[Gravel Ride] Castlewood Figure-8

The Castlewood Figure-8 route is an exceptional gravel cycling ride in the south Denver Metro. After a few, short miles cycling out of Castle Rock you’ll be rewarded with quiet and scenic gravel roads!

The scenery and terrain vary greatly along this route – which is another reason why I love it! Here’s a breakdown of the different sections:

Champagne Gravel

East Greenland Road had the best roads of this route – very smooth, very quiet with a slight downhill! We ripped this section and enjoyed every minute of it! It had the added bonus of facing west on it so we had Pikes Peak in our view the entire time. It doesn’t get better than this!

Colorado Front Range Trail

This 4-mile section was a delight and the “playground” of the route. Single track trail with sand, dirt, dips and spikes – something to keep you on your toes the entire time. Oh, it is located right next to I-25 … .never knew it was there!

Hurt Locker

After the mid-point rest stop in Larkspur, you hit your biggest climb of the day on Upper Lake Gulch Rd on loose gravel and then continue with a series of rollers. You feel this!

Castlewood State Park

The namesake of this route! Riding through Castlewood State Park is a delight and a boost as you’re nearing the end of the ride. Heads up that this section could be busy with vehicles during the summer or autumn season. We had our 2nd rest stop here to fuel up for the City Grind at the End.

City Grind at the End

This section was rough. There is no easy way to get from Castlewood back to Castle Rock given that the only road is busy State Hwy 86. This means that we had to go up, around, and through the city. It was a lovely route in itself yet was tough at the end of a long day in the saddle. However, don’t let this end discourage you – it is a great route and one that I would highly recommend!