Logan County launches gravel-bike guide, touts 600 miles of routes

A countywide route map with a local payoff

Logan County is turning its quietest infrastructure, dirt roads, into a sellable asset. The Sterling-Logan County Gravel Adventure Field Guide lays out 10 gravel-bike routes that together point riders toward more than 600 miles of riding, and the project is being sold as a countywide effort to redefine gravel cycling in northeastern Colorado. For Sterling, that could mean more traffic for fuel, food, lodging and other everyday stops as riders pass through on their way to the South Platte River corridor and the open country beyond.

What the guide contains

The field guide is designed as a pocket-sized book with GPS route support, illustrated maps, original artwork, short stories and local insight. That mix matters because Logan County is not simply promoting a scenic drive, it is packaging a way to use the county’s road network, agriculture and open space. The guide says the area has 1,618 miles of dirt roads, which means the 600-mile route set is only a curated slice of what is available to riders.

Why Sterling is the hub

Sterling is the anchor point for the rollout, and the guide leans hard into its role as a front-range-adjacent gravel destination. The Sterling page says riders can “stay, ride, and explore” the sparsely populated landscape of northeast Colorado, then “pull off Interstate 76” and embrace “free-range gravel travel” in Logan County. The county is also selling the experience as something distinct from busier recreation hubs, a place where farm-and-ranch scenery, birding, the South Platte River Valley and long views across the Eastern Plains do the heavy lifting.

The county’s own marketing language helps explain the pitch. It frames Logan County around “quiet roads, with more cattle guards than cars,” which is less a postcard line than a description of the riding environment itself. That is part of the appeal for gravel cyclists, but it is also part of the economic story, because a route network like this can turn a drive-by into a meal, an overnight stay or a return visit.

The county is selling more than scenery

That identity pitch is also an economic one. When a county promotes open roads, cattle guards and wide skies, it is really promoting a pattern of spending that shows up in rooms, meals, repair stops and small retail purchases across town. Sterling stands to gain the most immediate lift because it is the hub named in the guide, but the launch events in Fort Collins and Golden suggest the target audience is the Front Range gravel crowd that can be persuaded to drive east for a day ride or stay overnight.

The broader marketing language is intentional. The guide is presented as a way to experience “another part of Colorado,” and that framing gives Logan County a clearer niche in a crowded recreation market. Instead of competing with mountain-bike destinations, the county is leaning into a rural road network that already exists and asking riders to treat it as the attraction.

How the project was funded

This is not just a tourism brochure financed on a whim. Logan County received a $20,000 Colorado Tourism Office Tourism Management Grant in 2025 to develop a gravel cycling asset, including route development and a comprehensive visitor guide, and the Logan County Lodging Tax Board planned to add a $5,000 match. The Colorado Tourism Office requires a 4:1 match for the program and uses it for tourism and destination stewardship projects, so the county’s share is part of a larger state-backed model that rewards projects with both visitor appeal and long-term place management.

Marilee Johnson told county commissioners that the money would be used to develop a gravel cycling guide to identify routes for gravel cycling. That detail matters because it shows the grant is tied to a concrete deliverable, not just branding. The county is paying to turn an abundant but informal asset, its road network, into a packaged product that can be handed out, sold and used in a way visitors can actually follow.

How the rollout works this season

The guide is still at the printer, with distribution expected in the coming weeks, but the launch has already been staged for the Front Range audience Logan County wants to reach. The Sterling-Logan County launch event was Tuesday, May 5 at the TOPO Store in Fort Collins, followed by a 6 p.m. FOCO Gravel Group Ride at Odell Brewery. Another launch ride is set for Thursday, May 14 in Golden at Rooney Road Parking Lot with Hogshead Brewery, a sign that the rollout is as much about seeding bike-shop shelves and ride groups as it is about local handouts.

The distribution plan is broad, too. The Gravel Adventure Field Guide site says it offers 23 destinations overall, and its local-listing page says each destination prints 10,000 to 24,000 guides, with 5,000-plus going to select bike shops and 4,000-plus staying in the community. That scale suggests Logan County is entering a branded system that can put its name in front of riders well beyond Sterling, while still giving local businesses a physical guide they can use to direct traffic.

A county asset with room to grow

The road history built into the guide adds another layer to the story. The Sterling page says early road development in Logan County came from Native American and pioneer trails, followed by railroad development in the late nineteenth century and state-highway access later in the twentieth century. In other words, the county is not inventing a new landscape, it is reinterpreting an old transportation network for a new kind of visitor.

That may be the most useful part of the guide for residents this season. Logan County is not being sold as a stopover anymore, but as a place where quiet roads, rural scenery and a well-marked route system can keep cyclists moving through town long enough to matter. If the rollout works, the county will have converted one of its most ordinary assets, dirt roads, into one of its most marketable ones.