COPPER MOUNTAIN — First-time snow-bikers don’t tend to spend the day stuck to the bunny slopes, accumulating bruises or punching the ground with rage.

My group was whisking gleefully through bumps and trees by the second run.

The bikes — with skis in place of wheels and beneath the feet — are light, easy to maneuver and a great way to get attention.

At Copper Mountain Ski Resort, I joined a Wednesday-morning tour group of four — including Shannon Tesi, Erika Schmidt and JoAnn Siglin, each of whom are local skiers.

Siglin had snow-biked before, but the others had never even seen the odd-looking bikes.

Roger Hollenbeck, our guide and president of Rocky Mountain Snowbike, called us “50-footers” because we were ready for action after only a few turns.

The day started on the American Flyer lift. We began on a green, which led to a blue before — on only the first run — we hit the superpipe.

We stopped above the pipe while Hollenbeck explained the mechanics. He said to be sure and complete our turns.

A husky snowboarder with glasses under her goggles and blood in her teeth approached us as we sat looking into the pipe.

“Do you know your teeth are bleeding?” somebody said.

The snowboarder said the injury was probably from snow-biking all day Tuesday. Everyone was silent for an awkward moment, then Hollenbeck dropped into the pipe, catching some nice ups.

I hesitate to admit it, but if our group had a straggler, it was me. As an avid and skillful snowboarder, I haven’t spent much time on the slopes with my feet moving independently. That’s my excuse, anyway.

So the others all took their turns in the pipe, smoothly converting between the sides. I was last.

The first turn up the side of the pipe was in good form, and I went about halfway to the top.

I turned and went up the other side, which was covered in shadow, climbing up, up — but I waited too long to turn.

I wiped out and hit the ground sliding. No worries. I dusted off, hopped back on the saddle and met up with the group before returning to the lift line.

People everywhere ogled the group of snow-bikers. They asked all sorts of questions.

“That looks like a scab machine,” one woman said to me. Other people asked whether it was tough to ride.

“I think it’s kind of weird,” said one of my coworkers, who knows nothing of the sport.

And in fact, snow-bikers run into many of the same arbitrary restrictions as those snowboarders faced in the sport’s early years.

Breckenridge Ski Resort doesn’t allow snow bikes.

“Snow-biking is just not a part of our business model at this time,” resort spokeswoman Kristen Petitt said.

Keystone Resort allows it, but the snow bikers must take a lesson and be certified before renting bikes.

Hollenbeck said Copper Mountain and Arapahoe Basin have allowed the snow bikes for years.

The sport recently received a popularity boost, as Giorgio Armani has begun featuring the bikes on the catwalk and in stores.

Hollenbeck’s been into the sport for 12 years. He said new snow bikes cost about $1,400.

The learning curve for folks accustomed to snowsports is ordinarily the same as that of our group, he said

“Ski-school dropouts” often find the snow bikes an engaging alternative to the more traditional mountain sports, he said.

Getting on the lift with the 17-pound bikes is a piece of cake. The riding instructions are pretty straightforward.

Siglin summed it up with one phrase: “Show your butt.”

Most of the rhythm of successful snow-biking is executed through swift sideways-movements of the hips. The feet and hands mainly offer stability, and feet as brakes are only necessary when weaving technical tree runs.

The snow bikes can be ridden using either ski or snowboard boots. Hollenbeck offers free snow bike tours on Wednesdays and may be contacted at (970) 389-7006.

Robert Allen can be contacted at (970) 668-4628 or rallen@summitdaily.com.