I would like to expand on George Perkins' comments. I'm a competitive inline skater and president of the Mad City Rollers. We use most of the bike paths in and around Madison for both recreational skating and training. Our activities during the summer include free skate lessons, intermediate skates, long distance skates and race training. I've been skating in this area since 1998.
Repaired cracks are very dangerous to us, particularly in warm weather. Unrepaired cracks are usually safer than the ones that are widened and filled. A skate wheel hitting the tar in a crack, parallel to direction of travel, is like running into a curb. I've seen several skaters, just in my own group, go down. Because we get our forward motion from a side push, it's hard to avoid a series of "tar snakes." One of the worst sections is on the Capital City Trail, just west of Nob Hill Road. I have often wondered if there is a harder compound alternative and if our engineers are aware of the problems these repaired cracks cause for bikers and skaters. I don't like to complain too loud as we are so fortunate to have such a great system of well maintained recreational and commuter paths. Ron Dennis President and cofounder, Mad City Rollers _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
