It's a nice route that's mostly rolling with a couple of decent climbs in it. It's fun to do it different directions as well.

"Aidslifecycle (a 575 mile bike ride) is co-produced by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and is designed to advance their shared interests to end the pandemic and human suffering caused by AIDS."

In June 2008, for my 11th Year, I will participate in an event to benefit the S.F. AIDS Foundation called AIDS LifeCycle. Each year, I cycle 575 miles (from S.F to L.A, CA.). And, I complete the ride knowing I did the right thing.

Paved Hilly and some gradual curves

A great summertime ride. For a 14-1/2 mile ascent, start at Echo Lake. This is the highest paved one-way road in the continental US. Easy grade -- averaging about 5% -- so it's not a killer climb, just a relentless one. Great, great views. And of course the ride down is an absolute blast. Best to do it on a weekday; weekend traffic can be heavy. Or get an early weekend start to ride up before car traffic gets bad. (You want to be off the mountain by 1 pm typically anyway, since afternoon thunderstorms are common.) More hardy cyclists can start in Idaho Springs (28 miles to the top, 7,000' of climbing) or Bergen Park (and approach the mountain via the Squaw Pass road).

Nice 30-mile loop starting in the Berkeley Hills at Grizzly Peak and Wildcat Canyon Road. Head through Tilden Park and then down Wildcat Canyon. Turn left and do a big loop around San Pablo Reservoir. A few miles of traffic then it's off to more rural roads and over the Three Bears, three challenging hills. Finally, back up Wildcat Canyon Road and through Tilden back to the starting point.

This is a nice (classic) 50-mile out and back from Coot Lake (IBM plant) in Boulder to Carter Lake near Loveland. Mostly flat with just a few little hills, then a final climb up to the reservoir. Ends at the marina coffee shop.