Photo by James Edward Mills
The attention of the cycling world is clearly focused this week on the Tour De France. As Lance Armstrong makes an amazing play for his 8th win after three years in retirement, just about everyone who pulls out their bike these days wonders how they might stack up against the grueling pace over 3,500 kilometers of steep mountain roads. Especially here in Wisconsin, home of Trek Bicycle where Lance’s bikes are made, citizen riders pound pedal to pavement over scenic routes throughout Dane County that are as good or better than any you’ll find on the planet.
Michael Beibertiz author of the book "Great Dane Rides" said Madison is unique in that the city offers dozens of bike rides along well-maintained open roads just a few miles outside of town. His book, complete with maps and cue sheets, features a variety of cycling routes put together by members of the Bombay Bicycle Club accumulated over the past 30 years.
“I tried to get a fair representation of routes in all the directions around Madison,” Beibertiz said. “The west is hilly with step climbs and east has rolling hills. The south is a mix of both. The routes in the book are of varying length and difficulty.”
On any given day without snow you’ll see bike riders around Madison in large numbers. Travel north and you’ll find routes in Sun Prairie. To the east is Cottage Grove. Past the West Side beyond Middleton is a great ride to the town of Mazomanie.
“One of my favorite rides is to head south on Seminole Hwy toward Paoli,” Peter Gray a local cyclist said. “Once you get there you can take a few smaller loops into New Glarus or one of the other communities nearby.”
The route to Paoli is one of the most popular among Madison cyclists. It’s a 29-mile round trip that offers just the right amount flat smooth roads with light automobile traffic and mildly challenging uphill climbs to keep it interesting.
“Unlike a lot of other communities Madison is much more compact and easier to get out into the periphery and get into true farmland,” Jessica Ehman said. “Riding areas out west in California or in the Rockies are steep and a little intimidating. The countryside here is tamed by agriculture and it’s more comfortable because it’s more to human scale.”
Ehman, a former US Cycling Federation bike racer, teaches cycling classes at the UW Department of Sports Medicine. She said several local routes offer excellent opportunities for both competitive training and recreational riding.
“Here we have a lot of short stepper climbs which is important for developing high-end fitness that’s really important in bike racing,” Ehman said. “It’s great for developing cardio-vascular efficiency. But at the same time with rolling hills and long smooth flats there’s a meditative quality and flow. Madison is a very comfortable lovely place to engage this discipline.”
Comments