Thank you snowplow crews for working on western and southern sections of the Capital City Trail. The work was done after Saturday morning, when the trail was still covered, but before 8:15 this morning, when I began it. The trail headed west from Lake Farm Road is in decent shape for my hybrid with studded tires. But some impassable stretches remain. The plow blade appears to have been set too high for stretches between Highway 14 and Syene Road. Heavy snow two to three inches remains, which I couldn't pedal through. You can ride on the plow's hard-frozen tread marks on either side of the trail, but only at a bone-rattling five-six mph. The problem grows worse west of Syene Road. After a few hundred yards, the plowed snow on the trail is even higher than it is east of Syene Road, and stays high through Orc Wald (forest where hunting is allowed) and Cinque Terre. Finally, leaving the woods where Eagle School comes into view, the plow's blade appears to have been lowered, and the path is icy but rideable. All is well up Glacier Valley Road and across the bridge at Fish Hatchery Road, but as the steep downhill there begins, the plowing stops! What to do? I rode west down McKee Road - bike lane not plowed - to the Badger State Trail, and headed north. The trail is plowed well, but as icy smooth as a mirror. Not a problem for my studded tires, though. Just when I was thinking the hard part was behind me, the plowing stops again - completely stops, not just lessens - near the bridge where the Badger State Trail meets the Capital City Trail and Southwest Commuter Path. And the snow here is d e e p. But it did give me an opportunity to learn a bike-walking trick. When the snow is almost up to the wheel hub, you don't need to hold onto the handlebars: they stay straight on their own. So, you can just get behind your bike with both hands on the seat and push, leaning the bike slightly one way or the other if it starts to veer. I hope my opportunities in the future to practice this technique are few! Plowing on the Southwest Commuter Trail begins just south of Lovell Lane.
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