I’ll be in Fort Collins, CO friday for 10 days and I need to get some good workouts in. I’m staying at CSU. Does anyone live around there? Any good long rides?
Thanks a lot!
I live here in FC. There’s lots of good riding here. You can go flat or head up into the hills. What kind of riding are you looking for?
well, probably 3-6 hour rides. rolling would be ideal for IMlou but any riding will do for me. I think some longer climbs could be a lot of fun.
Are there groups that ride regularly out there? Would it be ok to bring a tri bike?
Do you swim at CSU? I know they have a masters group that works there.
and since i’ve got a local here, what is the closest trail running to CSU?
thanks a lot!
I’m doing IMC, so our schedules are probably similar. Next Saturday (7/21), I’m doing a 5 hr, 105 miler down to Boulder and back. That’s got a little bit of everything. The longest climb is about 1.5 miles.
Bring your MTB and do the Lori Off-road Duathlon this Saturday. 
(followed by a 3 hr ride). That’s gonna hurt.
There are lots of club rides. For IM training, I usually ride alone since you never know what you’re gonna get on a club ride. I can give you lots of 30-50 mile routes if you’d prefer to ride alone.
There is a pool at CSU and they do have a masters program. http://www.fortcollinsswimming.org/
There’s lots of trail running too. The most convenient is from the Maxwell Trailhead. If you’re staying at the dorms, it would be about 4 miles away. From there, you can stay flat, or head up over the ridge for a more challenging route. There’s also Lori State Park, and lots of places up the Poudre. There’s a trail running group in town, let me know if you need contact info… I can dig it up.
Enjoy your stay,
David
I also live in FC. There are plenty of great rides up into the mountains and you could certainly piece together some great loops in the 3-6 hour range. On the shorter end of the that, Carter Lake is one of my favorites - a few short climbs where you gain a few hundred feet, but nothing too long, but it has some great scenery and the roads are relatively low in terms of traffic. Rist Canyon is the one long climb you can do from here w/o going too far out of town, but the really fun way is to do it in reverse coming from Masonville. PM me if you want directions for any of these.
The best place to go for trail running is pine ridge natural area, at the west end of the spring creek trail which you can get on just south of campus. You could easily piece together 10-15 miles of trails there with flat and hilly options. Just watch out for the prairie dogs!
And since you mentioned it, I’ve also been swimming with the masters group at CSU this summer, check out www.fortcollinsswimming.org for details.
that’s funny you should mention the rist loop backwards, that’s my Tuesday ride. brutal on a tri bike.
Have you run at Pine Ridge recently? It seems like they fumegated the Prairie dogs. They’re not as bad as last year.
Yeah, I can’t bring myself to do Rist backwards on a tri bike, doing the last climb in a 39-25 on the road bike is hard enough. And it does seem like there are fewer prairie dogs than last year, I’ve noticed this elsewhere also. I figured it was just the weather or something, but I’ve only been here a year so I’m not sure.
Hi all,
Didn’t know there were so many ST’ers in the Fort! As everyone has said, lots of good riding opportunities…there are group rides just about every day. I’m on call this weekend and I assume you’ll hit the training hard over the weekend, but would welcome you to come out to any easy recovery ride on Monday starting at the Rio Grande Mexican restaurant at 6pm. You can’t miss the margaritas at the Rio afterwards. PM me for details and other ride options. Have a great visit.
Diana
I’m also in FTC. For a long bike ride, (in addition to what’s already been mentioned) take a ride up the Poudre Canyon. If you go during the week, traffic’s not bad at all. A nice trail run is the Foothills trail, which runs behind the CSU football stadium.
Leaving from campus, you could ride the Spring Creek trail to Cottonwood Glenn Park, then ride Taft Hill Rd. to the football stadium, turn left and ride the Centennial Rd along the ridge above Horsetooth Res., ride up Bingham Hill Rd. then ride Poudre River Trail back into town. This ride would probably take about 1.5-2 hrs.
There really are too many options to list. (I’m just getting ready to leave for a run on the Foothills trail right now).
Enjoy your stay. Rasta Pasta has probably the best carbo load/recovery meal in town.
david, that ride to boulder sounds perfect. I’m flying so I don’t htink I can bring the mtb. too. Is the three hour ride on a mtb or on a tri bike? What time of day do you ride during the week?
I will pm you my cell phone number.
thanks again for all the info.
that trail sounds promising except the stadium is a bit away from campus isn’t it? I’ll be carless for the ten days but I may be able to borrow one from a friend or get a lock for the tri bike.