This page contains information for
tourists, and tour reports from rides in
our area , and beyond.
For upcoming touring events, check out the touring calendar, cross-state and other multi-day tour
calendar. Don't forget the
tour event links.
See also the cue sheets on the
page for Wednesday Night Bike Rides,
the schedule for
Bombay Bicycle Club, and the touring section of the global sites list.
Commercial tours have their
own page.
- Wisconsin Bicycle Tour Planning Guide
- Tourmeister Scott
Ellington has put together Wisconsin
Bicycle Tour Planning Guide (PDF is here), which gives some hints on how to plan a
successful self-contained bicycle tour of Southwestern Wisconsin. Hints
include information on maps, on camping, on route planning, and a few
route suggestions.
-
Revised version (MS Word)
-
Revised version (PDF)
- Wisconsin Bicycle Touring Campsites
- It's not that well-known, but lots of rural Wisconsin communities
allow camping in their parks. There are a wide variety of other
non-commercial campsites in rural Wisconsin, too, and it's a good thing,
because a commercial campsite can be a Truly Horrifying Experience.
Unofficial BCP Touring Editor
Scott Ellington has put together a list of such campsites here. You might find it more convenient, though, to
print this PDF version.
We'd be happy to hear about others to add
to the list, or to field your comments about the ones already there.
-
Madison Cyclists' Overnight Camping Trips
- Interested in doing some overnight bicycle touring around rural Wisconsin
locations this summer? Don't mind carrying your own gear? This
may be for you.
[Updated March, 2003]
[Updated June, 2002]
- Bike Tours of the Lake Mendota Watershed
- Harry Read has put
together a print publication called Bike Tours of the Lake Mendota
Watershed, which offers a set of five bicycle tours designed to
"help citizens learn about out watershed and what is being done to
protect and improve water quality." It does that with a well-written,
informative introduction, followed by maps with annotated cue sheets,
each with dozens of references to brief commentary on features
relevant to water quality that you can see from your bicicle seat.
Four of the tours follow major tributaries of Lake Mendota and the
other takes you around the lake. By now, you are asking yourself why
I'm telling you about this print publication. Well, that's because we
have an online version here. PDF versions
of the maps are available here, too.
- Rails-to-Trails
- Wisconsin has lots of rails-to-trails conversions, mostly with crushed
limestone surfaces. That makes them much more popular with family types than
with roadies or genuine bicycle tourists with heavy panniers: they are
car-free, they are flat, and they are slow.
- Sugar River Trail
- This rip-off of a 1992 brochure from the Wisconsin Department of
Natural Resources describes this 25-mile rail-trail in Green County.
- Trip Report: Sugar River Trail
- An account of a July, 1998 weekend morning trip to the Sugar River
Trail by two families with photos, background, and relevant links.
-
Wisconsin DNR - State trails network plan
- One of the biggest owners of trails
in our state, is the DNR. Check out their
plans.
-
Wisconsin Biking
- Mostly trails, but quite a comprehensive list. Also includes links to
maps, etc.
- [Added: December 20, 2001. ]
-
Wisconsin State Bike Trails
- Descriptions of several state trails, with photographs
and technical details (e.g. length, camping access, etc.)
Nicely done, part of the 'Paddles and Pathways website'.
- [Added August, 2001.]
-
-
-
-
- Madison's Hostel
- Madison's first and only youth hostel has been operating since 1997.
Now with a new (permanent!) address: 141 South Butler St.,
and now open year-round.
Great rates are even better for those who show up without a
car. Intrigued? Read
this.
- [Updated October 5, 2000 .]
- Print Resources for Local Touring
- The best place to pick up the free stuff is the
Bicycle Coalition
table at the Madison Farmers' Market,
which runs from the last Saturday in April until early November on Saturday
mornings, 6:30-2:00 (but don't expect the table to be there that early or
that late), on the Capital Concourse. There are probably fifty different
publications to choose from, many of which are of use to the tourist. The
table is at the corner of Carroll Street and Mifflin Streets (where State
Street starts).
