I put together some information about the rides and area.
Routes and food
Some help figuring the routes, and some information on places to feed both yourself and your bike along the way. If you have a GPS you should be able to use these towns as waypoints. If you work the old fashioned way, paper maps, then these will give you what you need to figure out where your going.
If riding the Walden loop route
From Loveland the towns you can route too will be:
Drake
Nothing much here at all, it's just a point on the map where you hang a right. There is a restaurant on the right but I think it's closed. When it was open the food and service sucked...
Glen Haven
Not much here either, except the best cinnamon rolls in Colorado. Stop in at the general store.
Grand Lake
Gas and food are available. Good place for lunch would be Pancho & Lefty's. All the way through town on the right. You'll have to turn left off the highway to enter Grand Lake.
Granby
Gas and food. I've never eaten there so no recommendations. The main town is to your left where the route turns right.
Walden
Gas and food both. River Rock Cafe has the best food in town. On the left as you ride down the main drag. Walden is my usual gas and food stop.
Rustic
Couple places for gas, and one restaurant at the Glen Echo Resort. They also have one of the gas pumps.
Masonville
Nothing of much interest here. Turn right to go to Loveland.
For the Mt. Evans ride:
Lyons
Gas and food. To continue the route ride west through town and turn left at the end.
Nederland
Gas and food. I don't eat here much so cant offer any recommendations in town. There are some places to eat on the Hwy as you head south too.
Blackhawk
This is a casino town. A mini Las Vegas. Food would be available in the casinos I guess...
Central City
More casinos but a cuter town. Food and gas here too. Overall though your best to wait till Idaho Springs.
Idaho Springs
Lots of stuff here. Beau Jo's, Tommy Knockers, and more. I70 runs through here so they have plenty going on. Plenty of gas options too.
Mt. Evans
At the entrance gate you'll find Echo Lake Lodge.
The road up starts in Idaho Springs. If you cant find it, just ask anyone who looks like a local. It's Hwy 103, Exit 240 off I70.
Reverse this from Idaho Springs for the route back. I recommend a different route though from the Mt. Evans entrance gate back to Idaho Springs. When you come back out of the entrance, turn right on Hwy 103. A wonderful road. Take this down to 151 and back to Idaho Springs.
There is also an alternate return loop shown on the map blufjr posted on page 2 of this thread. It's a ride down Left Hand Canyon to Hwy 36, and then north to Lyons. Left Hand Cyn is a nice road so you may want to consider this bit. You could use the town of Gold Hill as a routing point to help find your turn off Hwy 72.
Some general info on Loveland
Lots here, at least for an old Colorado railroad town.
We like our beer around here and have a number of good craft brewery's in town. None close enough to walk to from the hotel, but there is an Old Chicago restaurant in the Target shopping center (west of the hotel) that has a pretty comprehensive beer list.
Walking from the hotel you will find:
IHOP
McDonalds
KFC
In the Target center:
Chili's
Old Chicago
Panera Bread
and more.
Also in the Target center is a small liquor store.
Heading East on Hwy 34, over across the interstate, you will find a number of restaurants, and a shopping mall.
West on Hwy 34 (Eisenhower Blvd) you will find some more restaurants gas and a Wal Mart. Continue west to Hwy 287S (Cleveland) and go south to 4th street. This is the old town area. Not very big, but a few good restaurants will be found. Also three craft brew houses. I personally recommend Verboten which is west of Cleveland, on 5th street. Good brew..
From brew I'll segue into something people always seem curious about, but are afraid to ask. We are a bit of a curiosity to some due to our, shall we say, somewhat liberal views on pot. Or at least our state governments liberal views. So, in case anyone is curious and isn't sure how or what to ask...
Part of the law legalizing marijuana included the right for each city to decide for themselves whether or not to allow the sale in their city limits. Loveland said nope, not gonna happen. So, you have to leave Loveland to buy anything, but you are allowed to posses and use pot in the city. That's perfectly legal. The closest place to buy will be up in Ft. Collins. I asked some people I know who do use the stuff and have a recommendation for a place on the south side of Ft. Collins.
Since pot is still illegal on a federal level (yeah, it's weird) the banks wont do business with the pot sellers. Thus, it's a cash only business. No credit cards allowed.
If your interested, let me know and I'll pass on the recommendation. PM me, or ask when you're here.
And no, nothing has really changed since the law passed. No stoned hippies on the street corners or anything like that. Well, maybe down in Boulder...
So there ya go. If anyone has any questions fire away. If your interested in other ride suggestions let me know and I'll do my best to help out.
See ya all soon!
