Denver or Colorado Springs or Fort Collins (Boulder, Highlands Ranch: houses, college)

[mvinwest]

Which of these towns has the easiest access for safe road biking, mountain biking and hiking trails. Not looking for anything hardcore but would like to live in a place where I could be running on a beautiful trail five minutes from my house/apt. I need to be about an hour from a major airport!

Thanks

[2bindenver]

sure. there are places like that all over. But no major airport in Ft Collins. There are houses on the Highline Canal always popular for pedestrians. Or Parker or Highlands Ranch http://www.hrcaonline.org with its miles of trails and it's own running group http://highlandsranch.org/04_rec/04_...nningGroup.pdf 40-45 minutes to DIA on E-470.

[bashep]

Well, I have to say that Colorado Springs is amazing for that. My husband mountain bikes after he gets off work. You have Garden of the God, Palmer Park, Cheyenne Canyon and many more places. bashep

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by mvinwest

.....I need to be w/in an hour of a major airport! Thanks

I live in the north side of Col Spgs (I-25, exit 153) and if I hurry a bit, I can go from my house to the parking lots at Denver Intl Airport in an hour flat. I usually figure on 75 minutes, but an hour is what I've experienced in most of my trips.

There's a decent, growing airport here in Col Spgs, but DIA is the big dog around here.

[TughillTina]

My vote is for Colorado Springs. Lived in Denver and Colorado Springs and hands down the Springs is truly a great place to ride your bike- Garden of the Gods!!!!!!!!!!!!! Many other trails all over-

[mrs.x-fast]

I grew up in COS and went to college in Ft. Collins. My vote would be for Ft. Collins, only because I think they tend to have more bike lanes throughout the city and that's mostly because of the college. True, they aren't close to a major airport, but if I had to move back to CO, it would be Ft. Collins hands-down.

[COflower]

I live on the north end of Colorado Springs as well.

Labor Day weekend of 2000 (that Monday) I made it from DIA (once I got in the car) to my home (via E-470 -- the toll road) in 55 minutes flat. Granted it was a holiday weekend so I didn't have to deal with any rush hour traffic but not bad.

Also, takes me about 20 minutes to get to the Colorado Springs airport which has a lot of flights but some are not direct.

[JSGOOFN]

MvinWest - don't forget to check out Broomfield, Superior, Lafayette, Louisville and Boulder. I used to live in Broomfield and I could drive 10 minutes and be at three beautiful hiking/biking trails with unobstructed views of Boulder and the Flatiron Moutains. A little bit to the west of Boulder is Chataqua Park which is run by the city and has a ton of trails both hiking and biking. Just to the south is Eldorado Canyon with hiking, biking and rock climbing. Lots of people go out after work to these trails - I used to do it too! Do yourself a favor and check these places out before you make a decision. Also these trails have fewer people since there are more to choose from. I remember going to Garden of the Gods and being overwhelmed by too many people and cars. Seems like everyone went there since there weren't too many trails to choose from close to town. Just my opinion, though.

Good luck and have fun!!
By the way, Broomfield to DIA is only 45 minutes via a lightly travelled toll road (a little expensive, though) but quick!

[chris doyle]

Ft Collins Is A Very Flat City Were Colordo Springs Is Not They Both Have The Same As Rec, And Parks But The Springs Is Much Larger Than Ft Collins 4x

[CSColorado]

We live on the north side of the Springs/ Monument. We have some pretty nice trails here, but Cheyenne Canyon definately has our best single-track trails- hands down. I would say we have better road rides here. I haven't ridden in several years (5 young kids now...) but if they still let you on the AFA that is a GREAT place to ride on the road- if you like hills. Roads are wide, traffic is slow, and the scenery is awsome. We have some more rural roads that are popular for road rides- but traffic is much faster and no bike lanes.