- Madison Bicycle Map
- The City of Madison Department of Transportation publishes a nice,
free, bicycle map, updated and with a new, larger format in summer
1997. It's really more useful for commuting than for touring, unless
you happen to be trying to traverse the city on your tour. Besides
designating the best biking routes through
the city, there is also a wealth of other information, such as a
summary of relevant ordinances and some Effective Cycling ® tips. You
can find those maps at most of the bike shops around town, or you can
call the DoT at 608-266-4761 and ask them to send you one. Tell 'em
Art sent you.
- Dane County Maps
- Another free publication, this one at the county level.
As above it is often available at
Local Bike Shops.
- State Bike Maps
- The state bike maps, formerly a set of two free maps published by
WisDOT, are now a set of four bigger and better maps published and sold
by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.
They cost $3.95 each or $12.95 for the set (BFW members can purchase the maps for
$2.50 each by using the insert in recent editions of Wisconsin Bicyclist).
You'll find them in local
bike shops throughout the midwest, or you can order them by calling
800-362-4537 (wholesale: 800-246-4627).
Read about the challenges of getting the new map set to press
here.
- Milwaukee Map Service Sectionals
- Joseph King says:
The four sectional maps produced by the Milwaukee Map Service are musts
for any cyclist that is planning their own bike ride in Wisconsin.
These maps contain great detail and label all of the town and county
roads. The maps fall far short of perfect, however, as they contain
some errors and do not indicate which roads are gravel.
Milwaukee Map Service
4519 W. North Avenue
Milwaukee, WI 53208
414-445-7361
They are widely available in local bookstores, as well.
- Wisconsin Biking Guide
- This is not a map, but a guide to biking. They say
"It doesn't contain all the maps of the
trails in the state, only a few are highlighted each edition. There is a
list of contacts for people to get more info on specific trails if they
wish."
- Mike Rewey says:
The Wisconsin Department of Tourism has recently put out [this]
excellent brochure... It lists 14 on-road tours, 14 mountain bike trail
systems and 15 "traffic-free" bike touring trails. The mountain bike
trails are rated from "easy" to "extreme single track". Many of the
on-road tour and mountain bike trail descriptions include a[n elevation]
profile. It was prepared by Phil VanValkenberg. You may get a free
copy by calling 1-800-432-8747.
To that, the editor would add
that the brochure is designed to fold into a map case such as comes with
most handlebar bags, and that the maps are quite nice. I can also confirm
the seemingly ridiculous claim that it is totally free, my favorite
price!
- [Updated: May 10, 2003]
- DeLorme's Wisconsin State Atlas and Gazetteer
- These are the folks that make the popular CDROM mapping products, such
as Street Atlas USA and Map Expert; they also publish
high-resolution books of maps of most states-- including Wisconsin. Each
map, which covers the entire state in about fifty sections, is about 11"
x 17" and they all have topographical lines. There is also a certain
amount of other information, mostly recreational in nature, including a
nice list of bike trails. The books, widely available in bookstores,
retail for about $17, but are often discounted (check Sam's Club
for perhaps the lowest price). Armed with a modern browser, you can also
order from their web page, but shipping is extra.
DeLorme
Lower Main Street, P.O. Box 298
Freeport, ME 04032
Web
-
Wisconsin Vacation Getaways
- Directly links to vacations property owner Official home pages.
Resorts, campgrounds, private homes, cottages lakeside cabins and
more. Growing since 1996!
- [Added: August 1, 2001. ]
-
Essential Tools for Discovering Place: A Bike and a Good Map
- By cultural geographer Mike Barrett, this article explains how a
bike and a map allow you to experience a sense of place in a way that an
automobile never will (unless you crash it and have to hike out).
- Biking in Wisconsin
- This is the biking section from the 1994 edition of the state of
Wisconsin's annual Recreation Guide, with a few updates and
some added commentary.
- Bicycle Gearing for Wisconsin
Hills
- Local engineer Scott
Ellington makes a strong argument in favor of triple cranks
for those touring the driftless region of Wisconsin.
-
Group Bike Rides are Great Fun
- A how-to guide for new participants in group rides, penned by
Bicyclists of Iowa City sparkplug
Gregory Kovaciny.
- Touring France
- Usenet summary of replies to a query about touring France by two
wheels.
Besides the tour reports published here, here is a link to
networked tour reports from other sites.
