Pikes Peak and Deckers

Two passes and 620 km

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Why this ride

Built for flow, views and useful stops rather than navigation busywork. A 620 km loop that starts and ends near Ponderosa Park, about 11 h 29 of riding. It goes by way of Scenic stretch near Evergreen, near Fraser and near Kersey. The climbs: near Perry Park and Denver / Colorado Rockies. It tops out at about 3,250 m.

Roadbook

1. Fuel stop near Ponderosa Park fuel

   Fuel at 0 km.

2. High point near Perry Park pass

   You top out here; the road stops climbing.

3. Scenic stretch near Evergreen scenic
4. Photo stop near Fraser photo

   Photo stop near Fraser, about halfway.

5. Food stop near Kersey food

   Food at 354 km, roughly 7 hours into the riding.

6. Denver / Colorado Rockies return pass

   The ride's name points to Pikes Peak, which is far to the south; the country here is Weld County, a vast plain of wheat, cattle and oil derricks stretching away north-east of Denver. Weld County is among the largest agricultural counties in the United States, and the roads here carry grain trucks, tanker lorries and the occasional horse trailer.

   The South Platte River crosses the district, and its valley has fed the region since the nineteenth century, when irrigation ditches turned dry ground into farmland. Sugar beets, corn and onions grow along the river, and cattle feedlots stand on the plains behind. Further north-east, the Pawnee National Grassland, with its low sandstone buttes, is among the best remaining areas of shortgrass prairie in Colorado, and its skies are loud with larks in spring. The lark bunting, the state bird, nests in the grass, and the males perform fluttering song flights above the fields.

   The riding is wide, flat and quiet. Roads follow a strict grid and run for miles without a bend, and the surface is usually good, though truck traffic has chewed some of the edges. Wind is a constant companion, and in summer thunderstorms build quickly, with big hail. In winter, blizzards can close roads, and ground blizzards reduce visibility to nothing. A rider should expect big skies and little else, and plan fuel carefully.

   Fuel is available in Keenesburg and Kersey, as well as at Fort Lupton, but between them are long gaps, so take on fuel whenever you can. Small cafes serve a plain meal of eggs, burgers and coffee, and the owners are friendly to passing riders. Mobile coverage is good in most places, and patchy in the deepest country.

   The ride begins and ends in the same area, and the quiet is the main thing: a place to hear the wind in the grass, watch hawks on the fence posts and see the stars at night.

7. Near Lakewood finish

   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.

   That mountain wall is spectacular up close. A few kilometres west, the red sandstone fins of the Dakota Hogback and the Fountain Formation rise like broken teeth along the edge of the plains. Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a famous concert venue carved between huge red monoliths near Morrison, is only a short ride away. On Dinosaur Ridge, just north of Morrison, dinosaur footprints and bones were first found in the 1870s, and you can still see tracks preserved in the rock along a short trail.

   The roads into the mountains from here are superb. Colorado 74 climbs west from Morrison through Bear Creek Canyon to Evergreen, a winding, narrow road along a rocky creek, and US 285 heads southwest through Turkey Creek Canyon toward Conifer and the high country beyond. Further south lies the long climb toward Pikes Peak and the roads around Deckers, a favourite area for motorcycles, with flowing curves through ponderosa pine forest. If you are coming back from the Million Dollar Highway in the San Juan Mountains, you will have crossed half the state and several high passes to get here, so the flat, busy suburban streets will feel tame.

   Expect traffic: the West 6th Avenue freeway, the C-470 beltway and the arterial roads can be heavy at rush hour, and red-light cameras are common. Summer afternoons bring thunderstorms over the foothills, often with hail, so watch the sky.

   Lakewood has everything you need: fuel, motorcycle shops, restaurants, breweries and hotels. After a long ride, a cold drink on a patio with a view of the mountains turning orange in the evening light is a fine way to finish. Before bed, check the tyres and chain; the high passes and canyon roads are hard on a bike, and you may be tempted to head back out tomorrow.

8. Back to Pikes finish

   It is easy to miss, because it looks like gently rolling ranchland, but it is a real watershed, sending creeks north toward the South Platte and south toward the Arkansas. The elevation is around 6,000 feet and above, the soil is sandy, and the ponderosa pine forest that covers part of it is called Black Forest, a name that comes from the dark colour of the trees from a distance.

   This is quiet riding country, with undulating roads through open grassland, pine woods and large-lot homes with horses. The surfaces are generally good, traffic is moderate, and the views stretch to the long white line of the Rockies, with Pikes Peak rising above the rest on clear days, a good thirty miles or more to the south-west. The wind is often strong, thunderstorms build over the divide in summer, and the weather can change from warm to cold in minutes, so layers are useful.

   Local history has a certain rough charm. Ranchers settled the divide in the late nineteenth century, and the old stagecoach roads and railroad grades still shape the lanes. In 2013 a wildfire burned part of the Black Forest, and the scars and the regrowth are visible in places, a reminder of how dry the ground can be. Deer, coyotes and wild turkeys are common, and the evenings can bring a sunset that colours the whole sky.

   The Pinery is a community of about ten thousand people, with fuel and shops in the neighbouring towns of Parker and Castle Rock. Pikes Peak, the real destination of the ride, lies further south, and its toll highway climbs to over fourteen thousand feet. Riders usually pass through here on the way, filling up before the mountains, and a pause for coffee at a small cafe in Parker or Elizabeth is a good habit. April through October is the main season, with September especially pleasant.

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