Matthews / Winters

Park in the main Matthews / Winters parking area (there's only one). We'll gather near the sign at the Village Ride Trailhead, on the east end of the parking lot. There are restrooms at this trailhead.

Here's the official link to the Jeffco webpage: https://www.jeffco.us/1292/Matthews-Winter-Park

The first mile of this ride is very kid friendly. All kids should be able to easily ride out and back that first stretch (totaling 2 miles). 

For the stronger riders, there's another ~ 1 mile loop that extends beyond the first mile. This extension incorporates some steeper hills and technical rocky sections. While this isn't overly tough for riders with a couple of years under their belt, it will be a little over the heads of those that are on the trails for the first season. My recommendation is to have the younger riders do the first mile a couple of times, rather than making them hike-a-bike through the technical sections. 

When I recently rode the full loop, the distance was 3.32 miles with an elevation gain of 271 feet.  Just the first mile out only has about 118 feet of elevation gain.

Because the first part of the trail is single track, one key lesson for the kids this week will be trail etiquette, primarily yielding to riders coming up hill.