Here is a google map of the route.
Five of us met up at Matthews/Winters park in Golden Colorado. We followed Highway 74 from Morrison to Kittredge, where we got breakfast at Country Road Cafe. The breakfast alone is worth the ride, which explains why we lost two bikes and three people to "other commitments" after eating.
I only took a few pictures, because the ride was just too fun for lots of stops. The photo above is at the top of the pass, about 10,500 feet. As you can see by the snow already on the ground, this might be the last mountain ride of the year. One of these days soon, there will be a big enough storm to cover the road. It could be any day now.
If you are in the front range for any amount of time, make an effort to ride 103. It isn't a canyon, but rather up the side of a mountain, with several switchbacks and a big elevation gain. Don't get too distracted by the view, though. There wasn't much traffic---probably as many bicycles as cars. There were a few motorcycles coming the other direction, but not nearly as many as the canyon roads around here attract. The road itself is mostly good, but has a few cracks and is a bit broken up in places. Nothing that will be a problem at sane speeds.
During the summer there is the option of climbing Mount Evans to 14,000 ft on a very twisty and narrow, but paved, road. I think Evans is a much more scenic drivable 14er than Pikes Peak. It's also much cheaper.
From there we took the Central City parkway to Central City and Blackhawk. Still full from breakfast we skipped the casino related "$5.99 prime rib" and "free lunch for new gamblers" offers. From there it was a few miles out on 119 (Peak to Peak highway) and then down Golden Gate Canyon road. Golden Gate Canyon had much more traffic than 103. A few times we found ourselves stuck behind stacks of cars with one slow moving vehicle up front. In this part of Colorado slow moving vehicles are rarely white-knuckled grannies, but usually Subaru 4-wheel drive station wagons with one or more young men in them. They have probably been out mountain biking or hiking, and due to post-event chemical augmentation are seeing the world move by much faster than it actually is.
I'd like to hear about any good route ideas people have for the Colorado front range. There are tons of great roads up here, so even after living here for many years, I'm always happy to learn about new ones.