What a great trail in the Minneapolis area...

Visiting Minnetonka, Minnesota just west of Minneapolis and rode the
regional trail built on an old railroad right-of-way. WOW what a great
ride... goes through historic downtown Excelsior, alongside Lake
Minnetonka, beside dozens of parks, and into litte Victoria.

This trail would make a *great* commuter corridor on bike. No stoplights,
plenty of grade-separated crossings at the busier highways, and the traffic
wasn't too bad on the trail itself. For at least eight months out of the
year anyway, I'd think it would make a pretty nice option for a bike
commute.

Trail was beautiful... green and shaded most of the way and plenty of
places to stop for rest/food/pictures etc. One thing I'll say about
Minnesota... they really do parks and community planning right out here.

brink

Yeah, they do. Sold me on the whole city.

But the trails downtown really eclipse those in the burbs. The city
trails connect all the important parks. You'd be amazed at the
deep-woods solitude available in Minneapolis' city limits.

brink wrote:
Visiting Minnetonka, Minnesota just west of Minneapolis and rode the
regional trail built on an old railroad right-of-way. WOW what a great
ride... goes through historic downtown Excelsior, alongside Lake
Minnetonka, beside dozens of parks, and into litte Victoria.

This trail would make a *great* commuter corridor on bike. No stoplights,
plenty of grade-separated crossings at the busier highways, and the traffic
wasn't too bad on the trail itself. For at least eight months out of the
year anyway, I'd think it would make a pretty nice option for a bike
commute.

Trail was beautiful... green and shaded most of the way and plenty of
places to stop for rest/food/pictures etc. One thing I'll say about
Minnesota... they really do parks and community planning right out here.

I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.

"Peter Cole" wrote in message
. ..
brink wrote:
Visiting Minnetonka, Minnesota just west of Minneapolis and rode the
regional trail built on an old railroad right-of-way. WOW what a great
ride... goes through historic downtown Excelsior, alongside Lake
Minnetonka, beside dozens of parks, and into litte Victoria.

This trail would make a *great* commuter corridor on bike. No
stoplights, plenty of grade-separated crossings at the busier highways,
and the traffic wasn't too bad on the trail itself. For at least eight
months out of the year anyway, I'd think it would make a pretty nice
option for a bike commute.

Trail was beautiful... green and shaded most of the way and plenty of
places to stop for rest/food/pictures etc. One thing I'll say about
Minnesota... they really do parks and community planning right out here.

I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.

This one ain't boring... also very utilitarian as it is a very direct
routes from city-to-city so it's good for getting from town to town...
limited interaction with MVs so safer and less polluted... beautiful natural
scenery interspersed with urban and suburban areas...

This one is definitely more relaxing and mentally stimulating than driving
on local roads IMO...

brink

Peter Cole wrote:


I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.

Well, to me the obvious answer is that it is the only land available.
It lends itself to multiple use paths since there are already overpasses
built, etc. Because it is a MUP, ours is cluttered with ambling
walkers, people walking pets and generally not respecting an open lane
for faster traffic. Even though I can go 7 miles to downtown with two
stops on a MUP, if the weather's nice it is more hazardous than the
streets because of all the slower traffic.

"catzz66" wrote in message
...
Peter Cole wrote:


I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.

Well, to me the obvious answer is that it is the only land available. It
lends itself to multiple use paths since there are already overpasses
built, etc. Because it is a MUP, ours is cluttered with ambling walkers,
people walking pets and generally not respecting an open lane for faster
traffic. Even though I can go 7 miles to downtown with two stops on a
MUP, if the weather's nice it is more hazardous than the streets because
of all the slower traffic.

Wondering about your "respecting an open lane for faster traffic" there....
the MUP I rode on yesterday wasn't terribly wide; it's the kind of path
where you could pretty much comfortably have 2 bikes riding side-by-side one
way pass ONE bike riding the other way - that about maxes the "bandwidth" of
the trail which was probably no more than 6-7 feet wide most of its length.

Do you feel that there should always be an "open lane" for you to pass peds,
joggers, slower bikers?

The signage I saw (and common sense agrees) said "yield to slower traffic on
path" - makes sense to me. On roads, cars are required to yield to us on
bikes when we're properly riding and have ROW.

I'd think that the idea that people "not respecting an open lane for faster
traffic" is a repetition of the idea frustrated drivers have about us when
we take the lane or "force" them into having to go around us to pass. Since
we're probably in agreement that this is something cars should and need to
deal with, why wouldn't we hold the same courtesy toward slower users on
MUPs?

Maybe I've got your take on this wrong, help me out here. I'm not excusing
people who block the entire width of a MUP of course, though that seems
pretty infrequent. Usually it's more that one has to slow a bit to wait for
a break to pass the slower traffic, just like cars do with us on roads.

brink

In article ,
"brink" wrote:

This one is definitely more relaxing and mentally stimulating than driving
on local roads IMO...

There are a lot of trails around Minneapolis that fit that description.
The Midtown Greenway, for example, essentially parallels Lake Street and
is a much better experience. Less noise, no potholes, fewer stops. I
have no problem riding with traffic most of the time, but I find myself
riding on the trails more and more when the opportunity presents itself.

