Anyone here in Colorado?

[Neil]

Like this:

https://www.strava.com/activities/351267825

?

[Neil]

Also - how about this for tomorrow?

https://www.strava.com/routes/2910819

[Scuzzer]

Originally Posted by Neil

Also - how about this for tomorrow?

https://www.strava.com/routes/2910819

That's ambitious. I was going to recommend the route up 72 to Wondervu, that's our typical mountain ride on a Sunday. The roads are decent with good shoulders until you get into the mountains and then the traffic is going slow enough it doesn't feel like you're getting blown off the road when they pass.

How big of tires do you have on that bike? A really good route is to go up Flagstaff outta Boulder and then take the Gross Dam road over to 72 and bomb back down into town. The Gross Dam road is gravel but not too bad on 28s.

[herb5998]

I would stay on golden gate all the way to peak to peak, then come back on Coal creek. Last bit of GGC is steep, but the peak to peak is nice.


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[Neil]

Originally Posted by Scuzzer

That's ambitious. I was going to recommend the route up 72 to Wondervu, that's our typical mountain ride on a Sunday. The roads are decent with good shoulders until you get into the mountains and then the traffic is going slow enough it doesn't feel like you're getting blown off the road when they pass.

How big of tires do you have on that bike? A really good route is to go up Flagstaff outta Boulder and then take the Gross Dam road over to 72 and bomb back down into town. The Gross Dam road is gravel but not too bad on 28s.

Like this? https://www.strava.com/activities/349568657

25's on HED Stinger 4's did that ok.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by herb5998

I would stay on golden gate all the way to peak to peak, then come back on Coal creek. Last bit of GGC is steep, but the peak to peak is nice.


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Like this?

https://www.strava.com/routes/2910819

[herb5998]

Yep, that route also gives you multiple options to stop/refuel before you get to coal creek


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[Scuzzer]

Originally Posted by Neil

Like this:

https://www.strava.com/activities/351267825

?

Something like that. Skip the bike path on 128 coming back. That road is really wide with a good shoulder and it's mostly high speed downhill all the way back to where you're staying. I haven't checked out the new path parallel to 36 since they just recently opened it up so I don't know how good (or bad) it is.

When my neighbor and I go out for after work rides during the week we use the Big Dry Creek trail to go out to Stanley Lake and back. I hate evening rush hour on a road bike and that trail starts at our neighborhood so we hit very few roads and compete with no cars. It's not a long ride but the trail is nice with not a whole lot of foot traffic.

For another after work ride you could also check out the Coal Creek trail that starts at McCaslin in Superior and ends at CO7 east of Lafayette. You might be able to make a loop out of it by coming back on Lowell and the Sheridan Pkwy but past 136th avenue you'll be dealing with traffic again. You could also use our route back home and hit the Big Dry Creek trail. Might make a nice loop.

I can sketch something up on Ride with GPS if you're interested.

[Neil]

Hold that thought - I'm flying back to London on Monday, but I'll be back in October and will be bringing the bike back out with me, so will deffo be after routes then.

Right now I'm looking for one "final" ride for this period in Colorado, that is a) fun and b) won't kill me.

[Scuzzer]

Originally Posted by Neil

Like this? https://www.strava.com/activities/349568657

25's on HED Stinger 4's did that ok.

Yeah, except I wouldn't ride on Wadsworth if you paid me. I'd ride over to McCaslin then up to Baseline and over. I'm relatively old so crashing on gravel in the middle of nowhere is not high on the list of my priorities so I generally use 28s there. As a younger man it wouldn't have made a difference.

Nice total ride time there. I start a bit east of you but it's a 5+ hour ride for me.

[Neil]

I'd not go via Wadsworth again to be honest.

Regarding the time I was aiming to get back for lunch (which I managed), loved Flagstaff, the gravel was something of a surprise.

"I was going to recommend the route up 72 to Wondervu, that's our typical mountain ride on a Sunday." Have you got a link for this that you could share?

[Scuzzer]

Originally Posted by Neil

Right now I'm looking for one "final" ride for this period in Colorado, that is a) fun and b) won't kill me.

Define "kill"... Looks like your last Golden Gate route is the winner then.

Just curious, does the altitude hit you hard when you first ride here? How long does it take to acclimate? My neighbor has some middle aged (40 to 50-ish) business partners in the UK that would like to combine a business trip and some cycling in the near future so we we're wondering how hard we should push it in the mountains.

[Neil]

That's an interesting one - last time I came out here I went running for the week, then rode that Golden Gate loop on the penultimate day, and the altitude definitely hit me.

This time round the first day I was here (Saturday) we hiked up Greys - so sea level to 14,000+ feet in 24 hours.

That was "interesting", at the top - I found my balance was a lot better if I kept moving, if I stayed still then I got rather dizzy.

I then rode that Flagstaff/Gross Dam loop the day after, and didn't really notice any altitude impact other than being down on power - no shortness of breath etc that I'd had the last trip.

I'm definitely not putting out the power that I can at sea level, but I'm not noticing the altitude this time.

Of course, hiking up Greys may not have been the cause, but it's a possibility.

I'm 39 btw, 40 in May next year.

[Scuzzer]

Originally Posted by Neil

Have you got a link for this that you could share?

It's pretty much your route up 72 (Wondervu is just a small town on top of the climb) we just turn around and bomb home since we rarely have more than 4 hours to schedule a Sunday morning ride. A slightly longer version that I have planned but haven't done yet is this:

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1100768

My neighbor won't ride gravel with less than 32s due to some poor route planning and lost skin on a gravel ride west of the Wall a few years back. He also doesn't like riding on the road with 32s so he won't commit to doing this with me.

[Neil]

That route is set to private - I cannae see it I'm afraid.