Most trail guides tell you where the trails are. Around Loveland the harder question is where an e-bike may legally go, because the answer is not what most riders assume: Larimer County prohibits e-bikes on its natural surface trails, including the famous singletrack at Devil's Backbone, while every paved trail in the area welcomes them.
So this guide only recommends rides we would put our own rental fleet on. Each route page shows distance, climbing, and surface computed from the state's COTREX trail data, plus the e-bike rule for that trail's land manager, quoted from the source with the date we checked it. When a rule changes, the page changes.
The routes
Loveland Recreation Trail
The city-circling loop and the ride we recommend first.
Boyd Lake shoreline
Water on one side, mountains on the horizon, dead flat.
Big Thompson River section
Cottonwoods, river crossings, and the loop's gentlest grades.
Long View Trail
The paved way north to Fort Collins, two managers, one rule.
Front Range Trail connection
Two miles that tie Boyd Lake into the network going north.
Big Thompson Canyon
The flagship climb to Estes Park, on the highway, eyes open.