We've featured Babettes Bakery in the past. If you are looking for a shorter and easier ride that gets you there, check out this route!
We gave this route a 4-mountains difficulty rating because of some slightly spicy technical singletrack. Beyond that, the elevation on this ride is moderate by Boulder standards.
What a fun mix of trails this route will take you on!
The Open Sky Trails near Lagerman Reservoir is a favorite area of ours. It is a wide smooth trail section that is closed to motor-vehicles. It is generally not busy, has nice views, and rolls and winds as it goes by little ponds.
The single track on Joder Ranch Trails and the new North Sky Trail are slightly spicy on a gravel bike. There are a couple of places you might have to hop off the bike for a steep pitch or little rock garden, but it was so worth it for the beautiful views and tons of colorful wildflowers along the way.
You will skirt around the scenic Boulder Reservoir, which is practically a "must do" for any gravel route in the north Boulder area.
The ditch trails and Hidden Star trail feel like secret little double-tracks that are hidden in shaded residential neighborhoods.
Left Hand Canyon is paved but there is a reason it is such a popular route for all cyclists. Biking along the Left Hand Creek is lovely and there is a wide shoulder. Keep your eyes out for wild turkeys!
We saw lots of baby animals in the late spring- tiny baby prairie dogs, baby goats jumping around on one of the Boulder farms, and many sweet little new-born calfs.
Babettes Bakery is absoluetly AMAZING. If you like a bakery/coffee stop, this one is exceptional and not to be skipped. I am still dreaming about the Rhubarb Creme Brulee pastry and Cortado I had. (The bakery is right at the end of the route at approximately mile 40. They are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.)
There are two busy paved roads you have to cross where there is not a light or intersection: Longmont diagonal highway at about mile 5, and North Foothills Parkway at mile 15.6.
Both are fine as long as you are patient and careful, but especially since so much of this route is low-traffic or on car-free trails, these two spots were our least favorite moments on the ride.
Honestly, as long as you're an intermediate gravel cyclist with single track experience and don't mind navigating some rocks and doing some climbing, this route is 98% delightlful.
Do this ride if you want a perfect mix of slightly spicy and fun trails mixed with dirt roads and a bit of pavement in beautiful North Boulder, coupled with one of the best bakery stops around!
We started this ride at the Left Hand Creek Park where there is both parking and public bathrooms.
You might encounter horseback riders on the trails. Make sure to slow your roll, yield to them, and ask if it is ok/safe to pass.
Don't forget: cyclists traveling downhill on singletrack should yield to ones headed uphill. Pull over when you can and strive to make each pass a safe and courteous one.
There are restrooms to be found here and there: Slightly off-course at Lagerman Reservoir around mile 9, at Buckingham Park right before the turn off to Old Stage Road from Left Hand Canyon at mile 18.2, shortly after you exit the Eagle Trail on the Sage Trail at mile 27, and at the parking lot when you enter Boulder Reservoir at mile 29.5.
My tubeless WTB Riddler TCS Tires, size 700x45, pumped to 30 psi handled the mixed terrain well if you are looking for a tire recommendation for this route.
It's a bit of a bummer that Babettes Bakery doesn’t have any gluten-free options, but luckily there is a coffee house with gluten-free options just a few blocks away if you are Celiac or gluten sensative- Cave Girl Coffeehouse.
Laura Karpinski
I got a bike as a young child and quickly set off making trips up and down the driveway then loops around my neighborhood, but I fell away from the joy of cycling as more and more of my free time was occupied by ballet training (around age 10). It wasn’t until I gave up my professional dancing career and moved to Colorado in 2000 that I began cycling seriously.
From infancy, and well into my late 20’s, I suffered from exercise-induced asthma and was afraid of cardio activities that made me wheeze. If my asthma was triggered by an intense activity, I was advised to stop immediately and use an inhaler.
I was into yoga and Pilates back in 2000 (Still am today!), so when one of my friends suggested we go to a spin/yoga class (30 min of spin, followed by 30 min of yoga), I was game to at least try something new. Even though I had trouble breathing in the classes, the safety of an indoor spin class gave be the ability to choose how hard to push myself, and at just 30 min, I slowly learned to tolerate the stress on my lungs. The fact that the spinning was followed by yoga gave me space to work with calming my thoughts and my head which said: “I can’t do this!”. As I got stronger and more confident and my cardio endurance increased, my asthma problems became less and less, and therefore, my willingness to try more adventurous and strenuous activities increased! I went from seeing cyclists biking up Lookout Mountain in Golden, CO and thinking, “they are crazy!”, to, “that looks kind of fun and I wonder if I can do that?”. And then I bought a bike, joined a club and tried biking up that mountain! My Asthma is nearly non-existent and I have been hooked on outdoor biking ever since.
I currently live in downtown Denver and have been car-free for about 10 years, typically biking 7,000+ miles a year between commuting, road riding and gravel bike adventuring. I have been a member of Naked Women’s Racing Team, and Colorado Women’s Cycling Project.
I teach Pilates and Yoga for a living and have been doing it for over 20 years. In 2001, I went out on my own and began a private-practice Pilates Studio called Align.Move.Breathe. I am a self-proclaimed “body nerd”, constantly reading, attending continuing education workshops and learning as much as I can about movement, bio-mechanics, alignment, anatomy and Ideokenesis.
I love to teach my clients how to relax and have fun with all movement, as well as have new and positive experiences with their bodies while gaining strength and flexibility in body, mind, and spirit. I strongly believe in both Pilates and Yoga as safe, supportive, and healing practices which can profoundly transform one’s every-day life!
If you are in the Denver area and interested in the intersection of biking and Pilates or Yoga, contact me at align.move.breathe@gmail.com.
Laura’s favorite Gravel Route: There are so many great rides it is REALLY hard to decide, but if there was one ride I would do over and over, it would be Four Mile Canyon and Switzerland Trail to Sugarloaf. It’s quiet, beautiful, challenging and fun!
Laura’s Gravel Bike: Rodeo Adventure Lab's Titanium Flaanimal 5.0 custom build with SRAM Force AXS 1x12 mullet (10-50 cassette) and WTB Riddler TCS 700x45 Tires.
