My wife and I have been to Colorado and north all the way up to Kalispell, Montana and Yellowstone. Next summer, we are planning to ride to south Colorado (Durango area) and then to Moab Utah and visit the parks. Best roads to travel on a bike? Its a 2 week trip, 2 days to get to Colorado Springs from Va and then 2 days to travel back. In between, we would have 7 days to ride and sight see.

 

Not a lot of time for an amazing area. We did 10 days total in Utah last summer with a brief detour into Colorado. Easily could have been another week, everything is that good from the roads to the National Parks.

 

Well if in the Durango area you are definitely going to want to do the "Million Dollar Highway" ride from Silverton to Ouray. I did that one around July/August. Just got back from riding through Moab. Just riding from Durango to Moab is going to probably burn a day.

 

We did this a couple of years back. Stayed in a campground outside of Durango.

Great rides, varied scenery. I t goes from forested mountains to moonscape in 50 mile or so when you go into Utah.

We loved Silverton. but failed to get reservations for the train. Darn, we had to ride our bikes instead.

Seriously, everyone recommended the train, but, don't expect to get tickets off the cuff.

We went through Pagosa Springs, but did not stop. Looked like an interesting place too.

We will be back, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

 

Obscure National Park in SW Colorado is Mesa Verde NP, features artifacts of the cliff dwellers. Spent the night at the lodge last year but didn't budget enough time to venture further into the park to see the cliff dwellings. Figure a full day here. Grand Canyon is about a days ride from Durango, mostly wide open desert to get there but the Grand Canyon is an extraordinary sight. Book months in advance if you intend to stay at the park lodge on the rim of the canyon. We stayed on the north rim, our room wasn't anything special but the lodge restaurant is right on the rim with breathtaking views and great food. Spent one night in Moab on the trip, if I were doing it again it would be at least 2. Lots of interesting things to do in the area and I really liked the town. Followed the Colorado River out of Moab back into Colorado, it's not the quickest route but a really cool ride on a road with very little traffic.

 

Moab, we did a 4x4 trip out on the rocks for the sunset, was worth every penny. Guide did some serious rock crawling in the Jeep.

Mesa Verde, the cliff dwellings are very cool, take the tour and they let you climb down and walk thru them.

 

I agree with @Architect -- if there's anyway you can squeeze a couple extra days, they won't be wasted. Don't overlook Goblin Valley State Park. You'll definitely want to ride from Hanksville, UT to Torrey (through Capitol Reef N.P.), down to Boulder and over to Bryce Canyon. Along the way there are some really nice hikes that are worth a stop. From there, you can ride down to Zion NP, where you can easily spend at least one day, possibly two. From Zion you can proceed to the Grand Canyon, then loop back to southwest Colorado via Monument Valley.

 

Here is a map to some good roads to ride.

 

Thanks for the great ideas!

 

We did Moab in August a few years ago. It was HOTTT.

The ride through UT that AtticusFinch mentioned is awesome riding. Bryce Canyon is beautiful.

Definitely do the train ride from Durango to Silverton. Book ahead of time and reserve the last seat in the car. You will have extra room for standing, etc. I joked with the conductor that I wanted my money back on my seats. I told him we did not sit in them the whole way up. Beautiful ride. Ride the train up and pay a little extra to ride the bus back. We did not do this. We napped on the way back. The cool thing about riding the train back is if you stick around, they put the engine in the roundhouse.

Pagosa Springs has a pretty cool spa in town to soak in the hot springs. When I went it cost $20. They give you a towel, bar of soap and a locker key. You shower before and after soaking in the pools. They have hot tubs at different temps.