The Frisco Highline Trail DOES go somewhere, in fact several somewheres. I have used it running back and forth to job-sites in the Willard area pulling a loaded BOB trailer many times. Much more pleasant than the shoulder of Highway 160.

The FHT goes about 35 miles north to Bolivar. Then it connects to Highway 13 which is signed ‘Share the Road’ all the way to Clinton and the 220+ mile, soon to be state-wide, Katy Trail. On the south end, I’m guessing there is another 10 miles or so signed along the West By-Pass and beyond, connecting to the South Creek Trail (another 9 miles or so), and the City of Battlefield. I’m sure the $200,000 or so in grant money / stimulus funds would benefit our area as well.

re: cold Bass Pro Shops is a great source for cold weather gear. I find that if my head and hands are warm, the rest of me is pretty much good to go.

We first got our bikes and a bike rack so we could put the bikes on the car and drive somewhere to ride them. Where we used to live, I still might do that…narrow, hilly roads with no shoulders and poor sight lines. Miles and miles to the nearest anything.

However, when we moved, we made sure to locate in a place where we could ride more often. Close to stuff. I live very close to two of the Greenway trails that are mentioned in the article, and I use them if convenient, but more often I ride on streets now, because the trails are often too crowded with children and pets, covered with leaves and muddy and slick in spots.

I ride everywhere–grocery store, library, bank, drug store, dry cleaners, etc. I only take the car when I have too much to carry on my bike, it’s dark or rainy or too cold (still a bit of a wimp, although I’m working on pushing the “cold” envelope) or I have to transport my daughter.

And I just rolled 1500 miles on my odometer. That’s a lot, considering that a year and a half ago I hadn’t ridden a bike in almost 30 years.

So, short answer long, I do think that conversion is possible. Not just possible, but I think it’s the most likely source of new utility cyclists…after all, they already have the equipment, all they need are new attitudes. Much more likely to get them to ride new places than to get someone out of their car and onto a bike on the road in one fell swoop. I view it as an evolution, not a revolution.

I was an on-road utility cyclist long before the first trail or bike lane was built in Orlando.

What I wonder is, can you make the transition the other way? Do people who are dependent on trails as places to play with their bikes to convert to utility bicycling, which by nature, is 90% on roads?