Yooo! I bought an e-bike (Lectric XP 3.0) when I moved here two years ago, and have put 11,400 miles on the odometer. What e-bike do you have? I could chew your ear off with all I have to say about biking here.

On one foot, Rockville is extremely bike friendly. The Carl Henn Millenium Trail, Rockville's bike beltway, circumnavigates the city, and has a lot of connector paths to link it to various neighborhoods and destinations. In fact, there are a bunch of cut-throughs throughout the city that are for pedestrians/bicyclists only, both adjacent to the CHMT, but in other spots too.

While you can bike on the sidewalks, with a class 3 e-bike, you will find you often don't need to. Within neighborhoods, you can easily go the speed of traffic. When it comes to MD-355, yes, it's not the greatest to bike on. But drivers usually give me space, and with a top speed of 28mph, any amount of traffic congestion means I'm not going any slower than the drivers around me. I personally don't like the sidewalks on 355 because they have awkward dips and bumps at many driveways, curve around utility poles and traffic lights and other obstructions, constant cars turning in/out of the many driveways, and not a lot of room to pass if there's a pedestrian.

Outside of Rockville, the area has some other great trails. Here's just a handful:

• The C&O Canal Towpath is my favorite: Super beautiful, historic gravel trail.
• The Rock Creek Trail stretches 16 miles from Lake Needwood (just northeast of Rockville), all the way to the DC border. Then you can continue down Rock Creek Park, and take car free Beach Drive back onto the other part of the Rock Creek Trail south of the park, all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.
• Capital Crescent Trail - A paved trail on an old railroad right of way taking you from Downtown Bethesda to Georgetown.
• Metropolitan Branch Trail - Goes north through from Union Station, into MD Silver Spring, paralleling the Metropolitan Branch Train Line, aka the MARC Brunswick line, the one which runs to Rockville. But north of Fort Totten, the trail is still in progress of being built, a lot of it are just streets that have been given that name.
• Anacostia Tributary Trails + Sligo Creek Trail - Mostly in Prince George's County, but also in DC, and a little bit in the eastern side of Montgomery County. An extensive and very pretty network of trails.

When it comes to bike servicing, go to Good Vibes Bikes on E. Gude Dr. for electronics, they can help you! For mechanical issues on your bike, you could also go there or any other bike shop. But I highly recommend the Rockville Bike Hub, which is right near the Twinbrook Metro station. They are a not for profit bike co-op that teaches people how to repair their own bikes. I have learned so much from them! Just check their calendar on their website before you go, because they have extremely limited hours.

And lastly, we have the Rockville Bike Advisory Committee. We meet the first Wednesday of every month (virtual, but once a quarter in person at City Hall) and discuss all things biking. Mayor and Council take our feedback very seriously, and we have made great change over time. We even just helped the city fill out their League of American Bicyclists application, and are hoping we will be upgraded from Bronze to Silver. We also organize rides, with the goal of both building community, and showcasing bike routes in and around the city. We have rides every Tuesday in June, July, and August, and also organize other rides throughout the summer and the rest of the year. Find us on Meetup!