Originally Posted by
Cougrrcj
Nope. Not ever riding a city/county MUP again, for ALL of the reasons the OP noted. And even though I've been a member of Rails-to-Trails since they started in 1986, I have yet to ride on one. MAYBE I'd ride on a rural one, but not where there are Trail Toads clogging them up. I my normal riding pace is anywhere between 17-21mph, and I refuse to slow down to our local MUP speed limit of 8mph.
I wouldn't ride on anything with a limit of 8 mph either. My cruising speed is a bit higher than yours, however, and there are several rail trails in my area where I can ride uninterrupted at speed for several miles.
I find that it's hit or miss whether an urban street will be more or less clogged than an urban MUP, and it's a lot less pleasant to get stuck behind and between Amazon vans, postal jeeps, city buses and people who like to double park.
There's really no MUP with a higher speed limit where you are? That's effectively a "no bike commuting" rule. Defeats one of the major purposes.