Route from Golden to Idaho Springs, Colorado?

I'm leaving on a bike tour in a week that will start in Golden go over
to Idaho Springs, over to Empire up through Winter Park and into
Granby. I'll then ride up through Rocky Mountains Nat. park over to
Estes Park and then end the ride in Loveland.

For the first day's ride I'm going to be riding from Golden to Idaho
Springs. I see that there's at least two ways to get to Idaho Springs.

1. Go south from Golden towards Interstate 70 and then follow Hwy 40
and a few other side roads over to Idaho Springs. I found this on Chuck
Anderson's website:
http://www.cycletourist.com/Crested_...e.html#DAY%201
In which he describes this route.

2. From Golden go up Golden Gate Canyon road until you get near the
park and then turn south on CR 7. This road comes out onto 119 and goes
up to Central City. From there go down Virginia Canyon road all the way
into Idaho Springs.

Route #2 looks good on paper but has anybody actually riden over these
roads.

Thanks for any help,
Ted

I've done both, although it has been a few years so my information may
be a bit out of date.

Route 1 is paved all the way, but has a nasty crossing of I-70 where
US-40 and US-6 come in. You enter on the left hand side of I-70 and
have to cross all the lanes to get to the right hand shoulder. It is a
bit hair raising, but is doable with caution.

Route 2 is an adventure as Virginia Canyon (also known as "Oh My God"
road) is not paved after you leave Central City. It is quite a
thrilling descent into Idaho Springs. I've ridden it on a road bike,
and if you have resonable skills it isn't too bad.

There is a new 4 lane road from I-70 to Central City that would be
ideal for doing your second route and not having to do an unpaved road,
but it was built with private funds and is closed to bicycles.

Enjoy your trip to Colorado, there is some great cycling there.

Jeff Orum wrote:

I've done both, although it has been a few years so my information may
be a bit out of date.

Route 1 is paved all the way, but has a nasty crossing of I-70 where
US-40 and US-6 come in. You enter on the left hand side of I-70 and
have to cross all the lanes to get to the right hand shoulder. It is a
bit hair raising, but is doable with caution.


I don't recall anything like that (having ridden that route twice - once
in each direction).

Do you mean east of Idaho Springs (about 3 miles), where highway 6 meets
up with I70 and highway 40 (exit 244)?

(Highway 40 and I70 are essentially the same road from Kansas to the
Empire exit, highway 40 being a two lane frontage road from Golden to
Empire - minus one short spot near El Rancho, where you get to ride on
I70. Highway 6 joins them both at mile maker 244, east of Idaho Springs)

Or do you mean west of Idaho Springs - at the Empire exit?

Route 2 is an adventure as Virginia Canyon (also known as "Oh My God"
road) is not paved after you leave Central City. It is quite a
thrilling descent into Idaho Springs. I've ridden it on a road bike,
and if you have resonable skills it isn't too bad.

There is a new 4 lane road from I-70 to Central City that would be
ideal for doing your second route and not having to do an unpaved road,
but it was built with private funds and is closed to bicycles.


Bummer. I wasn't aware of that. But I *am* glad to see that Bicycle
Colorado has taken on this issue.

from - http://bicyclecolo.org/site/page.cfm?PageID=627

"PROGRESS ON CENTRAL CITY BAN
Bicycle Colorado, Bike Jeffco, and Team Evergreen are working together
to lift the ban on bicyclists on the Central City Parkway. Our efforts
resulted on getting the bike ban onto the agenda of the last two Central
City town council meetings where we presented our case.

We uncovered the city’s true reason for the ban: a steep, narrow,
shoulderless section which is currently the only route connecting the
Parkway to Central City. The council is now looking into our proposed
alternate route connecting bicyclists from the Parkway to Central City
via a low-traffic residential road. Some minor construction and signage
will be needed to provide bicycle-only access and the initial council
response seems positive."

And to Ted. .... I have a friend that recently moved to a spot near the
top of Golden Gate Park Road, so I asked her about CR7. Unfortunately,
she has never driven on (or even noticed) CR7. I know it's near
impossible to tell, but from the satellite picture at Google maps it
looks pretty much ok (and it is definitely dirt). It's also only 4
miles. ??? Looks tempting.