--
My personal UDP list: 127.0.0.1, 4ax.com, buzzardnews.com, googlegroups.com,
heapnode.com, localhost, x-privat.org

Peter Cole wrote:

brink wrote:
Visiting Minnetonka, Minnesota just west of Minneapolis and rode the
regional trail built on an old railroad right-of-way. WOW what a great
ride... goes through historic downtown Excelsior, alongside Lake
Minnetonka, beside dozens of parks, and into litte Victoria.

This trail would make a *great* commuter corridor on bike. No stoplights,
plenty of grade-separated crossings at the busier highways, and the traffic
wasn't too bad on the trail itself. For at least eight months out of the
year anyway, I'd think it would make a pretty nice option for a bike
commute.

Trail was beautiful... green and shaded most of the way and plenty of
places to stop for rest/food/pictures etc. One thing I'll say about
Minnesota... they really do parks and community planning right out here.

I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.


I don't find streets and highways to be [opposite-of-boring]; I think of them as
dangerous, because of a heart-stopping close encounter. the effect of which I
will probably never be able to shake. I stick to sidewalks, side streets, and
our one Rail Trail. All 2 miles of the latter. ;-) The MUP is flat and
straight as an arrow for its entire length. Boring? To some, probably. But
for a 2 mile stretch I can put completely out of mind: gravel trucks; cagers;
intersections; driveways; road signs. I can safely center down and check in
physical-me. The feeling of sudden freedom from burden that I get from being on
the MUP is very much like having just paid bills: There! Done! Now I can loosen
up and enjoy myself.

I must add that timing is important. I avoid the MUP during periods when
new-moms w/ strollers clog the path by walking four abreast, when
human-with-canine-on-40-foot-leash is out and about, and generally when my
finely tuned humans-per-acre gauge registers above 1. ;-)

--
Michael

brink wrote:

Wondering about your "respecting an open lane for faster traffic" there....
the MUP I rode on yesterday wasn't terribly wide; it's the kind of path
where you could pretty much comfortably have 2 bikes riding side-by-side one
way pass ONE bike riding the other way - that about maxes the "bandwidth" of
the trail which was probably no more than 6-7 feet wide most of its length.

Do you feel that there should always be an "open lane" for you to pass peds,
joggers, slower bikers?

The signage I saw (and common sense agrees) said "yield to slower traffic on
path" - makes sense to me. On roads, cars are required to yield to us on
bikes when we're properly riding and have ROW.

I'd think that the idea that people "not respecting an open lane for faster
traffic" is a repetition of the idea frustrated drivers have about us when
we take the lane or "force" them into having to go around us to pass. Since
we're probably in agreement that this is something cars should and need to
deal with, why wouldn't we hold the same courtesy toward slower users on
MUPs?

Maybe I've got your take on this wrong, help me out here. I'm not excusing
people who block the entire width of a MUP of course, though that seems
pretty infrequent. Usually it's more that one has to slow a bit to wait for
a break to pass the slower traffic, just like cars do with us on roads.

brink




There's a yellow stripe down the middle of the main path and in several
places a separate lane on which is painted "peds only." There is plenty
of room for people to walk. Still, people sometimes walk in clumps and
wander over into the opposing lane. I am used to looking for oncoming
traffic and timing my passes so that I don't come close to them whatever
they are doing. That's all I meant. It is usually the walkers who
wander over the dividing line and carelessly take up the whole path.

I do feel that if the path is so narrow that two walkers could take up
the lane, and ours isn't, that they ought to not block the entire path.
I don't block up vehicle traffic on my bike when I am on the road
unless it can't be avoided. Then, I try not to do it for any longer
than I have to.

Michael wrote:

Peter Cole wrote:

I've never understood the appeal of RR ROW trails, they're so boring.


I don't find streets and highways to be [opposite-of-boring]; I think of them as
dangerous, because of a heart-stopping close encounter. the effect of which I
will probably never be able to shake. I stick to sidewalks, side streets, and
our one Rail Trail. All 2 miles of the latter. ;-) The MUP is flat and
straight as an arrow for its entire length. Boring? To some, probably. But
for a 2 mile stretch I can put completely out of mind: gravel trucks; cagers;
intersections; driveways; road signs. I can safely center down and check in
physical-me. The feeling of sudden freedom from burden that I get from being on
the MUP is very much like having just paid bills: There! Done! Now I can loosen
up and enjoy myself.

I must add that timing is important. I avoid the MUP during periods when
new-moms w/ strollers clog the path by walking four abreast, when
human-with-canine-on-40-foot-leash is out and about, and generally when my
finely tuned humans-per-acre gauge registers above 1. ;-)


Funny, I had a terrific ride yesterday, it was mostly an urban loop,
through many downtown Boston/Cambridge neighborhoods. I love biking in
the city. I took a side trip on a MUP that runs along the river because
I knew it'd be jammed with people -- through a big park filled with
people speaking many different languages, cooking many different foods
-- always fun. It seems there's always something going on in the city in
the summer. When I want to honk, I just try to get through the 'burbs as
fast as I can (not too hard here, despite sprawl) and get out to the
back roads.

We do have a long (20 mi?) rail trail. I rode it once, years ago. It was
pure tedium. Different strokes, I guess.