Another 'Gold Standard' Reference

In a Tim Rowland piece in the 25 February 2007 issues of the Hagerstown, MD Herald-Mail.Com titled "Delegation deserves credit for promoting towpath-repair funding," Mr. Rowland writes about the needed repairs to the C & O Canal towpath. And then how the towpath connects with the "Allegheny Passage" rail trail:

"The Great Allegheny Passage is likely to become a major feather in the cap of the American bicycling fraternity. Just as all bikers want to ride "the Holy Grail of Rail Trails," - a lengthy former jetty extending far into the waters of Lake Champlain near Burlington, Vt. - all serious cyclists will want to ride the Great Allegheny Passage.

"On a smaller scale, it will be something of an Appalachian Trail for bicyclists."

In other words, if you want to describe an outdoor adventure as grand, compare it to the AT.