Boulder Is Consistently Rated as One of the Best Places to Bike in the Country

With an active culture, more than 300 days of sunshine and hundreds of miles of bikeways, Boulder is a great place for bicycling.

Boulder’s Bike Network

Get Around by Bike

Plan your route

Biking for your commute

All RTD buses and Boulder’s local HOP bus are equipped with bike racks on the front. Learn more about RTD’s Bike-N-Ride.

Dismount Zones

All device types must dismount when they see this symbol of a person standing next to a bike and skateboard with a null sign over them

Riding bikes and other devices on the sidewalk, except for accessibility purposes, is prohibited downtown on and around the Pearl Street Mall and in the University Hill commercial area.

Bikes can be ridden on all streets, in bike lanes, on multi-use paths and on sidewalks outside dismount zones.

Which Wheels Go Where?

What about e-bikes?

Bicycle Safety

Multi-use paths

  • Multi-use paths have a 15 mph speed limit for bikes (including e-bikes), unless noted otherwise.
  • E-bikes are prohibited on some multi-use paths.

Did you know?

  • It’s illegal for bicyclists to wear headphones or earbuds while riding.
  • Bicyclists are required to have a white light on the front of their bike and a red light on the back when riding after dusk.
  • Always ride with the flow of traffic.
  • Keep right, pass left, and give an audible alert before passing.
  • Bicyclists must yield to pedestrians.

Open Space trails

  • Yield the right-of-way to all other trail users and bicyclists traveling uphill.
  • Pass with care and alert others in advance of your approach.
  • Control your speed at all times. Safe speeds vary with trail conditions and the business of the trail.
  • Practice minimum impact bicycling: avoid muddy trails, skidding, hard braking and shortcutting. Riding on wet or muddy trails causes serious trail erosion and may result in a temporary trail closure.

Learn about the Safety Stop

The Safety Stop is a state law that gives people on bicycles and other low-speed mobility devices, such as scooters, the legal option to ride slowly through stop signs without stopping first. Learn how to do a Safety Stop

Report a Bicycle Incident

Crash

  • The law requires you to stop immediately, aid any injured person and to properly identify yourself.
  • You are also required to notify the police immediately by calling 9-1-1 in an emergency.
  • In non-emergency situations, please call 303-441-3333.

Close call

  • Submit a close call form on Inquire Boulder.
  • You can also use the Inquire Boulder mobile app, available on the App Store and Google Play.
  • Reporting close calls helps the city identify potential trouble spots in our transportation network.

Park Your Bike

Free bicycle racks

These are provided throughout Boulder, and make it easier and more secure to park your bike. Park your bicycle in a designated bike rack whenever possible. All official Open Space and Mountain Parks Trailheads have bicycle racks.

Secure bike parking

Available for free inside the following garages:

  • Spruce Street parking structure at Spruce and 11th streets.
  • Pearl Street parking structures at Pearl and 15th streets.
  • Walnut Street parking structure at Walnut and 14th streets.

Free bicycle lockers

Available at these RTD facilities:

  • Downtown Boulder Transit Station
  • Table Mesa Park-n-Ride and many Park-n-Ride lots throughout the Denver metro area.

Learn more about RTD's Bike-n-Ride program.

Boulder County also has Bike-n-Ride shelters available - learn more on their website.

Lease a locker

Six-month renewable contracts are available from RTD for $20
  1. For more information

    Call 303-299-6000 or 303-442-7332

Register Your Bike

Be prepared

Bicycle Theft Prevention

Free registration

CU bike registration

Register your bike at this link (you don’t have to be a student).

If your bike is stolen

  1. Report a stolen bicycle
  2. Bike Index account update
    • If you have an account with Bike Index, login and update your bicycle’s status to stolen
    • If do NOT have an account with Bike Index, you can report your bicycle as stolen

    As part of the program, your name and contact information is recorded, along with the bicycle make, model and serial number. Law enforcement will utilize this database to contact you in the event that they recover your bicycle.

