Old 03-09-19, 05:18 PM
  #23  
mev
bicycle tourist
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Posts: 2,267

Bikes: Trek 520, Lightfoot Ranger, Trek 4500

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One useful pointer:
- The Colorado Bicycling Map showing rough traffic counts and shoulders: https://www.codot.gov/programs/bikep...bicycling-maps

For calibration purposes, TxDot also publishes traffic count studies, the last one that included San Antonio was in 2015 - https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/d...rban-2015.html I think you will find on average the shoulder+traffic situation easier in the CO mountains than what you find in Central TX.

For that reason, my recommendations on routes would be biased more towards interesting places to pass on your travels - since I do think you'll find reasonable (perhaps not optimal) routes between many of the spaces in-between. A slightly eclectic list of some I'd put on my recommend list (not sure if you'd get one route to visit all):
* The Great Sand Dunes is a cool place to visit and get some time to go out on the dunes. There is an nice hot springs/camping place close by near Hooper.
* Timberline is ~11,300ft +/- so it can make a difference where/how you cross the passes - since you'll still see trees near top of a lower pass like Hoosier Pass (~11,500ft) but clearly be above the trees on a higher pass like Independence Pass (~12,100ft), Trail Ridge (~12,200ft) or Loveland Pass (~12,000ft). Personally I like getting up higher for some of the views. Most of these passes have some long grades but aren't particularly steep. The official Colorado Highway Map has a section that lists grades for primary paved passes, perhaps also can be found online. Keebler Pass isn't all paved but is reasonable gravel road and among my more favorite lower passes.
* Resort towns; good and bad here. Accommodations are sometimes slightly more expensive, but there are also interesting things going on in the area. Personally I like little towns that aren't resorts (e.g. Paonia, Walden, Montrose) more than the biggest resort towns.
* If you are late in the summer and want to mix hiking/biking there are possibilities of climbing a 14er. These are going to vary from fairly easy ones (two you could bike to the top) to some that are more technical or longer.
* A few spots that are sometimes more off the beaten path, some interesting/some less so:
- Mesa Verde near Cortez has some impressive ruins. Slightly lower/warmer; and a fair amount of climbing to get in/out of the park.
- The westernmost parts of the state have some more canyons/mesas type region. Colorado National Monument has some fun riding with a moderate amount of climbing. Grand Mesa (~10000ft) has some longer grades from surrounding areas (e.g. +5000ft).
- Limited stakes gambling in Cripple Creek, Blackhawk and Central City; IMO a weird mix that took old mining towns and suddenly injected a bunch of new money.
- Rafting, particularly on Arkansas River; hot spots including near Buena Vista and then further downriver through the Royal Gorge; also some on the Colorado River at several points.

I grew up in CO and spent about half my adult life there including ~9 ride-the-rockies/BTC type rides and a lot of my own touring going closer to home (rest of time as adult in TX, OR, CA, MA). In my experience, there are multiple interesting routes - so I'd also suggest finding some of the stopover points that look interesting for what you might want to see/do/visit.
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