Sean Mandel said a lot of people who bike around Denver aren’t aware of the rules of the road. But he doesn’t think he’s one of them.

Nevertheless, Mandel said he got a ticket two weeks ago that he thinks he doesn’t deserve for not stopping at a stop sign. He said he stopped at the stop sign — but the officer said he did not come to a complete stop because his foot did not touch the ground.

“That upset me,” Mandel said. “I think it is reasonable that a good, experienced cyclist can stop and stand on the bike and be at a complete stop.”

He received a $65 ticket that he said he plans to fight in court.

“I’m not aware of any rules or laws that require anyone to put their foot down,” he said.

Denver police Sgt. Grady Carter said he isn’t sure there is a law on that either but did say that a ticket is written at the discretion of the officer.

Tickets issued to bicyclists in Denver have been on the rise throughout the past three years. In 2009, a total of 656 tickets were issued, but in 2010 the number jumped to 1,165 before dropping slightly to 1,114 in 2011.

Numbers have steadily risen since 2002, when 138 tickets were issued to cyclists. As of June 18, 275 tickets had been issued in 2012.

Carter said that doesn’t mean numbers are down this year. The majority of tickets are issued during the summer, and several more enforcement days are coming up.

Mandel and several others were ticketed as part of what Carter called a safety-enforcement day on a bike path near 16th Street east of downtown.

“We work in teams of four and target bicycle violations in an effort to educate and gain compliance and enforce laws applicable to bicycle,” Carter said. “We’ve seen an increase in accidents caused by bicyclists not following rules.”

Carter said the effort is funded through grant money for traffic enforcement but that officers focus on safety issues in addition to ticketing.

The department has embarked on an educational program in conjunction with BikeDenver and Bicycle Colorado to promote safe riding habits, Carter said.

Piep van Heuven, executive director of BikeDenver, said her nonprofit bicycle-advocacy organization has worked closely with DPD on bicycle safety and said these areas of focused enforcement are usually the result of several complaints from residents in the area about cyclists.