“Falling is okay. What’s not good is not knowing why you fell. Don’t waste a perfectly good fall or you’ll have to do it again. Treat it as a physics lesson.”—Tom Hillard, Mountain Bike Coach Kudos go out to the Sioux Falls Parks and Recreation Department for marking the cracks on the Bike Trail. Last Saturday, as I cruised along the trail, the bright yellow markings immediately caught my attention—warning me of the perils ahead. These cracks, just south of Falls Park, are the results of another South Dakota winter’s ravages. These crevasses are large enough to swallow-up your pet squirrel; least of all, catch-and-hold your front wheel—sending you over the handlebars. However, the flash-yellow marking paint was visible for tens of yards prior to their beginning. Note in the inset, that the dimes in the bottom of each trench show that the width of these tectonic plate lines have an expanse of more than 36 mm (18mm diameter dime). The unforgiving features of these cracks are that they course-the-trail (parallel) and that their depth is as great as their width; making the negotiation of these trail hazards more dangerous for the unobservant cyclist. The yellow-streaks effectively draw one’s attention to the hazard…until they get fixed. Thanks again to those that maintain our Bike Trail System; you thwarted another case of road-rash.
1 comment:
Would that they had filled them in last year when they first painted around them!
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