There are lots of reasons to love Steamboat Springs, but biking along the Yampa River on the Core Trail or blazing down the single track on Howelson Hill or Mt. Werner are both at the top of the list.   Now it is official:  Steamboat Springs, CO has been awarded a silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community designation by the League of American Bicyclists. Steamboat was one of two communities to be awarded the Silver level out of 17 communities that applied.  A few other towns got a Bronze designation.

The League of American Bicyclists awards the designation based on five categories: education, engineering, enforcement, encouragement and evaluation. We have dozens of miles of paved bike paths and countess miles of single-track. And for a mountain town, Steamboat is surprisingly flat if you stay near on the floor of the Yampa Valley.

Since Intrawest bought the ski mountain and developers started rebuilding Lincoln Avenue, biking can be faster than sitting in the construction traffic.  And it's definitely easier to find parking.

It's one thing to see hundreds of people biking on one of our many warm blue-sky days, but I still get a kick out of seeing bikers pedalling through a snow storm with their skis strapped to the back, heading to the mountain for a powder day.