Battle of the e-bikes continues in Colorado Springs open spaces
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - The battle of the e-bikes on Colorado Springs trails continues. Starting next Tuesday, July 1, e-bikers will be allowed to ride on a number of trails within the city, but not all of them.
We sent a KRDO13 crew to Red Rock Canyon Open Space, an area where e-bikers are still not allowed, but could be in the future. While there, our team was able to get a wide range of opinions on the debate.
“The single track [trails] up a little higher could really be congested and dangerous,” said mountain biker Mark Melchior. “What I’ve seen of e-bikers out on the trail is they want people to get out of their way.”
A hiker, Debra Posey, argued, “I think that it might disturb the elk and wildlife; the birds and things like that.”
However, others don’t see much difference between mountain bikes and Class 1 e-bikes. One mountain biker, PJ Hollenbeck, disagreed that e-bikes were an issue by telling us, "E-assist, where you still have to pedal predominantly, is probably fine - just makes it easier to get up the hill.”
According to the city, they are first allowing Class 1 e-bikes that go up to 20 MPH on a couple of dozen urban trails.
You can find an integrative map of the designated trails here.
“We really felt that was a level that was a little bit safer for our trails and allowed our users to interact with e-bikes in a good way,” said Lonna Thelen with the Colorado Springs Trails, Open Spaces and Parks Program.
We’re told the city is waiting to see how this change goes before it allows faster bikes like Class 2 and 3 e-bikes. The same goes for the city when deciding whether to allow e-bikes in open spaces like Red Rock Canyon or Ute Valley Park.
In the meantime, according to the city, you can be fined up to $250 for disobeying rules for e-bikes on trails.
KRDO13 also spoke with Steve Harris from the Palmer Land Conservancy, which is the group in charge of the land trust banning motorized vehicles at Red Rock Canyon Open Space and in some other parks across Colorado Springs. He said he appreciates the city’s phased approach.
Steve says it’s possible they eventually change the rules at Red Rock Canyon, but it's a tricky process involving their board and attorney, and they’re treading lightly. Steven says it's very important for his team to not "do something just willy-nilly.” However, Steve said he acknowledges that things have changed since the trust was written.
“Certainly there was a desire to preclude motorcycles and dirt bikes,” he explained. But, Steve says e-bikes fall in a gray area for now regarding how they might impact the environment in some areas.
He told us here at KRDO13 that he'll be waiting to see what comes of local studies based on phase one.
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