Davis installed the first official bike lanes in the United States in 1967, hosts the US Bicycling Hall of Fame, and puts a high-wheeler on its city logo. More bikes than cars move through parts of town at rush hour, a fifth of residents commute by bike, and the whole flat grid is stitched together with greenbelts and grade-separated tunnels. This is the closest thing America has to a Dutch town — and it's a delight.
The Routes: Where to Ride Safe
The signature ride: a signed loop circling the city almost entirely on greenbelt paths and quiet streets, ducking under arterials through bike tunnels. It's the best single introduction to how a city built for bikes actually works.
The neighborhoods are threaded with greenbelt paths — linear parks with play structures, ponds, and mature shade — so kids ride to school and adults ride to dinner without touching an arterial.
The university banned most cars from its core decades ago and moves tens of thousands of daily bike trips through its famous roundabout 'bike circles' — rush hour between classes is a spectacle worth seeing.
The classic road-ride exit: the path and quiet frontage along tree-lined Russell Boulevard toward Winters, gateway to the Vaca hills and Cantelow's climbs — where flat Davis riders go to find gradient.
South through the arboretum's edge onto farm roads, or east across the Yolo Causeway bike path toward Sacramento — the flat, fast century terrain that makes Davis a road-riding hub.
A ribbon of gardens along the old Putah Creek channel — ride it gently or park the bike and stroll; either way it's the prettiest green mile in town.
The Group Rides: Davis’s Cycling Culture
Davis Double Century
One of California's oldest and most famous double centuries, run by the Davis Bike Club — 200 miles from the flatlands into the hills and back. The DBC also runs brevets and weekly rides at every level.
US Bicycling Hall of Fame & town culture
The national Hall of Fame anchors downtown, the farmers market fills with bike trailers every Saturday, and May's Loopalooza family ride celebrates the Bike Loop itself.
UC Davis & collegiate racing
One of the country's storied collegiate cycling programs — criteriums and road races bring the college peloton to town every spring.
Infrastructure & Safety
The gold standard: greenbelts, tunnels, bike traffic signals, and drivers who genuinely expect bikes. Hazards are charmingly small-town — pedestrians on the greenbelts, packs of students at class change, and summer heat. It's also flat as a griddle: climbers must ride west to Winters for hills.
Best Time to Ride
September through May is ideal; summer brings serious Central Valley heat — ride at dawn like the locals. Spring means green hills out toward Winters and the Double Century; fall brings perfect temperatures and new-student bike chaos on campus.
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