Trying to persuade family to take a holiday in Colorado this summer.

Obviously I want to go somewhere where there is great biking but need to bear in mind this is a family holiday!

My heart is saying Fruita but in reality I am thinking Boulder or Colorado Springs.

Need somewhere where I can pop out on the bike for a couple of hours pretty close by ( ideally straight from the door) but needs to be near touristy stuff – hot springs, rivers, places to visit etc. Plus ideally not more than a few hours drive from an airport I can get a direct flight to (Denver presumably?).

Not a downhiller but love technical riding, singletrack and happy to haul my arse up big hills so need to satisfy this plus add a good dose of scenery.

Anyone done this kind of holiday before or got any experiences or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

We went to Colorado just before I started biking so didn’t check out any riding whilst there but had a class holiday driving around and seeing the sites and did a small bit of trekking. We stayed in a place just up the road from Vail called Minturn in a cabin the B&B (The Minturn Inn) had at the river side. There is probably loads of local advice to be had here as well:

MTBR Forum Col. Front Range
MTBR Forum Col. Western Slope

The holiday did involve a lot of driving to visit the hot springs, Denver etc so that might not suit but the scenary was beautiful.

Fruita side of Colorado will be searingly hot in the Summer better off looking around the Front Range at that time of year IMO

That’s right, Fruita is too hot at that time of year – plus there’s not much to do other than the dinosaur museum for family. Better options would be Durango – good riding close to town, ask at Hassle Free Sports for a trail map, and you could use Hermosa Tours for a shuttle to do the Hermosa Creek Trail. Durango would probably keep family entertained as well – put them on the Durango and Silverton railway. Durango also close enough to Mesa Verde National Park for a visit. Alternatively try Crested Butte – bikes and trail guide book from the Alpineer shop in town. You could stay at San Moritz Condos – which would be good for a family – a bit out of town (about 10 mins by car), but there’s a free bus connection and a bike path back. Lots of good riding round there – Snodgrass Trail, 401 Trail etc, plus some routes round Mt Crested Butte itself. You could do both of these and take in other more tourist/family places as well – Telluride etc. You could stop over in Boulder before catching the plane back and spend some money in the bike shops there – try University Bicycles, whihc also does hire if you’re still wanting a ride!

Kitz_Chris of this parish lives out there now, and frequently makes me jealous with photos on Facebook of the riding, he may appear when he wakes up!

CB a long way from an airport (5hrs from Denver IIRC) which is why its unspoiled. Fab biking though.

Boulder close to Denver, has local trails (marshall mesa, nederland) and plenty to do.

Winter Park? Close to Denver, and the ski resort isnt stormtrooper DH stuff. we did an uplift day there and theyve made the most of the relatively low vertical drop by using gentle gradients, so the descents last and flow. Plenty of XC stuff in the Fraser Valley away from the resort itself.

Thanks guys.

Hadn’t thought about the temp in Fruita – off to check temp range now. How p:ssed off would I be if I final got my self to Fruita and it was too hot to ride! Not to mention the moans from the family.

So is front range the Denver side of the mountains?

I’ll watch this thread with interest. Heading out for two weeks riding in July. BRING IT ON!

You can ride it OK early and late in the day in the summer

Breckenridge is just 2-3 hours drive from the airport and has some good riding if you can handle the altitude. It’s a ski town in winter so lots of restaurants and touristy stuff. Haven’t been back in a while, but they used to keep some of the lifts open in summer for hikers and bikers. Boulder has a great vibe with lots going on. Fruita is a bit of a one-horse town – worth a visit for the riding but you wouldn’t want to stay there long. We used to ride it in summer but an early morning or evening ride would be recommended.

I guess a lot depends on how long you are going there for. (I’m Mrs Crashtestmonkey) but I would recommend basing yourself in Boulder, as it’s only 45 mins from Denver airport, you have the local trails (already mentioned), then if you had more time go to Winter Park for a long weekend, scenary out there awesome. Or drive over to CB it is a fanastic place. Depending on how old kids are you could coincide it with the Wildflower Festival, where they do free walks locally pointing out flowers etc (if that’s the Mrs thing) whilst you ride 401, Snodgrass trail (the riding in CB is THE best for scenary). You have to go to the MTB HAll of fame if there too, some fanastic old kit, pictures and stuff to mooch and mosey about on. Oh all the stuff in CB is sign posted and easy to find. Oh and the coffee shops and bike shops in Boulder are ace … as already mentioned University Cycles! Remember everyone cycles everyone in Boulder, bike lanes galore and you certainly don’t see any over weight people, it’s all organic food .. getting the picture of their life style now?

