Paved bike path a mess I don't ride it
 

In our twin cities in Illinois we have a bike path that goes through the city and all around. Basically it is for running and cycling although I avoid it cycling because it gets crowded with dog walkers and not nearly as safe and going to the country roads. That said the trail does go out into the county between two communities but this then has another issue. The path is paved along side a very major two lane road with traffic going both ways at 55 mph. So staying on the path is great lots of room but all the crap from the road gets kick onto the trail. It is full of small gravel and bits and pieces of road junk from the main highway. It is so bad that generally if no traffic I will go out onto the highway because I potentially see many opportunities for flats. It is worse than riding on chip seal even after they just were chipping.


It is funny the path they started building about 30 years ago and it been positive and gets a lot of use but for a real roadie it really is to be avoided. Early in the morning it can be fine right before dawn but get away from the thing any time rush our occurs or Sunday afternoons. I just wonder if any of the rest of you see this type of thing in the MUP system?

All the time. Especially on summer weekend mornings.

Yup. That's why road bikes belong on the road.

We don’t have the debris but the dog walkers and kids waiting for school buses and people wearing headphones keep me in the road. Also, the MUP is bumpy as it was not paved to the standards of the road.

Yeah. There's a reasonably robust trail system in Minneapolis/St Paul, but you don't generally want to be on them for the purpose of road cycling. The amount of traffic, the varying speeds and unpredictability is just too much. That said, they are sometimes handy for getting out to the more wide open roads on the outskirts of the metro.

I use a short stretch of MUP to connect parts of a loop I do, it's about a mile to avoid the fastest, worst traffic around. Yesterday on my lunch ride (with a meeting to get to) I got stuck behind a police car driving on the MUP. It was going about 2 mph and wouldn't let me pass. :mad:

I took a different loop today.

We have Nissan Parkway that was built for the Nissan plant they put in years ago near Canton, MS. They put a real nice wide bike lane on both sides of it. It too has the problem of gravel and all the road debris being pushed to it from the normal motor traffic.

Like others, I don't ride in the bike lane when I'm on it. Since it's four lane, none of the motorist seem to mind me being in what otherwise would have been their lane.

Hang in there ladies and gentlemen. We are in a transition period where bike infrastructure is not yet properly developed and often gets the short end of the stick. It is getting better bit by bit with more people riding every year. Out leaders are known to lead from the rear and there are real and conflicting budgetary restraints.

I have been in northern Illinois numerous times in the last 8 months. The MUP's could certainly use some maintenance. However, the highways and roads are absolutely terrible. One of the highest tax rates of all the states and the transportation infrastructure is horrendous. What do you think the politicians/office holders are doing with all the tax income?

Take it to P&R.

This is the road forum, for talking about road bikes. Politics is a party divisive subject, and we're all supposed to be good boys and girls and play nice together. One politics comes up, people start getting offended, and can hold grudges. So, the forum rule is we don't talk politics in here. Some bike related things dovetail really well with partisanship, and we do our best to keep it about cycling.

This site has another sub forum for politics and religion. Love to have you visit and raise this issue there. :)

Lol I didn't even see this before I replied. Great minds think alike.

The roads in Guam some of the worst I have ever seen, and the gravel that gets kicked up in the turns can be several inches deep. Most of the roads themselves are severely pitted and you have to ride in the tire groove to have any sort of smoothness.

I guess I have to disagree. The Grand Rounds system in the Twin Cities is excellent, and you can easily do a century on it without barely ever having to stop. A lot of the time the walking path is separate, the bike paths are one way, or clearly marked for two way traffic, or there are even separate paths in each direction. In fact, the MUPs are all I ride as a result. A lot better than stopping at stoplights all over or getting hit by a car going 70 in a 55 amidst all the garbage rocks on the shoulder, which is what you have to deal with if you want to do good mileage and not deal with stoplights.

The Burke Gilman Trail has separate paved paths for cyclists and pedestrians. Very clearly labeled. Bike lane is full of pedestrians, often with dogs on retractable leashes.

Road bikes belong on the road, not on the paths with the precision stroller drill teams, unicyclist circus clowns, and dog walkers. Ride on the road.

Most of the BG does not have separated paths, like probably 90+% of it.

Yeah. I'm thinking specifically of the area east of Gas Works. My point was that separated bike and ped lanes don't seem to help much in my experience, I think that's a pretty common experience.

What kind of effort levels are you talking about? If the grand rounds suit you, that's great but I'd pull out one of my fingernails with pliers rather than do a century on those paths (I'd love to see your most recent GR century, though). I have enough routes to the west, south and east, for anything from 30 to 100 miles, that are far more enjoyable and suitable for moderate-to-high effort levels.

I guess I am just confused. Or maybe just plain wrong. I was thinking that the condition of the roads has a lot to do with bicycling, road bikes at least. I obviously did not successfully make that the subject. If my post is inappropriate, please move or delete it.

I typically average 15-15.5 mph alone over a 3ish hour ride...got up to 24 mph on flats on the wide open greenway today without too much effort (big ring, roughly middle of cassette). Obviously conditions determine what you can do, but you can usually do a decent clip - it's usually not THAT crowded.

I'm not going to win Le Tour, but I think that's a decent ride and the MUP system here supports that.

oh yea they are always going to mix. I ride the burke 5 days a week on my commute and its not really ever a problem. I think people just need to properly calibrate their expectations. A gravel bike is nice also to keep the speeds down and being able to pass in the dirt and grass

Okay, if that works for you, cool, but that's not the kind of ride that I'm talking about.

Isn't this why gravel bikes were invented? Wider and thicker tyres to deal with all the rubbish and debris on the bumpy bike paths.

That's a different forum. Cyclocross and Gravelbiking (Recreational)