It's been some years since I was on Golden Gate Park Road, but my friend
who drives it every day says that there is no shoulder (and currently a
lot of traffic due to a rock slide road closure on highway 6. Lots o'
people in a hurry to get up there and gamble in Central City and Black
Hawk. That should end soon, though.)

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Integrity is obvious.
The lack of it is common.
*****************************

I think it is probably exit 244. It is the one east of Idaho Springs
where 6 and 40 merge into I70. I've done it a couple of times and it
was a left hand entrance - perhaps they have changed it, but looking at
Google maps it still shows the entrance coming in on the left hand side
of I70 when heading westbound. (It also looks like a left hand exit if
you are heading eastbound.) See

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.74...0.007226&hl=en

As to my comment on route 2 - I didn't catch that Ted was planning on
taking CR7. I've only done Golden Gate Canyon road to the Peak to Peak
Highway (CR119) and down that to Black Hawk to Central City. All of
that is paved - the unpaved part I did was the Oh My God road (Virginia
Canyon). And yes, Golden Gate Canyon road does not have a shoulder (it
may have one closer to Golden), but there wasn't much traffic when I
rode it. If cars are using it since US6 is closed it could be an
unpleasant ride

Jeff Orum wrote:

I think it is probably exit 244. It is the one east of Idaho Springs
where 6 and 40 merge into I70. I've done it a couple of times and it
was a left hand entrance - perhaps they have changed it, but looking at
Google maps it still shows the entrance coming in on the left hand side
of I70 when heading westbound. (It also looks like a left hand exit if
you are heading eastbound.) See

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.74...0.007226&hl=en


Google Maps. My new favorite.

See where CR-314 dead ends? I'm pretty sure that's what I took last time
(east bound). I remember bushwhacking through an industrial area¹ where
it ends. I did not have to get onto I-70 at all. Same when I last rode
it westbound. I didn't have to get onto I-70 to get into Idaho Springs.

There we go. See this map (PDF):
http://www.teamevergreen.org/road_ri...PkEchoLake.pdf

and the description here (begin where it says "... Option: Continue on
via Colo. 103 ...."):
http://www.teamevergreen.org/road_ri...choLake_1.html

(¹It's a Concrete factory, .... and then the Scott Lancaster Memorial
bike path. Highway 40 connects right at Kermit's Bar - on the north side
of I-70. I knew I liked that route for some reason ô¿Ô¬). If you stay on
highway 40 coming from Denver, you can't miss it. Eastbound, take CR-314
out of Idaho Springs.

...... BTW, Scott Lancaster was the 18 year old from Idaho Springs (and a
competitive bicycle racer) who was killed by a mountain lion in 1991
while jogging on trails above Clear Creek High School. That was an
extremely unusual incident (.... at that time).

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Integrity is obvious.
The lack of it is common.
*****************************

Thanks for all the info on the two routes. Right now I'm thinking of
doing route #2 via Golden Gate Canyon road. I'll be there in the middle
of the week so hopefully there won't be as much traffic. I guess if
there is I can always turn around and take the other route. Chuck, as
far as your friend not noticing CR 7, this sounds great! Just the type
of road I'm looking for: the kind that motorists don't even notice!

And besides route #2 has a road named "Oh My God!". I've just GOT to
see what that road is like!

Ted

"Jeff Orum" wrote ...
I've done both, although it has been a few years so my information may
be a bit out of date.

Route 1 is paved all the way, but has a nasty crossing of I-70 where
US-40 and US-6 come in. You enter on the left hand side of I-70 and
have to cross all the lanes to get to the right hand shoulder. It is a
bit hair raising, but is doable with caution.

If you're referring to the on ramp at Mile Marker 244, it's only cars that
have to do that. There is a bike path that crosses under the Interstate just
before the onramp at MM 244 and travels along the south bank of Clear Creek.
Part of this bike path is what's left of old US 6 after flooding washed away
part of the road sometime in the mid '90s. The bike path continues around
the Twin Tunnels (just east of Idaho Springs) using County Road 314 and
dedicated bikepath in different parts. I think this stretch of I-70 is
signposted as being off limits to bicycles because of the curves, tunnel,
left side on ramp and the fact that there is a bike path that covers the
same stretch.

Route 2 is an adventure as Virginia Canyon (also known as "Oh My God"
road) is not paved after you leave Central City. It is quite a
thrilling descent into Idaho Springs. I've ridden it on a road bike,
and if you have resonable skills it isn't too bad.

