Comparative Trail Conditions

Arlington has cut and patched the worst of the root cracks. Lexington hasn't.

Update: Arlington west of Mill Street is good, but not between Lake Street and Linwood.

Today 9.0 miles. This year: 33.0 miles.

The Midnight Marathon

A friend asked me today if I'd join him for the Boston Midnight Marathon, an event previously unknown to me. Sponsored by the Boston Societies of Spontaneity, this lark involves hundreds of bicyclists and "about three skaters" (says my pal) taking the 11:00 PM train from South Station to Hopkinton the night before the official Boston Marathon, then propelling themselves back to Boston along the Marathon route.

I declined. I don't think I'm good for 26 miles this early in the season and I worry about street skating in the dark, which I've never done. My adventurous friend pooh-poohed the second concern because he's got a headlamp so bright "it makes the bicyclists call out 'Car behind!'" It's too late to overcome the first problem, though.

Today: 8.1 miles. This year: 24.0 miles.

Rise and fall

Google Earth shows Milestone I of the Minuteman Bikeway about 8 feet above sea level and the Bedford end of trail around 116 feet. In between, it peaks at 225 feet near Hancock Street in Lexington. When it's downhill both ways from Lexington Center, which way should you go? If you don't want one leg of the trip too much harder than the other, check the wind.

I skated east from Lexington to Frazer Road (elevation 127 feet) today. Downhill with the west wind at my back was easy. The return trip, much harder.

For the first time this year, the trail is both clear and dry. Snowbanks are gone, with only small and scattered patches of snow off the trail.

Today: 6.6 miles. This year: 15.9 miles.

Opening Eve

I might be busy for tomorrow's Opening Day, what with babysitting and baking #2 son's 21st birthday cake, so I took a little spin up and down the trail in Lexington today. The weather was warm, the snow was melting, and the root cracks were sprouting. Though clear and mostly dry, the trail is bumpier than last year.

West from Bedford St., Lexington

Today: 4.4 miles. This year: 9.3 miles.

Opening Day

The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy declares March 30th as a nation-wide Opening Day for trail season. It might be nice or it might recall 1997's April Fool's Storm.

Warm-up

In the past few years of bikeway plowing, the clear path often ended at Bedford Street in Lexington. I walked today from Camellia Place out to 128 and was pleased to find the trail clean, though damp, the entire way. As experience is my guide, the damp will continue until the snowbanks have melted away. With forecast highs around 40F every day, that could happen in the next couple of weeks.

West of Revere Street, Lexington

Opposite Lexington DPW

Damp and leafy, but at least there's parking

The parking lot at Hurd Field in Arlington Heights is open again after months of reconstruction with porous paving that reduces runoff. The lot will stay open while a few project details are finished up.

The Hurd Field ramp leading to the lot

The porous pavement is coarse and open

There haven't been clear markings for years

Porous pavement project info at the northeast corner