On weekends when the weather is good — and sometimes even when it’s not — the intersection of 13th Street and Washington Avenue in the heart of Golden becomes a hub for ambitious Front Range cyclists who see mountains and want to climb them.
There is a Starbucks on one corner that always seems to have helmeted, Spandex-clad customers in line or out front, click-clacking on floors and sidewalks in their cycling cleats. Situated catty-corner from Starbucks is a bike shop, Peak Cycles, and there are two more cycle shops a few blocks away. Restaurants along Washington often have clusters of bikes locked up out front.
One reason for Golden’s bicycle buzz is its proximity to one of the Front Range’s classic rides: the ascent of Lookout Mountain, with a peak elevation at 7,400 feet. Almost every weekend, a parade of pedalers rolls out of Denver and its western suburbs via 32nd Avenue to Golden, bound for Lookout and the spectacular views it offers for those who are up to its thigh-burning challenge.
Lookout also has been featured in Colorado’s pro bike races, attracting spectators by the thousands.
We’ve got five classic Front Range rides, two involving Lookout Mountain. There are others that are popular among Front Range cyclists — Squaw Pass from Bergen Park to Echo Lake, Guanella Pass from Georgetown, the Morgul-Bismark loop near Superior and Lefthand Canyon north of Boulder for example — but these are good places to start your must-do list.
(Information and maps for the rides listed here were provided by Adam Kazilsky, Dan Dwyer and Nicky Down of Peak Cycles.)
If you have a classic Front Range ride you think belongs on our list, please share it in the comments below.
