Hi all,

I am going to be making the move to Colorado in a couple months to start my new job and I was hoping the locals here can give me some advice. My office will be in the Centennial area of Denver, and i'm trying to find the best option for areas to live. I am planning to rent an apartment for a while so my options are pretty open and I won't be tied down for too long if the location doesn't work out.

My primary considerations:
- I am a bike racer, so I need somewhere I can ride out the door for long distances on relatively quiet roads (do NOT want to be in a super dense urban area if possible). A 10-15 minute ride out of town is fine but that's it.
- I plan to race regularly on the track at the olympic training center in Colorado Springs, so I would like to be south of town to make it easier.
- Would like to be somewhere where there are options for trail running and day hikes nearby without hitting too much traffic. I would also like to be able to do trail overnights occasionally on the weekends without being in my car for 4 hours.

A friend who lives in Boulder suggested maybe Castle Rock would work for me.. but I haven't got a chance to go out there and look around yet.

Any help is appreciated

Castle Rock isn't a bad place to live. It feels like the city grew out of the Outlet malls there, but still has some appeal.

Maybe look at Parker. It's on the wrong side of the city from the mountains, but it checks all the rest of your boxes nicely. Drive time to real mountains really wouldn't be much different than from Castle Rock. Probably need an hour (or just over) to get well out of town and to a trailhead.

Highlands Ranch is an option, but can be expensive. SW corner of Denver Metro area.

Pretty much all of the west/south side of Denver is pretty suburban and livable.

I live in Castle Rock. It's a suburb south of Denver within 15 minutes of Centennial. There are some good trail running options nearby in Castlewood Canyon State Park. Castle Rock actually has some bike races that are threaded through the town each summer. But I can't really give you too much in specifics for that part. I know the type of distances you are probably biking are probably tens of miles. One option may be the frontage road that runs parallel to I25 south of Castle Rock, you can then turn up east on Crystal Valley Parkway to South Lake Gulch Rd and go north for a few till you hit Plum Creek Parkway to Ridgeroad and then head back towards Founders Parkway. You could probably make a good loop out of that .

As far as the town, I love Castle Rock. It is a distinct town of it's own, is about 1000ft+ higher than Denver so is a bit cooler in the summer and tends to attract more snow.

Edited by randalmartin on 07/10/2012 14:33:49 MDT.

Randy, Daniel, thanks for the insights. It looks like that might be a good option for me and I will also be sure to check out Parker when I fly out there. If there are races going through town it is a safe bet that there are riding routes nearby. I would rather drive a little further to work every day than live somewhere I hate, but it doesn't seem the commute would be too bad anyway.

I'll let you know where I end up

Phil

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Edited by socal-nomad on 07/11/2012 15:29:45 MDT.