COME TO LIFE | Cycling & Mountain Biking Ways to Bike Colorado Use Great Mapping Head to local visitor centers to get directions to hot biking spots. Durango , Telluride , Steamboat Springs , Pagosa Springs , Fruita and Crested Butte are all spots with trail networks so vast and varied that a map is a downright necessity. For much more, download the COTREX (Colorado Trail Explorer) app. It takes ample amounts of blacktop, singletrack, sunshine and friendly people to create a bikers’ paradise like ours. Explore Town Connects For starters try the Boulder-to-Golden or Boulder-to-Westminster routes, Wolcott to Steamboat Springs , Las Animas to Lamar , Aspen to Glenwood Springs , or Fort Collins to Mishawaka Amphitheatre . Summit County paths connect Dillon , Breck , Copper , Frisco , Keystone and more. There’s also the Grand Junction to Palisade “fruit loop,” which winds through rows of peach trees and grapevines. Then consider tackling the Palisade Plunge , which connects the town with the top of the Grand Mesa along 32 miles of sweet, advanced, backcountry singletrack. Bike the Byways Collect the 26 long-distance Bike the Byways rides. Start at Denver ’s South Platte River Trail and work your way to the Lariat Loop before tackling mountain rides like Top of the Rockies in Leadville and finishing off with the bluffs and buttes of Dinosaur Diamond north of Grand Junction . dtdapps.coloradodot.info/bike NEAR CARBONDALE Go for the Gold! Colorado has more gold-or platinum-rated bicycle communities than all but one other state, according to the League of American Bicyclists. Boulder and Fort Collins get platinum rankings. • Gold: Breckenridge , Durango , Crested Butte , Carbondale , Aspen , Steamboat Springs • Silver: Colorado Springs , Denver, Gunnison , Vail , Summit County , Golden , Arvada , Silverthorne , Glenwood Springs , Longmont • Bronze: Castle Rock , Greeley , Fruita , Grand Junction , Pueblo , Lakewood , Montrose . Speaking of gold ... The Aspen Snowmass/ Roaring Fork Valley Gold-Level IMBA Ride Center, which includes terrain in Basalt, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs , is one of only six in the world. Ride Our Events Look for large events like Ride the Rockies (June), the Leadville Trail 100 MTB (Aug.), the Colorado Classic (Aug.), as well as dozens of smaller events. Longtime favorites like the Steamboat Stinger (Aug.), Breck Epic (Aug.), the Fort Collins Tour de Fat (Aug.), Salida Bike Fest (Sept.) and Pedal the Plains (Sept.) are joined by newer events like the Grand Junction Grand Enduro (June), Pikes Peak Cycling Hill Climb (Aug.), Venus de Miles in Lyons (Aug.) and SBT GRVL (Aug.) in Steamboat Springs . COLORADO.com/Events 70 1-800-COLORADO
Colorado Official State Vacation Guide 2022: Page 70