Colorado in July will still be super hot however we did the last 2 weeks and it was bearable. You couldn’t do Fruita, I know CTM’s brother went there in July with an organised riding company who had them up and out at 0500 every day carrying I think something stupid like 4 litres of water for a 2 hour ride.

Colorado is one of my favourite places in the world and the MTBing is just awesome. Enjoy I’m very jealous.

So we’re going for two weeks mid July. Does anyone know if an itinerary like the following would be good?
denver-boulder-breckinridge-fruita/grand junction-moab-durango-gunnison-crested butte-salida-denver

I’ve only been to Fruita (for riding) and Colorado springs (for work)

Fruita – great biking, not much else, 5 hrs from Denver??

Colorado springs – It’s got touristy stuff, Pikes peak, national park type stuff, I think there’s a visitor centre at NORAD etc. We rented bikes from one of the local shops and did a morning ride straight out of the city to one of the parks.

So we’re going for two weeks mid July. Does anyone know if an itinerary like the following would be good?
denver-boulder-breckinridge-fruita/grand junction-moab-durango-gunnison-crested butte-salida-denver

We went for a week and did Moab & Fruita, and we still missed out on good riding at those places. I’d say your itinery is way too ambitious.

You’ll be spending too much time in the car with that itinerary!

You’ll be spending too much time in the car with that itinerary!

&

I’d say your itinery is way too ambitious.

Thanks for the advice. We’ll have to pair it down…

Edd – we went for two weeks and our intinerary was the following, with no. rides in brackets:

Denver-Breckenridge(1)-Fruita(1)-Gunnison(1)-Crested Butte(3)-Telluride(2)-Moab(4)-Denver

We had planned on adding another destination but due to storms decided to stay another night in Moab. It was a lot of driving, and it did feel like in some places there was still loads left to explore (Crested Butte and Moab in particular) but on the other hand as we had never been there before it was fantastic to see all those different places.

I’ve been there a few times and drove all over the place to tick off classic rides – from Denver to Fruita to Moab to New Mexico back to Denver etc…

Boulder is a lovely town, so base your family there if you can. There are loads of nearby rides on the Front range eg Buffalo Creek, Golden Gate State Park, etc

This thread needs some inspirational photos!

Fruita: For those concerned re heat this was about 9am on a September morning – phew!!

Fruita Trailfest by LadyAlex mtb, on Flickr

Early morning Pinkbred by Simon J Taylor, on Flickr

I would recommend something like Boulder, Crested Butte, Winter Park, Boulder could spend a bit of time in each then otherwise yours was way to ambitious. That was what we did in 2 weeks can do WP for a day from boulder, it is only 1.5 hr drive away.

This is Mary’s Loop on the Kokopelli trails just outside Fruita – June 09
You can just make out Horsethief Bench loop below

I spent a week in late September in Crested Butte and loved it. It was between the summer and ski seasons and almost empty, but there appeared to be loads of activities for families (walks, crafts, music, wildflower festival) that had been held through the summer.

It’s known as quite an artisanal town and the shops are a mix of boutique-y and small town. Some excellent eateries and coffee shops, as well as microbewery ales – not necessarily an ideal combination with CB’s 9,000ft altitude! 😀

About 4 hrs drive from Colorado Springs airport. Trail 401 is the one everyone raves about as the route to do (it’s true – and at 12,000ft you’ll need some lungs 😉 ): I also really liked Ferris Creek. Actually, in 6 days of riding there wasn’t a route I didn’t like!

