My wife and I are looking to move to Denver in the next 4 months or so and are starting to peak at neighborhoods and what not. For those of you that live there, what are some nice areas to look at that works well for training? Hoping to be able to get downtown via walking or public trans, rent a two-bedroom place, and have some nice bike roads accessible. I’ve looked online but its hard to gauge what some areas are like to live in.
Location is going to be determined by your price range. University Park or Wash Park are both great area with the amenities you mention, but pricy.
My wife and I are looking to move to Denver in the next 4 months or so and are starting to peak at neighborhoods and what not. For those of you that live there, what are some nice areas to look at? Hoping to be able to get downtown via walking or public trans, rent a two-bedroom place, and have some nice bike roads accessible. I’ve looked online but its hard to gauge what some areas are like to live in.
My parents live in Centennial, which is in the south(eastish) burbs. Easy access to Chatfield and a lot of biking areas, a nice greenbelt and easy access to the train to head downtown. Take a look where the train runs, and anything along those corridors should give you decent commute access.
John
When we lived in Denver we lived in Aurora. Aurora is a really nice city if you live south of Iliff St, its a bit closer to the airport than the west side and thats what was important to me. The big thing for you is gonna be trying to get downtown, if thats your biggest goal I would live close to the metro line. There are something like 800+ miles of trails to run or bike on in the Denver area so you really wont be to far from one most places. Not knowing anything about work or what else I would suggest the south side, Wash park is real nice but more expensive also look around the DTC. We just left 2.5 years ago so if you want any more info feel free to ask
When we lived in Denver we lived in Aurora. Aurora is a really nice city if you live south of Iliff St, its a bit closer to the airport than the west side and thats what was important to me. The big thing for you is gonna be trying to get downtown, if thats your biggest goal I would live close to the metro line. There are something like 800+ miles of trails to run or bike on in the Denver area so you really wont be to far from one most places. Not knowing anything about work or what else I would suggest the south side, Wash park is real nice but more expensive also look around the DTC. We just left 2.5 years ago so if you want any more info feel free to ask
I lived in Aurora for about a year and my biggest issue was finding a really good place to ride safely. The Cherry Creek trail, and the other trails off of it, were nice but it was hard to get sustained efforts on them. The roads in the area weren’t exactly conducive to safe riding, or even quality (stopless) riding.
I would look along the US-36 corridor. Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville and Superior all have good housing options. Westminster and Broomfield have pretty extensive trail systems; the Big Dry Creek trail in Westminster is over 12 miles long one way with only a quarter mile stretch next to a road. Everywhere else it goes under or over the road. You also have streets with on-street bike lanes and the roads north in Boulder and Weld counties are good.
For transportation into Denver, RTD runs express bus service along US-36 and next summer, there will be a new bike path stretching from Boulder into Denver.
When we lived in Denver we lived in Aurora. Aurora is a really nice city if you live south of Iliff St, its a bit closer to the airport than the west side and thats what was important to me. The big thing for you is gonna be trying to get downtown, if thats your biggest goal I would live close to the metro line. There are something like 800+ miles of trails to run or bike on in the Denver area so you really wont be to far from one most places. Not knowing anything about work or what else I would suggest the south side, Wash park is real nice but more expensive also look around the DTC. We just left 2.5 years ago so if you want any more info feel free to ask
I lived in Aurora for about a year and my biggest issue was finding a really good place to ride safely. The Cherry Creek trail, and the other trails off of it, were nice but it was hard to get sustained efforts on them. The roads in the area weren’t exactly conducive to safe riding, or even quality (stopless) riding.
My dad lives right against the Aurora reservoir; he says he gets qualiy rides around it(8mi?). He’s also said the hours are kinda limited, so check.a
I suppose most rides are quality if you’re trailering twins though.
Can do open water swims in spring/summer as well. I think Tri-Rock holds an event there.
When we lived in Denver we lived in Aurora. Aurora is a really nice city if you live south of Iliff St, its a bit closer to the airport than the west side and thats what was important to me. The big thing for you is gonna be trying to get downtown, if thats your biggest goal I would live close to the metro line. There are something like 800+ miles of trails to run or bike on in the Denver area so you really wont be to far from one most places. Not knowing anything about work or what else I would suggest the south side, Wash park is real nice but more expensive also look around the DTC. We just left 2.5 years ago so if you want any more info feel free to ask
I lived in Aurora for about a year and my biggest issue was finding a really good place to ride safely. The Cherry Creek trail, and the other trails off of it, were nice but it was hard to get sustained efforts on them. The roads in the area weren’t exactly conducive to safe riding, or even quality (stopless) riding.
My dad lives right against the Aurora reservoir; he says he gets qualiy rides around it(8mi?). He’s also said the hours are kinda limited, so check.a
I suppose most rides are quality if you’re trailering twins though.
Can do open water swims in spring/summer as well. I think Tri-Rock holds an event there.
