CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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 374 km one-way ride from near Brighton, about 6 h 45 of riding. On the way it passes Lyons, near Central City, near Roxborough Park and Littleton. The climbs: Near Lyons, on the way back and near Parker. It tops out at about 3,200 m. Long stretches are under trees.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 98 km this is Peak to Peak Scenic Byway, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Peak to Peak Highway is where the day begins. Next is Denver / Colorado Rockies return.
Red rock and running water define Lyons. The small town sits where the North and South St. Vrain creeks meet and run out of the foothills onto the plains north of Boulder, and it is ringed by cliffs of pinkish-red sandstone. That stone, quarried here since the nineteenth century, built much of the University of Colorado campus in Boulder and countless houses and walls across the region. The town itself is built of it too, giving the main street a warm, solid look.
Read the complete Near Lyons, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Food stop near Central City.
Central City climbs a steep gulch in the Colorado Rockies, a little brick town of a few hundred people at about eight and a half thousand feet, and it is a monument to the gold rush. In 1859, a prospector named John Gregory struck gold in the gulch, and within a few years, tens of thousands of people had arrived. The hills around were so full of ore that the town called itself the richest square mile on Earth, and the street names, the headframes, the tailings piles and the tilted miners' cottages still tell the story.
Read the complete Central City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Photo stop near Roxborough Park.
Photo stop near Roxborough Park, about halfway. Next is Peak to Peak Highway checkpoint 8.
Littleton, on the southern edge of the Denver metro area, has a historic Main Street of brick buildings from the late nineteenth century, when the town grew up around a mill and the railroad on the South Platte River. You could do far worse for the first or last coffee of a ride, with cafés, restaurants and a relaxed atmosphere that feels more like a small town than a suburb of a big city. And, crucially, the mountains are right there, rising abruptly to the west.
Read the complete Littleton write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Peak to Peak Highway checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is High point near Parker.
High point near Parker is the summit of this stretch. Next is Scenic stretch near Aurora.
Scenic stretch near Aurora closes the day.
Fuel stop near Brighton → Near Lyons, on the way back is 70 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop near Central City → Photo stop near Roxborough Park is 78 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Roxborough Park → Littleton is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near Parker → Scenic stretch near Aurora is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.