If you happen to make it to Moab…

Poison Spider, Moab

leading to The Portal

I went to Denver in May last year. Didn’t do any riding, though. Things I learnt:

It wasn’t hot at all, it rained all week.
Denver’s a cool city with loads of nice bars/ places to eat and wander round.
Pike’s peak is beautiful, and you can drive all the way up on a good day. Worth a visit if you’re somewhere near there.
The altitude will get you. I tried to go for a run and was knackered within minutes.
South Park Colorado isn’t worth the several hour drive just to pay homage to the TV program.

Whatever happens you’ll be spending a lot of time in a vehicle so choose wisely.
Don’t know if the kids would like it but I really enjoyed driving up Pike’s Peak, and the little car museum at the bottom is ok.
Worst dose of sunburn I’ve ever had was in Colorado – be prepared!

Whatever happens you’ll be spending a lot of time in a vehicle so choose wisely.

Ha yeah. May I recommend sir a 2010 Ford Mustang Convertible?

Just outside Breckenridge in May.

Colorado Springs is good for OP’s requirement to “pop out for a couple of hours”. I did lots of riding one year up and around Gold Camp Road, which I think is up in Cheyne Canyon. Chamberlain Chutes rings a bell, found it on a local trail map in a bike shop.

well, if we’re hawking pics…(have a few on photobucket)

monarch crest continental divide (can get uplift buses from towns either side)

reading map, 403 trail, CB

view from cottonwood pass

awesome wall ride (goes round more than 180degrees) at WP

and second the too-ambitous plan of Edd, we were out there 2 weeks, did 10 days riding and did 3 days CB, 2 days WP, then ‘local’ riding out of boulder (buffalo creek a short drive away and really impressed, similar to Moab/Fruita stuff).

105-0520_IMG by woldspinner, on Flickr

Somewhere not far outside of Boulder 2006. NW out of town, small trailhead car park didn’t look like much but a great area.

Thread bringing back good memories 🙂

Just looking at Google maps to jog my memory – the trail where that pic was taken was White Ranch something-or-other so I may be talking out of my hoop – near Golden not Boulder.

Anyway, OP, find an LBS, they’ll point you in the right direction!

Am lovin this thread. All the enthusiasm and photos coming through is making me itch to get out there.

Temp, travel and family wise definitely looking like front range and either boulder or Colorado springs best. Just wanted to be sure it won’t be a ‘wasted’ trip on the biking front and there is enough near by wow factor riding.

Difficult to find routes and pics of them from here – like you say the maps you pick up in the bikes hops probably get you to the best stuff.

Thanks all for input.

Enjoy your trip edd

I live in Denver and would be happy to show you around the best local trails. Fruita and the Western slope will be too warm for riding, even in the Front Range it is likely to be in the 90s July and August. I tend to ride two or three times a week through the summer but I have all Spring to acclimatize to the heat. Summer is best spent riding in the high country which is at least a full day out if staying in Boulder or the Springs. Buffalo creek can be done in a half day. If you want to stay in the Front range and ride out the door Golden is probably the best bet. Its a small town, 20 miles from Boulder, 10 miles from Denver and right on I70 for easy access to the mountains. Tons of good riding in the area.
PM me if you need any specific info or want to go out for a ride when you’re here.

Crankirish I’m booking my flight to come riding out there again! I LOVE COLORADO! After our trip there in 2010, we looked at moving out there….. just too difficult, but can’t wait to come back in a few years time (when mates’ kids are a little older). LOVE BOULDER! Awesome place .

I would definitely +1 the (Munge-chick’s?) suggestion for Boulder.

Its a great starting off and finishing place. Close enough to Denver for the bus (its cheaper to hire a car outwith the airport…)

Very bike orientated. Great places to hang out at/in.

Oh, I would love to spend my summers there…

If you head to CB then stopping off in Leadville would be good. The Tourquoise Lake Loop (I think) I enjoyed. warning though it’s all 10,000+ feet in altitude…

I seem to be developing a serious CB itch at the moment…

I like Durando. We managed to be there the same time as a vintage car and bike show and the steam railway is fab, (book early)……

Flashy, maybe I was unlucky but every day I was in Durango it tipped it down about 2pm and if you didn’t wash the mud off straight away it set like concrete!

Rigidaddy if you do go to the Springs this might help:

ColSpringsmap by woldspinner, on Flickr

Best stuff bottom left 😉