RubeRad, MUPs are mixed blessing. All winter traffic is sparse, mostly skiers either plodding along in the classic tracks or skating hard down the main lane, with enough room for all; but come summer it gets crowded enough that the ride can be joyless, with more time spent braking than pedaling. Sunny summer afternoons I often opt for the road route. Unfortunately all of the cross-town roads in Anch are 45 mph with no bike lane and often no shoulder, just sidewalk; so I'm stuck stitching together a ride from neighborhood to neighborhood, hitting sidewalks where I must, and stopping (or at least slowing) at all the stop signs and lights involved in a cross-town commute. However, in the early morning MUP traffic is light, and usually it's just me, the trees, ducks, moose, ravens, and occasional cyclist or runner; frequently I can forget that I'm riding through the middle of a city.

I would love to see bike lanes on every street in Anch, and would happily use them, to garner a bit more reliability in my commute time (ever been stuck behind a moose on a MUP?) and to help combat the "bikes belong on the path or the sidewalk, not on the road" mentality that is so pervasive in this town. But I would definitely miss the quiet and peaceful feeling of riding a nearly empty trail through the woods, creek running beside me, ravens quorking overhead, or along the coastal trail, with the sound of the inlet waters lapping the beach at high tide.

This is Alaska, winter ain't over yet. I mean, I could really use them right now, but we'll probably get more snow come late April, or early May.