John, I can speak highly of the Cripple Creek area for trains and dinosaurs. The other areas may have similar things, I don't know. Here are links to some of what the area offers:
World renowned Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center in Woodland Park: This place is amazing, their tours fantastic. They are the world's forefront of private paleontology. Touch dino poo, see dino's not found anywhere else, etc. http://www.rmdrc.com Ride the Cripple Creek/Victor Narrow Gauge Railroad: http://cripplecreekrailroad.com Florescent Fossil Beds: https://www.nps.gov/flfo/index.htm Biking the Gold Belt: http://www.goldbeltbyway.com Phantom Canyon is likely the best bet. You'll get amazing views, ride over trestles, tunnels through rock cañon walls, a wee creek, interpretive signs along the way. It's either up or down (3-4% grade, old mining stuff at the turn off near Cripple Creek, so plan accordingly), Figure at least twice to thrice as long up whatever you ride down (easily turn around wherever, but the first tunnel makes a good round trip turn around spot for the distances you mention). You'll want tires wider than you took on your fist S24O as loose gravel is common and a hot dry day makes it looser. Keep in mind Cripple Creek is a gambling town, though not a seedy one. Also, I do not recommend biking the paved roads coming into Cripple Creek from the North (67 from the NE and Florescent Rd/Teller County 1 from the NW -- these are great to drive, but too much traffic for biking). Bike Phantom Cañon, Gold Camp, and possibly Shelf Road (one day on each, as any loop would be longer than you mentioned). Cañon City offers modern train rides through Royal Gorge and has some trains in the parks and a nice bikepath along the Arkansas River. You could also make a combo bike ride/drive from Denver to Cripple Creek by going to Deckers and biking some of the river side roads there. Two maps that I use are: Trail Illustrated Pikes Peak/Cañon City #137 and Deckers/Rampart Range #135 With abandon, Patrick On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 10:16:51 PM UTC-6, John Stowe wrote: > > Thanks to both of you! We haven't booked anything outside of Denver yet so > the mountain towns are definitely a possibility and very appealing. As you > say, we would get more out of leaving Denver that way. > > Route length/difficulty: My wife is OK with 20 mile outings, but starts to > balk at a ride over 30 miles, and I don't think she's done more than 40 in > a day. Given the altitude I would probably have a harder time than usual > coaxing her beyond 25-30. I am in worse shape than I was when I did > centuries a few years back, but apparently I can still manage 24 miles > "fully loaded" with camping gear and child (see the S24O ride report I just > posted). Most of the riding we do on a regular basis (for transportation, > mostly) is near the tidal part of the Potomac, so we're definitely > unaccustomed to "real" climbing, but we're game to try some mountain riding > in manageable doses. Dirt should be OK as long as it's not technical > singletrack. > > Do you know if any of the railroad routes have historic stations/old > engines/etc. that we could "stumble across" and check out? Thanks to the > success of Thomas the Tank Engine, every 3 year old is a train buff these > days. I would like to find something dinosaur-related to check out too, on > bike or off, since he'll eat that up too. > > Thanks, > John > > > On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 4:12:24 PM UTC-4, Deacon Patrick wrote: >> >> Awesome, John! Whatever you end up doing will be an amazing adventure. >> Some things to think about from someone who grew up in Ft. Collins, spend a >> fair bit of time in Boulder, has lived in Denver, Colorado Springs, and now >> a wee mountain town a bit to the west: >> >> -- Why not go to a mountain town instead of Ft. Collins or Boulder? They >> are not in the mountains, and so if you are relocating, you might as well >> go into the mountains. Grin. Doing this would mean you could bike out your >> front door and try various routes, at least in many places. It would put >> you at a higher altitude, however, so you'd need to allow for that. >> -- Mountain towns easily accessible and within 90 minutes of Denver (at >> least they were in the early 90's when I was in college): Breckenridge, >> Fairplay, Cripple Creek/Victor (2 hours away?) Estes Park, and Grand Lake >> (several other towns in the vicinity as well), each with great Forest >> Service roads and excellent biking opportunities (check with the local bike >> store for route ideas. I'm less sure of Estes and Grand Lake and their >> biking opportunities, because much of their surrounding land in Rocky >> Mountain National Park, so investigate that if you are going there). >> Breckenridge and Fairplay both have various dirst roads up mountain passes >> that are amazing to bike and Boreas Pass out of Breckenridge is old >> railroad grade so 3-4% grade max I think (others are too, as narrow gauge >> railroads became dirt roads in many cases. I just don't remember the >> origins of Mosquito Pass or others. Out of Cripple Creek, loads of old >> railroad options: Old Stage Coach road, Phantom Cañon Road, Shelf Road (not >> sure if it was a railroad). >> -- There is amazing family friendly riding connecting the towns along the >> tributaries of the N. Platte around Deckers/Buffalo Creek and the other wee >> towns there, and that is just S.W. of Denver (285 West to Pine, then South, >> to find it on the map). It's on various paved and dirt roads, wide, with >> great river (creek by most standards) access (fishing if you want/get a >> license). Kids love stops at the river. The Colorado Trail goes through >> here for a good hiking option, and Lost Creek Wilderness is very close as >> well. >> >> Hope that helps. Ask any clarifying questions you have! >> >> With abandon, >> Patrick >> >> On Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at 11:57:24 AM UTC-6, John Stowe wrote: >>> >>> My family (me, wife and 3 year old) will be visiting my brother in >>> Denver to for two weeks at the end of August. We're thinking of staying in >>> Denver for a week and then traveling somewhere else nearby like Boulder or >>> Fort Collins to access the mountains more easily for a few days. I'd love >>> to hear from any locals about suggestions for rides (or other "must-do" >>> activities) we could do out there. As with other recent riding-with-others >>> threads, we have one reasonably strong rider and one eager but a bit less >>> ambitious rider, with the added bonus/weight of a toddler and higher >>> altitude (we're at sea level here in Alexandria VA), so I think we would >>> skew toward shorter routes with good scenery or other interesting places. >>> Breaking up a longer outing with lunch/museum/fossils/frogs/whatever would >>> help keep the toddler happy! >>> >>> The other question I hope list members can help me with is about >>> equipment: it looks like if we want to do more than about 4 days of riding, >>> it's cheaper to ship our bikes than to rent. When we've traveled with our >>> bikes before we've driven, so flying and shipping is an unknown to us. Any >>> tips or perils to watch out for would be appreciated. >>> >>> I'm especially unsure about what to do with the rear child seat, as it's >>> pretty bulky and likely won't fit in a box with one of the bikes. I think >>> my preferred solution, if I can make a connection with somebody, would be >>> to leave the seat at home and borrow a WeeHoo or other trailer bike. My son >>> is reaching the age where we are thinking about getting one of these and >>> this seems like a good opportunity to the one out. If anyone has one we >>> could borrow, or knows someone who does, I'd appreciate speaking with you >>> off-list. The rental places around us are loath to rent trailers unless >>> they're connected to one of their bikes and I imagine I'll run into a >>> similar issue out there. >>> >>> Thanks in advance, I appreciate any suggestions! >>> John >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