Aurora Res is a bit far outside of Aurora - but yes if you are out that far there is some pretty good riding to be done.
FWIW - the water in the reservoir is fantastically clean. The only race I did there was the Harvest Moon half - but it was a great race (well if you don’t mind being baked by the sun all day…)
I would look along the US-36 corridor. Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville and Superior all have good housing options. Westminster and Broomfield have pretty extensive trail systems; the Big Dry Creek trail in Westminster is over 12 miles long one way with only a quarter mile stretch next to a road. Everywhere else it goes under or over the road. You also have streets with on-street bike lanes and the roads north in Boulder and Weld counties are good.
For transportation into Denver, RTD runs express bus service along US-36 and next summer, there will be a new bike path stretching from Boulder into Denver.
True. For that matter, for about the same distance west as those are north, you could live in Golden and be right on the edge of some great mountain riding.
John
As mentioned before, the US36 corridor is best for riding as you can easily head North onto country roads and do all the same rides you’d do from Boulder. Easy access to ride to climbing etc. Within Denver, riding is a bit tougher. Golden has great access to mountain biking, but great road options are limited.
Living along 36 would mean taking the bus downtown, which is fine. Golden has a train to Denver as does areas south of Denver.
I live adjacent to the aurora rez, plenty of good sustainable riding if you head east but it can get boring scenery wise. I bike commute to Lakewood, 34 miles each way, all but a few miles are bike path or designated bike lanes.
The rez is an awesome backyard, 5-6 triathlons are held there every year (sprint to half iron distance), they also have a dip-n-dash series in June/July. it’s an 8 mile concrete path around, but that can get fairly busy, not real conducive to series riding or sustain hard efforts
As for ease of getting to Denver, not really, it’s a bit of a drive (15 min) to get to the train, bus I have no idea as I haven’t ridden the bus here. If you want to ride in the foothills it’s not much of a drive to get there, 45 minutes-ish and your in the foothills. Plenty of good running all around the metro area.
How old are you? Kids? Do you like to mountain bike or ski? By downtown, I assume you mean Denver. Will you be working downtown? The farther out you go the easier it is to get to decent road bike riding but more of a commute to downtown. Anything from downtown area is bike path, while not bad, it’s probably 10+ miles of path or more to get to decent roads.
I commute on both the Platte River trail to the SW of Denver or I take the Cherry Creek path to the reservoir then head south on some roads but more lights. The Platte River trail is probably the nicer of the trails as you can go to Chatfield, Bear Creek trail or connect to C470 trail.
If you like to trail run, mountain bike, ski, you want to be on the west side of town or SW side. If you want the ability to take the train downtown, you can live anywhere from Golden down to Littleton.
If you are young and want to live in downtown Denver, lots of new apartments just west of I25 in the Highland neighborhood and Ballpark area.
Will you or your wife be working downtown?
Any kids?
More information will help us direct you to different areas.
will most likely be working downtown and no kids. We are in our low 30s so pretty active outdoors with riding and running. Not too concerned about being close to the nighttime activity areas though.
Holy smokes, stoked to see this thread. I’m just going to leech…
My wife and I are trying to move to the Denver area in the next few months as well. Looking for utility jobs right meow. Hoping to be in a northern suburb though.
I mean… bump for the OP! 
Golden has great access to mountain biking, but great road options are limited.
I have to disagree re: the roads around Golden. We lived in Arvada, very close to Golden. Lots of options for road rides…golden Gate and Coal Creek Canyon roads, Lookout Mountain, ride up Indiana to the Morgul-Bismarck, loop through Lookout up to Bergen Peak and down to Morrison, etc.
We live in Highlands Ranch which is in the south Metro area. I personally prefer the south/southwest side of the metro area. There are light rail stations along the I25 and Santa Fe corridors that give pretty easy access to downtown.
Chatfield Resevoir (OWS) is a short ride away and access to the foothills for road or mountain biking is easy. It’s less than 8 miles from my garage to the base of Deer Creek Canyon.
The Highline Canal is fantastic for long runs.
I wouldn’t do anything east of denver if you are planning on being in the mountains a lot easy 30-45 mins more each way than if you are along highway 6.
I live in the Berkeley Park/Tennyson St area (west edge of Highlands)… easy drive to downtown but unsure about public transportation, and not walkable. But LOTS to walk to. There are plenty of neighborhoods in Denver with great walkability. If you want to live downtown, I suggest River North or Golden Triangle (not the town of Golden). You would be close to the bike trails to get to Cherry Creek/Chatfield/Golden. IDEALLY, you live closer to the mountains/foothills so you can get in the better riding, i.e. any canyon of your choice for climbing. Wash Park is great, but pricey for what you get, and not as diverse as some other areas. The other downside (IMHO) to Wash Park is having to use I-25 to go places… I-25 sucks. Congrats on the move… I did the same 1.5 years ago and won’t look back.
thanks. yeah, I was looking at the area around river north and just northwest over the creek area- seems to have some access to trails and easy to get downtown.