyclists, and the awareness of the locals as to where they can expect to see a cyclist is probably as good as it gets, but what about the tourists in the area?
> 
> My wife and I were driving up Flagstaff Rd. this weekend while checking out the area, and she told me the the only way she would support me riding up that (no shoulder, tight curves, short visibility distance) is if Tyler Hamilton himself invited me for a ride with him.
> 
> Do you guys tend to not worry about roads with no shoulder as long as the general speed of the road is slow? Still plenty of options in the area with wide shoulders, but it seems if I ever want to get a ride into the foothills and mountains, I'm going to have to ride in the lane and pray that all of the drivers see me.


I'm not crazy about riding Flagstafff on the weekends for the reasons you suggest, but if you go early you should be OK. Drivers tend to expect cyclist here more than in other places so it probably isn't as dangerous as it looks. For a less-travelled climb try Sunshine Canyon. If you can ride some gravel you can go all the way to Gold Hill and come back down 4 Mile Canyon. That is a fun route and definately less travelled than Flagstaff. Tyler has a place up there somewhere off Sunshine so you never know--you might see him. Basically go West at Mapleton street and you'll get to it. Then outside of Gold Hill come back down 4 mile Canyon back to Boulder. It will dump you out on Canyon st.


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## WAZCO (Sep 16, 2004)

*Tyler is not know to be the safest rider.*



swimbikerun75 said:


> I know that Boulder is overflowing with cyclists, and the awareness of the locals as to where they can expect to see a cyclist is probably as good as it gets, but what about the tourists in the area?
> 
> My wife and I were driving up Flagstaff Rd. this weekend while checking out the area, and she told me the the only way she would support me riding up that (no shoulder, tight curves, short visibility distance) is if Tyler Hamilton himself invited me for a ride with him.
> 
> Do you guys tend to not worry about roads with no shoulder as long as the general speed of the road is slow? Still plenty of options in the area with wide shoulders, but it seems if I ever want to get a ride into the foothills and mountains, I'm going to have to ride in the lane and pray that all of the drivers see me.


Some of biking buddies have ridden w/ Tyler and claims he's not the safest rider. 

Although Flagstaff has no shoulders the traffic is slow due to high grade. However, I don't recommend riding it weekend or during rush hours. I only ride Flagstaff to get to Walker Ranch w/ mtn. bike but I've actually never ridden it w/ my road bike. Left Hand Canyon has little shoulders but drivers are more aware of cyclist since it's heavy bike traffic. Lee road doesn't have shoulders either but again it's poluted w/ cyclists and high grade help slows down traffic. I've only ridden it in the weekend and I don't recall any bad experience.


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## theBreeze (Jan 7, 2002)

*Boulder is not actually IN the Rockies.*



rcnute said:


> If one were to travel to the Rockies for a week of riding in the mountains, where would he go?


But on the east edge of the Front Range. Head anywhere further west into the mountians and yo uwill get less traffic (to some extent)

If you want actual mountain passes kind of riding you could head up into Leadville, Vail, Faiplay, Salida, Buena Vista, Gunnison or along the I-75 corridor. The area around Vail/Eagle and up to Breckenridge has routes over several passes. Pick a central location and do day trips.

To find routes google "Ride the Rockies" and "Bicycle Tour of Colorado" and see if you can find some of their past routes. They will give you ideas about distances and elevation gains.


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## carver (Aug 15, 2002)

*Agree with thebreeze*



rcnute said:


> If one were to travel to the Rockies for a week of riding in the mountains, where would he go?


checking out ride the rockies routes is good. infinite ways to do loops or out and backs.

in summit you can go all directions - west to copper, leadville, vail, east up to loveland pass, north to kremmling and ride over gore pass, many options.

in vail - west to eagle/glenwood, north (from wolcott actually) towards steamboat, east over vail pass to copper (or do the leadville triangle), or south up tennessee pass to leadville.

mtn biking - holy moly riding everywhere

grand county (winter park / granby) - ride over to estes, west to kremmling, south over berthoud.

salida has routes in all directions.


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## JPRider14 (Feb 9, 2004)

rcnute said:


> If one were to travel to the Rockies for a week of riding in the mountains, where would he go?


All those replies kinda made me think us Coloradoans are a little self-centered, eh? I did a stage race in Utah this year (just south of Salt Lake City) and it was awesome. Cheap hotels, great terrain, smooth roads. I'm thinking there is more to the Rockies than just Colorado. Toss in the "Snowies" in Wyoming west of Laramie to the list of beautiful areas, and quite probably less crowded.


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## theBreeze (Jan 7, 2002)

Heck, even Canada has the Rockies.

and Montana and south here to New Mexico. Lots of options.

I'm hitting Utah in September, can't wait to try something different.


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## cbass94 (May 19, 2004)

> All those replies kinda made me think us Coloradoans are a little self-centered, eh? I did a stage race in Utah this year (just south of Salt Lake City) and it was awesome. Cheap hotels, great terrain, smooth roads. I'm thinking there is more to the Rockies than just Colorado. Toss in the "Snowies" in Wyoming west of Laramie to the list of beautiful areas, and quite probably less crowded.


Yep, I gotta put in my two cents for Utah also! Love the riding here. Most of hte canyon roads are in really good condition and drivers are pretty courteous towards cyclists, especially right around Salt Lake City. 

I have to put in a little plug about my new website, it's just starting out, but I hope to include most, if not all of Utah as well as neighboring states if possible. Right now I just have the Wasatch Front (Near Salt Lake City) section up and working, but it is growing everyday. If anybody has any rides that they like in the area, please submit them! Eventually, I hope that it is a great reference for people that both live here and visit here to find good places to ride that match their abilityl

www.intermountaincycling.com

JPRider,
Was it the Thanksgiving point Stage race that you did? That's a great course with terrain for everybody. This year was only it's second year and it looks like it's here to stay (I hope).


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## JPRider14 (Feb 9, 2004)

cbass94 said:


> JPRider,Was it the Thanksgiving point Stage race that you did? That's a great course with terrain for everybody. This year was only it's second year and it looks like it's here to stay (I hope).


Yes it was. I loved the courses (not that I saw the TT course) and the area was awesome. It wasn't without it's bumps (pace car went one way, marshal sent us another, leading us off-course; awards ceremony took forever, discrepancies in the results all weekend long) but the people were great and I'll most likely be back next year.


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## cbass94 (May 19, 2004)

Glad to hear you liked it for the most part. Hopefully as the race matures, they will work out some of those bugs, hehe. Hope to see you next year!


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