I'm in Boulder, my place has a small pool if you really need a swim. I could go for a ride with you if you want, Friday is best for me. We have some friends flying in on Saturday morning. PM me if you want to talk more by phone, or just for suggestions. Typing on a phone gets old. You can look at my rides on Strava. Chad Gagnier

Thanks chad

I'm a Boulder Native, former triathlete, and runner.
Where are you staying?
If you need road runs there are lots of good bike paths.
I'd recommend taking a break from the road runs to get out on some trails instead. Good maps at OSMP.org. Bring water in case you get lost!
As for riding, if you're OK with climbing (coming from Florida) I'd suggest Lee Hill Rd to Lefthand Canyon, up to Ward, then Peak to Peak Hwy to Nederland and down Boulder Canyon to Boulder. A classic loop. You can buy food and drink in Ward and Nederland. Bring a rain jacket! This is probably a 3+ hr ride, but worth it. I'm sure it would piss off your wife though. You'll be able to ride more of Peak to Peak Hwy when you're in Estes. Another good ride is up Flagstaff Mountain- less than an hour.
I'd suggest the Colorado Athletic Club for swimming: https://www.wellbridge.com/...s--wellness/aquatics.
Hope you have a fun trip!
Paul

When you're in Estes, be sure to visit Via Bicycle Cafe. Real good friend of mine owns the bike/coffee shop. Kinda the best of both worlds.

Make sure you have enough gearing if you plan to ride up into the mountains. There's some steep fun!

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Alex Arman

Strava

I was in Boulder over Memorial Day to run the Bolder Boulder but spent alot of time biking. I did some research before going out and contacted a couple of the LBS and found it to be very easy to find places to ride. We ended up riding several loups going out on Hwy 36. The highway is shouldered, traffic wasn't too bad and there were alot of cyclists. We ran a couple trails too and they are easy to find, their are paper maps in the bike shops and maps online. We never did swim but found a couple different pools that had alot of lap lane time options. Pretty easy place to swim, bike and run and the scenery is spectacular.

Good luck and have fun.

I'll be in Estes Park all of next week and I'm really looking forward to checking out this bike shop. We go every summer and it has been way too long since Estes has had a decent bike shop.

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https://twitter.com/mungub

The Boulder Peak tri course is another good option - Boulder Peak is an Olympic distance race. That gets you out to the Boulder Res, the start of all tri's in the Boulder, for better or worse.

Starting at the reservoir of Jay Rd, ( you can park at the Res and pay ~ $10 day fee or just park outside the gate where there are always lots of cars), ride back out to Jay and turn right, about two miles up turn right on Hwy 36 at the light. Head N on 36 for about 2 more miles and turn left on Lee Hill Rd (mini-golf on the right) Lee Hill will take you though a neighborhood, and then bend right to climb the steep hill of Old Stage Rd (the 'Peak' in Boulder Peak).

You will have been climbing pretty much the whole way... false flat from the res to Old Stage and another 500ft climb to mailboxes at the top, about 1000' total. Now the fun begins!

Careful on the steep downhill on backside of Old Stage, then Right on Left Hand Canyon, get set for 3 miles of perfection. Fresh pavement, 1% downhill, no signs, beautiful riverside scenery... this takes you back to Hwy 36 then turn left, and within a mile turn R on Nelson rd. Nelson is more smooth, fast downhill for about 5 miles. Then R at the light at 75th and that will take you to the Diagonal Hwy (there are a few little turns right at the end, but you can see the Hwy ahead) . R on the Diagonal (you will see the Res on your right) for a few more miles and you will come to a light at Jay Rd. Immediate turn right on Res access road. You can download the map from the Boulder Peak site.

You can obviously work a Swim or Run into the mix... if you run out past the little 'marina' ( a few dozen kayaks and ski boats) and go left across the dam, you can get a 5-8k run in depending on your turnaround point, or circle the whole res to make a 10K.

