Ride Summary

This is a moderate ride of 9 plus miles on roads with good bike lanes. There are 2 moderate climbs on the route, one of about 1/2 mile and the other of about a mile. This of course implies that there are 2 nice descents if you like to get up a little speed. A nice lunchtime ride or evening short ride.

Trailhead / Access

The starting point for this ride is the shopping center at Centennial and Vindicator. Since this is a shopping center, use a little discrecion on where you park. There are some spaces right by the entrance off of Centenial that are far enough from any of the stores not to be used except under the busiest of conditions. I usually park there.

Course - 9.25 miles

Starting from the shopping center, turn right out of the entrance and proceed down Centennial Blvd. The 4 miles will follow Centennial Blvd. You will cross Garden of the Gods Road and continue to almost Filmore Ave. The first 3.5 miles are rolling but downhill. A short .5 mile climb will take you to Filmore. I turned at the stoplight just before Filmore because it looked like less hassle than the light at Filmore itself. This part of the course has a good bike lane for most of it. Near the end, the bike lane was a little rougher and had more debris but it was still a distinct lane.

After turning around at the light, proceed back the way you came. At 30th Street, you will turn left. Here there is no bike lane, but the road is quite wide and you will be on it for only a short distance. About 1/2 mile, you will reach Flying W Ranch Road. Turn right here. At this point, you will have your second climb of the ride. This climb is moderate and a little more than a mile. I did not have to go to my lowest gears on this one. You have a bike lane on this section and the road is wide.

At the top of the hill, the bike lane gets a little sandy, I hugged the left side of the lane to avoid the sand and move into the car lane after picking up speed to the speed limit (or above). At that speed, I did not want to chance poor traction. At the bottom of the hill, I turned left into the Walgreen's parking lot and followed the road behind and back to the car.

This is a 9.25 mile loop which goes a little outside of Mtn Shadows but to make it a reasonable distance, I went to Filmore. You can shorten the route a by turning around at Garden of the Gods or even turning at 30th Street. This course can be easily added to the Peregrine Loop Course to extend the distance for those wanting to ride further.