There is a new 4 lane road from I-70 to Central City that would be
ideal for doing your second route and not having to do an unpaved road,
but it was built with private funds and is closed to bicycles.

Bicycle Colorado and a few other organizations are working to get this road
opened, it seems that as soon as an alternate route is worked out for one
short stretch in Central City the road will be opened to bicycles.
--
mark

I was looking at the bicycle map available from the Colorado DOT and
noticed a problem with my 2nd route. According to the map, 119 south
of Black Hawk is prohibited to bicycles. If I were to go across CR 7
from Golden Gate Canyon it would come out onto 119 about 2 miles south
of Black Hawk. Is this section of 119 really that bad?

I guess I can always follow Golden Gate Canyon over to 119 and then go
down it into Black Hawk and then on Virginia Canyon road to get around
the southern part of 119.

Let me again preface my information by saying it may be out of date (as
it was about the US6/US40/I70 bike route which apparently now has a
very nice bike path that avoids having to cross and ride on I70
completely).

I was on a bike tour that had routed us down from Estes Park to a camp
near Genesse Park. We were to ride the Peak to Peak Highway through
Black Hawk to US 6 and then head west on US 6 to pick up US 40 east.
We went through Black Hawk, and got to the end of SR 119. To the left
was a no bicycles sign, and to the right was a no bicycles sign. So it
was legal (at the time) to ride SR 119 south of Black Hawk, but you
would get to a point where you could go no further.

It is quite possible that the ban is now at Black Hawk, since at that
point you could make the turn to Central City and there really isn't
any other way to ride south (although you have found CR 7 but that is
apparently not paved). The ban is on US 6 due to the tunnels which
have no shoulder and could be quite dangerous to ride though if there
is any traffic.

My recollection (and the Google Maps satellite images tend to confirm
this) is that there are no tunnels on SR 119, so from a safety
standpoint it is probably OK to ride it from CR 7 to Black Hawk, but it
may not be legal. It is only about 3 miles, so it would be up to you
if you want to chance it.

(On our tour some riders ignored the sign on US 6 and rode through 2
tunnels to US 40. I caught a ride on the back of a flat bed truck
which was one of the scariest things I've done as we were holding on
for dear life as the truck negotiated the curves on the road.)

Jeff Orum wrote:

Let me again preface my information by saying it may be out of date (as
it was about the US6/US40/I70 bike route which apparently now has a
very nice bike path that avoids having to cross and ride on I70
completely).

I was on a bike tour that had routed us down from Estes Park to a camp
near Genesse Park. We were to ride the Peak to Peak Highway through
Black Hawk to US 6 and then head west on US 6 to pick up US 40 east.
We went through Black Hawk, and got to the end of SR 119. To the left
was a no bicycles sign, and to the right was a no bicycles sign. So it
was legal (at the time) to ride SR 119 south of Black Hawk, but you
would get to a point where you could go no further.

It is quite possible that the ban is now at Black Hawk, since at that
point you could make the turn to Central City and there really isn't
any other way to ride south (although you have found CR 7 but that is
apparently not paved). The ban is on US 6 due to the tunnels which
have no shoulder and could be quite dangerous to ride though if there
is any traffic.

My recollection (and the Google Maps satellite images tend to confirm
this) is that there are no tunnels on SR 119, so from a safety
standpoint it is probably OK to ride it from CR 7 to Black Hawk, but it
may not be legal. It is only about 3 miles, so it would be up to you
if you want to chance it.

(On our tour some riders ignored the sign on US 6 and rode through 2
tunnels to US 40. I caught a ride on the back of a flat bed truck
which was one of the scariest things I've done as we were holding on
for dear life as the truck negotiated the curves on the road.)

I didn't even realize that was the case. I was going to take that route
(6/119) on the way home once, but changed my mind. I didn't think there
were tunnels between the I70 and the intersection of 119 and 6 (but I
see now that there are). How do you get from the Peak to Peak highway to
Idaho Springs if you want to stay on pavement? Now I see why Bicycle
Colorado wants them to open up that new Central City Parkway.

I agree with Jeff that 119 from CR7, back to Blackhawk would be a safe
route (no tunnels).

I think I'll give CDOT a call on Monday.

(My route of preference into the mountains, btw, is 285 - further south.
But that's on longer trips that go through Fairplay.)

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
Integrity is obvious.
The lack of it is common.
*****************************