Cycling in Anchorage
 

I just returned from an Alaskan vacation from Toronto. While I was there, my wife and I rented bikes from Downtown Bike Rental and rode along W 4th to the Coastal Trail. We went as far as past the Airport to the parking lots and returned all the way to Ship Creek. Then we cut through the busy city streets to return bikes. It was a good six hours or riding where we saw moose right beside the trail.

So I noticed a few things:
1) the motorists seem to be more tolerant than what I normally experience in Toronto;
2) the bike map showed an extensive network of bike lanes and trails that can take someone from any corner of Anchorage to the opposite corner.

So now I'm thinking if Anchorage can have an extensive bike network way up there in the north - and Alaska is where the fat bike was invented - why can't we in Toronto? I can almost hear the "...but Toronto is different because, blah, blah, blah..."

So you Anchorage riders, as insiders maybe you can brief me on your internal squabbles regarding bicycles/motorists. Does the bike route map make the city as good as it appears? Is the cyclist/motorist relationship really as good as I had experienced?