CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A proper escape from Denver with roads worth waking up for. Out of Castle Rock and back again: 809 km, roughly 15 h 35 in the saddle. It goes by way of Scenic stretch near Georgetown, near Estes Park and Fort Morgan. The climbs: near Woodland Park and Near Fort Morgan, on the way back. It tops out at about 3,350 m. The line favours views over speed.
Next is High point near Woodland Park.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Georgetown.
Silver built Georgetown. In the 1860s, prospectors working up Clear Creek found rich silver ore in the mountains above this narrow valley west of Denver, and within a few years the town became one of the most important mining centres in Colorado, nicknamed the Silver Queen of the Rockies. When silver prices crashed in 1893, the boom ended, but the town survived, and today its streets of Victorian houses, brick storefronts and wooden churches form one of the best-preserved historic mining districts in the American West.
Read the complete Georgetown write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
198 km in you reach Scenic stretch near Georgetown. Next is Photo stop near Estes Park.
Trail Ridge Road begins its climb here, a few miles west of Estes Park, and by the time you reach this stretch of US 34, you have entered Rocky Mountain National Park and left the town far below. The road winds up through forests of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir, past meadows where elk graze, and around curves that open up views of the Continental Divide. Around Many Parks Curve, a parking area on a tight bend gives one of the best early views: a series of mountain meadows, or parks, spread out below, with Longs Peak, the highest summit in the park, towering over them to the south.
Read the complete Photo stop near Estes Park write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Estes Park, about halfway. Next is Denver / Colorado Rockies return.
The eastern plains of Colorado do not do subtle. The sky is enormous, the horizon dead flat, and on summer afternoons thunderheads build into towers that can drop hail the size of golf balls within minutes. This stop lies on the South Platte river, near Fort Morgan, a farming and ranching town on I-76 whose grain elevators are the tallest things for miles.
Read the complete Near Fort Morgan, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Denver / Colorado Rockies return tops the climb. Next is Food stop near Fort Morgan.
Food stop near Fort Morgan is where this day stops to eat. Next is Million Dollar Highway Weekend checkpoint 8.
Lakewood is where Denver's suburbs press right up against the mountains. A large city of more than 150,000 people, it spreads west from Denver toward the foothills, and from almost anywhere in it you can see the first ridges of the Rockies rising abruptly from the plains, often with snow on the peaks behind. This finishing point lies just east of the foothills, in a district of houses, malls and office parks, with Green Mountain, a flat-topped grassy hill, standing just to the west.
Read the complete Near Lakewood write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Million Dollar Highway Weekend checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Million.
Castle Rock takes its name from a flat-topped butte of rhyolite that rises above the town, with a crown of stone that looks like a battlement, and the rock has been used as a landmark since the days of the wagon road. It stands in the middle of town, with a little star lit on it at Christmas, and in a few minutes you can see why settlers reached for the word castle. The town, with about fifty-five thousand people, sits between Denver and Colorado Springs on the Interstate 25 corridor, and has grown fast from a small ranching and quarrying centre into a busy suburb.
Read the complete Million write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Back to Million. That is the ride.
This High point near Woodland Park → Scenic stretch near Georgetown stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
Scenic stretch near Georgetown → Photo stop near Estes Park is the technical section. Hairpins, gradients and mixed traffic can stack up quickly; use low drama inputs, stay wide of centre lines and expect buses or riders appearing exactly where optimism says they will not.
This Photo stop near Estes Park → Near Fort Morgan, on the way back stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
Food stop near Fort Morgan → Near Lakewood is the logistics leg. Watch junctions, villages and speed changes, then let the roadbook do its job: move you out of the clutter without spending your best attention too early.