E-bikes have been allowed on trails in Jefferson County for a while, but not everyone likes it

More e-bikes are hitting Colorado trails, once exclusively used by mountain bikers. While sharing the trails has resulted in a number of conflicts, and instances of 'e-bike bullying,' others believe it's becoming more widely accepted -- or at least tolerated.

As more cities and counties explore ways to balance both interests, one county appears to have found a way.

"E-bikes are new and different and that is a threat, I can see that," said Mary Ann Bonnell, a park ranger with Jefferson County Open Space. "A lot of us tend to have a negative reaction to change and we all love our trails so much, and we don't wanna see more conflict on the trails we love, and I want to validate that feeling… but I do wanna say in JeffCo, we have not seen an increase in conflict or injury or any of that due specifically to e-bikes."

Bonnell began working toward an e-bike pilot program in 2016. After gathering data from all kinds of trail users, the e-bike pilot program was launched in 2018.

"We heard the entire gambit, from 'please don't do this,' 'it's the worst idea ever,'" Bonnell continued, "to, 'this will be the most wonderful thing because it will allow me to extend my biking lifespan.'"

In Jefferson County, it's now a policy; any trail a mountain bike is allowed on, an e-bike is as well.

It's one reason Cameron Frazer comes to Jefferson County to ride. The retired racer is dealing with long-haul COVID impacts and can no longer ride the way he used to.

"It's been hard to get out and enjoy the sport I love," he said.

Frazer says he hasn't had much conflict on trails in Jefferson County, because the policies on e-bikes are clear. Once in a while, someone might shout, "cheater", but usually it's in jest. He believes a lot of the more serious conflicts are due to a lack of understanding.

"I was always faster on my mountain bike, not on an e-bike," he said. "It's just not... speed is not a problem. They're limited, and most people who are on an e-bike, they're not fast. They're usually older or they're like me who have health concerns and they're not out here terrorizing the population."

Currently, Jefferson County Open Space is one of few places where class 1 e-bikes are allowed on any trail a mountain bike is allowed.

"I have to drive to JeffCo anytime I wanna ride my bike," said Frazer.

Frazer lives in Boulder where he owns a bike shop, Broken Carbon. Learning that the city of Boulder is the next to make considerations for e-bikers, he says, is music to his ears.

The city of Boulder's Open Space Mountains and Parks will review several options, to open up some of the city's open space trails to e-bikes. Of the options, the staff recommendation is to allow e-bikes on 34 miles of open space trails which represents about 22% of the 154 miles in its trail network.

Over on the western slope, the conversation around e-bikes is similar.

For over 30 years, the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association has been protecting and maintaining trails for mountain bikers. At one point, the topic of e-bikes was so contentious that a board member resigned, but the organization's president, John Howe, says that was years ago.

Today, he's on board with e-bikes. Just not on every trail.

"We have certainly evolved from getting into really heated discussions at board meetings," he said. "We don't want every single mountain bike trail system open to e-bikes. We think there's still places to have traditional mountain bike use and not e-bike use."

For Bonnell, the JeffCo park ranger, one of the things that made the e-bike pilot program so successful, was giving people the ability to test ride. It's what she encourages anyone on the fence to do as well.

"Go on a ride and just see, is it really that bad? Or can you have an open mindset?"

For more information about Jefferson County Open Space and its e-bike policies, click here.