Consejos para prevenir el robo de bicicletas

  • Siempre guarde su bicicleta con candado, incluso en casa. Frecuentemente, las bicicletas se las roban de los patios, garajes o cocheras.
  • Use candados de alta calidad, ya sea candados en forma de U o candados de cadena de alta resistencia. Solo use cables como seguro secundario, para asegurar las llantas al marco.
  • Asegure tanto las llantas como el marco a un estante para bicicletas, en un área concurrida y con buena iluminación, y use el mejor candado que pueda comprar. ¡No deje su bicicleta sin atender por mucho tiempo!
  • Cuando estacione su bicicleta, llévese con usted cualquier pieza o componente que se pueda quitar fácilmente (luces, bomba de aire, bolsas y el asiento).
  • Después de registrar su bicicleta con Bike Index, tómese una foto con su bicicleta y otra con el número de serie de la bicicleta. Si le roban su bicicleta y después es recuperada, las fotos pueden ser utilizadas para comprobar que la bicicleta es de su propiedad.

Puede reportar un robo en línea, llamando a la sede central de la policía (303) 441-3333, por Bikeindex.com, o a través de la aplicación móvil del Departamento de Policía de Boulder

Check out shared e-bikes and e-scooters!

Boulder BCycle Bike Share

Lime e-Scooter Program

Ride E-Bikes Safely and Legally

Where to ride

Electric bicycles, or e-bikes, are permitted in the City of Boulder. There are different types of e-bikes. Most e-bikes follow the same rules as traditional bicycles and are allowed on sidewalks, multi-use paths, streets and bike lanes. Class 3 e-bikes are not permitted on paths and sidewalks.

Learn more about e-micromobility rules and safety.

Trails

Speed limit

  • Comply with the 15 mph speed limit on multi-use paths

Passing

  • Keep right, pass left
  • Give an audible alert before passing

Bicycle Planning

Bicycling is often portrayed as a symbol of the healthy and active community and lifestyle found in Boulder. Boulder already has high bicycle use compared to most U.S. communities, but with growing public health concerns about obesity and air quality, increased bicycling remains one of the most effective ways to travel while achieving personal health and air quality benefits. With an average trip length of about four miles, many of the trips made by Boulder residents could be accomplished by bike.

The bicycle element is based on developing a continuous bicycle network of cross-town corridors allowing for safe and convenient bicycle travel throughout the community. While these corridors may be composed of a variety of facility types, continuous corridors avoid the missing links that disrupt bicycle travel and put bicyclists in unexpected, difficult, and potentially dangerous situations. The bicycle element also recognizes that bicycle users range from the experienced commuter who is comfortable in traffic to children who cannot safely use a busy street. Consequently, a system of off-street multi-use paths is included as an option to the street system.

The long range bicycle network for the City of Boulder is comprehensive and will provide both on- and off-street connections throughout the city. With the completion of the bicycle element, an additional 92 miles of bicycle lanes, routes, and shoulders will be added. In addition, enhanced crossings, overpasses and underpasses will be added to the bicycle network. These facilities will provide safe connections and the opportunity for bike travel throughout the city for all levels of riders.

Bicycle Policies

  • The city will complete a grid-based system of primary and secondary bicycle corridors to provide bicycle access to all major destinations and all parts of the community.
  • The city will coordinate with Boulder County, CU, the Boulder Urban Renewal Authority (BURA), neighborhood plans, the City Parks and Recreation Department, the Open Space and Mountain Parks Department and other government entities, and plans to ensure that all city and county projects connect with and/or help to complete the corridor network.
  • The city will work with property owners, developers, the BURA, the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD), the City Parks and Recreation Department, and CU to ensure that commercial, public, and mixed-use and multi-unit residential sites provide direct, safe and convenient internal bicycle circulation oriented along the line of sight from external connections to areas near building entrances and other on-site destinations.
  • The city will combine education and enforcement efforts to help instill safe and courteous use of the shared public roadway, with a focus on better educating students on how to properly share the road with bicyclists, pedestrians and users of transit.