perfect trail weather
We are having ideal trail weather this week. So of course I went on a mountain bike ride. And it truly was a mountain bike ride. It was in the mountains; I could see the mountains, and it was on a mountain bike trail.
But those of you who have read this blog know where I’m going with this. Yes, Kevin, we know… most trails aren’t mountain bike trails, but that’s the generic name given to all bike trails. Well not only do I drone on about that trail topic on this blog, but I also bore people with my opinions about it in person. So, of course, the topic came up again today.
But wait, the story takes a semi-bizarre turn for the better. When I got home and was checking my email, I discovered that those canny Brits have already solved this problem. Leave it to the Limeys. I was informed by a member of the Denver Bicycle Touring Club that in the U.K. they have a peculiar acronym for some particularly popular trails: MUP
I had seen MUP used repeatedly in some recent correspondence from a British biker who had been temporarily living in the U.S. Often times, in his emails, he referred to MUPs. So I queried as to what an MUP was. And it turns out that it’s a… (blare of trumpets)
Multiple Use Path
Holy cow, it’s so simple that it just might work. It’s not perfect; it doesn’t do a good job of describing a particular type of biker as in, “I’m a Multiple Use Path biker.” But it is a relatively useful & generic term for the vast majority of trails in this country. So what do you think? Should all rail trails, canal trails, urban trails, park trails, etc. be classified into the general heading of multiple use paths? To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart, “You know how to comment, it’s easy…”
3 comments
Mmmm. I have to think on this one (there goes the smoke-alarms again). If a sign, indicating a trail, began with the main heading – “Multiple Use Path” followed with a sub-heading – rail-trail,canal e.t.c.
Referring to myself as a “Multiple Use Path Biker” doesn’t have the same ring as “Mountain-Biker”.
In a earlier post you posed the question “Because someone has a mountain bike, does that make them a mountain-biker” (or something like that)?
Look what I just found on “Wikipedia” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUP – and – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segregated_cycle_facilities
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See comment below. I always forget to use the “Reply” button until it’s too late.
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Your comment really made me do some thinking, but my brain doesn’t have quite enough fuel to set off the smoke alarms. (-:
First of all, my favorite MUP was the “major urinary proteins.” Dang, now I have to rethink the whole multiple use paths. I’d hate to have those two things mixed up.
So let me run this by you, Barry. How about we just have two categories of off-road biking: mountain biking and trail biking. I have been told by other people that that is confusing. I’ll admit, it’s not perfect. But, to me, it’s less confusing than calling a trail that is on the plains or beaches a mountain bike trail. How can something be a mountain bike trail if it’s nowhere near a mountain? I believe Socrates and Sartre struggled with this question also.
BTW, do you know of any trail rating system like they have for river rafting and mountain climbing? I don’t believe I’ve ever seen trail ratings other than arbitrary easy, medium, hard, technical. We were just discussing this on a bike ride yesterday, so I thought I’d throw it out there for consideration and investigation.
I am enjoying the “Segregated Cycle Facilities” article. So would some of those SCFs be considered bike trails. In most cases, I would say no, but some of them could be…