I’m considering taking a job in Boulder. If so, we would not be living in Boulder, but somewhere in (car) commutable distance. I’d like to keep to the south of Boulder as my family lives on the southwest side of Denver and we are moving from New England to be closer to them. I grew up in CO and visit often, but am not as familiar with the Boulder area. Any suggestions for where to look for housing in terms of ease of access to safe biking areas? My husband and I ride road and gravel and are used to being able to ride out our front door. Also, any weekly group ride suggestions in the area would be welcome. Thanks!
We live south of Denver having moved here 8 years ago from MA to be close to my wife’s family. I road/gravel/mtb, and it may sound weird to some, but I preferred cycling in New England compared to here. Both here and MA, I could road/grave/mtb out my door, but that’s pretty dependent on the specific locale. It might be good to check out some CO FB groups, like: “Cycling Colorado”, “303 Trail Monitor”, “Front Range Gravel Grinders”, … There are many more.
We lived in Boulder/Longmont area for a long time and to be honest I think you would be better being north of Boulder versus South. Longmont is a nice area and has tons of riding from the house both Road and Gravel that I think would be much better than south of Boulder.
We ended up moving south of Denver 4 years ago on the southwest part of Parker and was very concerned about where to ride when we moved not knowing the area. To be honest, I feel like where we live now is almost better than the riding when we lived in both Boulder and Longmont. We are a couple miles from Cherry Creek bike path which goes for 100 of miles with a bunch of options and we are a few miles from some mountain bike trails (Hidden Mesa) which are not extensive but fun trails. If I ride south about 10 miles to Castlewood Canyon there are some amazing gravel roads with virtually no traffic that go forever. Some of the best gravel roads I have road and very hilly. The only riding I miss with Boulder are the long sustained climbs. It is very hilly where we live now but the longest climb takes me about 10-12 minutes at full effort. Otherwise, the riding is amazing.
Edit: Forgot to mention but Wednesday Morning Velo is a popular weekly group ride with various levels for both gravel and road. Full Cycle also has a lot of popular group rides (both gravel and road) they do weekly.
I live in Longmont and has pretty much everything you’re looking for except for the physically not being south of Boulder part. Very easy to find yourself on some quality biking roads - paved and not paved…flat and not flat. If I was in your spot with a preference towards the south side of Boulder and money wasn’t an issue, I’d be looking towards Golden. Louisville and Lafayette just outside of Boulder are nice communities nearby with easy access to everything as well.
I’m in the process of moving to Boulder in about 12 months. As others have mentioned, the main area to live outside Boulder as a cyclist is actually north in Longmont. From there you can easily ride the same gravel rides that people in Boulder are riding (a lot of Boulder gravel goes up past the Boulder Reservoir into Niwot/St Vrain/Hygiene area up to Longmont.
If I wanted to be closer to Denver, I would be looking at Louisville/Superior or even Lafayette. You can easily ride from Superior into Boulder via the Coal Seam trail, but it’s going to add some miles (which is a pro and a con depending on the day!). The whole area is pretty bike friendly with bike lanes and paths, but the farther you get S/W from Boulder, the more you’re going to be dealing with heavy traffic and no bike lanes to connect them. I personally really like Louisville, but we want to live in more of a city environment with walkability, but all of these towns have things in walkable distances depending on where you buy and your preferences.
I was just there home shopping a few weeks ago, so I’m happy to help in any way I can if you have specific preferences. I’m sure the people who live there can tell you even more!
It is similar to a sidewalk but much wider and easy to pass people when needed. There is a speed limit posted of 15mph but I have never seen it enforced. I will typically average around 20mph on my gravel bike and 18-19mph on my mountain bike. It can get crowded on the weekends at times which can create some challenges so you just need to pay attention and let people know you are passing. I do try to avoid it at these times. I also mostly ride solo which makes it easier. Group rides would be challenging on Cherry Creek.
It is one of the best places I have found to get really long Zone 2 endurance rides in where I can average around 200-210 watts for a 2-3 hours. There are no significant elevation changes or turns making it easy to stay in a power zone.
Superior/Louisville is great because you can take a protected road northbound next to the freeway straight into Boulder. It’s the closest suburb to Boulder.
Thanks, everyone, for your input and ideas! We had looked at Longmont (my brother lived there years ago and really enjoyed the community) but I had decided to look further south. It sounds like we should really keep considering that area - it doesn’t add too much to the travel time to family, and if it makes cycling easier, that’s definitely a win!
If you want to stay close to family in SW metro and still be commuting distance to Boulder while being in a cycling hub then Golden is the obvious choice. It ain’t cheap though.
You could also look at Broomfield. Not really the character of some of the other towns, but fairly easy to find a house where you can ride from the door and be on the gravel, or road, pretty quickly.
Any commute into Boulder, though, is going to be rough.
I live in Denver and whenever I go up to the Boulder area to ride I end up parking between Superior and Marshall (Marshall mesa trailhead maybe) and ride into Boulder from there. There’s quiet roads and paths leading into town. Where I park there is also some fun gravel roads/paths and a ton of fun single track- some can be quite chunky though.
Theres a nice pocket from like north Table Mountain in Golden, into NW Arvada, and up into Superior/Marshall area that I would love to live in due to proximity to the mountains and great biking either north or south. Also ability to avoid major highways if having to commute by car.
I’m primarily a mountain biker and live west of Denver, this area is the best for mtb but sometimes I’m jealous of the road/gravel options in Boulder. If that was my focus I would want to be as close to it as possible.
My family and I live in Superior and it’s been really great. Not super close to the typical Boulder gravel routes, but there’s quick access to what people call the “Dirty Bizmark” loop, which is mixed gravel and singletrack. You can’t beat the location for proximity to both Boulder and Denver. There are a ton of serious cyclists in my neighborhood and everyone I talk to seems to agree that it’s a good place to ride from.
I was just out in Boulder and took a preliminary look at Superior. I like the area a lot! I appreciate your perspective and will definitely take a closer look there as well. Thanks!