Maybe sweetie can meet you there and do some sunbathing... there is a snack shop that sells soft drinks and burgers, or you can bring your own cooler.

A great Saturday morning program is the Boulder farmers market (another potential spousal detour). Stock up on fresh fruit, vegies and bread before your trip to Estes. It is on 14th between Canyon and Arapahoe. You can get a breakfast there too.

Enjoy!

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

Great Ride,

Grew up in Boulder but you are going to KILL this Florida Flatlander (unless he has ridden the first section of the Great Floridian 10 x'x with the short steep climb & following downhill with a 90 degree turn) on this Epic ride, especially with the downhills -Old Stage, the last little climb into Ward & then Peak to Peak.

Take it easy, ride up 36 to Greenbriar, cruise up Left Hand Canyon for a ways, come back down hit 36 do an out and back
then you can swim at Scott Carpenter, run a nice loop in Sunshine Canyon.
My 2 cents.

Old Stage Road is closed at the moment due to construction IIRC. Boulder Peak Tri just announced a course change for this year (which is why I'm doing it, lol)

Old Stage is open, I rode it in the past week or two.

There is construction going on further up Left Hand which has turned the Jamestown ride into a gravel grinder. You can see details here at: http://www.bouldercounty.org/...creconstruction.aspx

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" I take my gear out of my car and put my bike together. Tourists and locals are watching from sidewalk cafes. Non-racers. The emptiness of of their lives shocks me. "
(opening lines from Tim Krabbe's The Rider , 1978

HiKai,
You're probably right about the Peak to Peak ride being too much. It could very well be our Floridian friend's last. And I already enough blood on my hands!

Back in the day it used to be fun to trash friends from out of state because of the altitude ! Ha Ha !

I forgot he could also do a 6am Morgul Bismark loop-plus he would have a great front range view.

Happy training all !

out of your control but the weather looks rather unfortunate going into the weekend. Lots of potential for t-storms, listening to the thunder roll in as we speak.

One more great bike rout (which was mentioned) is the Morgul Bismark. This is about a 20 mile loop if you start in central Boulder. Great views, hilly, but not hilly enough to kill you.

flying out tomorrow- will try to get this figured out after arrival. thanks for all of the advice.

Steve

Still getting used to the elevation, I ventured out of Boulder today. I rented a Cannondale Supersix with compact crank and headed north. I went left at left hand canyon road off 36 and planned on doing an out and back but after having to ride through 3 construction zones, I just kept heading south and then onto Old Stage road. I hadn't done any research on that part, and that was probably a good thing! It was tough, I wanted to walk my bike up the last part of the climb, but just kept grinding away- I wanted an oxygen mask! The descent was crazy fast.

I'm going to go farther tomorrow. I will be heading north from Walnut street up 9th tomorrow and likely on to Lyons. Any suggestions? Anyone want to join me (private message me and I can call you tonight or in the morning)? I'm wanting to leave by 7, earlier if it's just me.

Steve

You definitely want to ride up through Ward and Nederland. Really scenic.
The Flagstaff climb and Super Flagstaff is a lung buster too.
Superb trail runs absolutey everywhere.
Boulder rocks.
Have fun

Sorry don't have anything to contribute, but I'm moving to Denver in August so I'm commenting so I can remember to come check out what comes from this thread and get some ideas. Didn't realize how close Boulder and Denver are and Really looking forward to riding in the mountain!

I just got back and hopefully since you are there you ride Rocky Mountain Park. Maybe I'm late to the party here but I'm a flatlander and rode from Estes up and over via trail ridge road and back my 2nd morning there. So both big climbs. 70 miles and 8500' of climb. It's not steep enough to be killer.

I did Pikes a few days ago and that is on another level. I'll update my the thread I started on that when I get home. I needed 36-28 only briefly on trail ridge road. Mostly 36-23. I uses 34-32 a majority of the time on Pikes. Ouch.

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