Local Tour Reports
Local, in this case, means that it's either served from this site, or that
we pretend that it is; not that it necessarily describes a local tour.
-
1999 Connie Barnes Memorial Tour
- 400+ miles in 4 days
- Scott's report on this grueling trip,
a tribute to a truly amazing athletes.
- (With a few photos, not too large.)
-
Road Closed: It's a Good Sign
- A tour report from Joseph King in high praise of road closures.
- Madison to the Kickapoo
- The Kickapoo River is famously crooked, which makes it an exceptionally
popular canoing destination. It's also in the driftless region of western
Wisconsin, an excellent bicycling area: hilly, picturesque, and rural.
And there are excellent pie-eating opportunities in the communities that
pepper the region. Scott Ellington and his bicycle touring crowd rode out
there for the summer solstice of 1998, and provided is this report on
the trip.
- Ride The Rockies
- Joe King reports on the Madison Contingent:
- 1999 Ride
the Rockies Photos and Sing Along
- 1998 Ride
the Rockies Reports from the Field
-
1997 Ride the Rockies
-
1997 Ride the Rockies
-
A Day in the Cotswold Hills
- Tourmeister Joe King reports on this summer, 1997 day tour near Oxford,
England. "Unsuitable for motors," read the sign at the start of one of
the more rewarding roads they followed.
- Best Bicycle Destinations
- From a continuing series of articles on Best Bicycle Destinations
(in Wisconsin) runs in the quarterly Wisconsin
Bicyclist,
newsletter of the Bicycle Federation of
Wisconsin, which is available online here. Here are links to those
articles:
- Cycling Historic Sharon
- Sharon is a nice little town in a region that's pretty good for
bicycle touring, and the town's main street association has made it even
better by offering free high-quality biking maps-- designed by the
PAC Tour folks-- and a water bottle.
- Up and Over
- Liz McBride describes an idyllic tour of Vernon County (added November
8, 1995)
-
Pie Ride from Cross Plains to Plain (w/cue sheet)
- In this installment of the Pie Ride Series, Joseph King rides
to Plain Jane's Cafe in Plains, treating us to a review of the
(apple) pie, and rumors of an albino deer.
-
Pie Ride to Poynette
- All that's here at the moment is a set of cue sheets for this August 2,
1998
Bombay Bicycle Club tour.
-
Wheels, Wind, and Wine
- Joseph King and Darryly Mataya join the annual Bombay Bicycle Club Winery Tour, which
involves cycling out to the Wollersheim Winery Bacchanalia in Prairie
du Sac.
-
The Bridge is Out Bike Ride
- Local cyclist Joseph King rides
from Madison to check out a historic bridge in Rock County slated for
replacement.
- Pie Ride to Stoughton (w/cue sheet)
- Local cyclist Joseph King set out
to find the perfect crust and finds south side development on the way.
- Pie Ride to Black Earth (w/cue sheet)
- Local cyclist Joseph King set
out-- again-- to find the perfect crust-- this time at the Lunch
Bucket in Black Earth.
Less Local Tour Reports
-
R. Bruhn's Best and Worst of RAGBRAI ®
- R. Bruhn
is the Siskel and Ebert
of RAGBRAI, helping us blow the chaff away from the grains of
excellence at the ride. His reports from 5 of the last 7 years
do not fail to entertain.
- Three tour reports from
Jim Hendrickson
- Jim Hendrickson, a writer and educator based in Bellingham, Washington,
has graciously permitted us to reprint three of his tour reports here.
They are
Rarotonga Dreamin'
Shalom, Israel!
North to Alaska!
Jim has just published his newest book, Cycling the North Star,
in which he describes in much greater detail his 3,200-mile
self-contained bicycle expedition from Montana to Alaska. If you would
like more information about this book, please send an e-mail message to
cyclopath43@hotmail.com .
-
Scott Ellington's 1999 New Zealand Bicycle Tour
- These New Zealand tour reports from Scott Ellington
take us on a trip down under.
-
Scott Ellington Does Oceania (1994)
- New Zealand and Australia seen from Scott Ellington's
handlebar bag.
-
Mountain Biking Along The Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam
- Solvang/Santa Maria Century
- Join Usenet flamemeister Royce Myers
as he complains his way through 100 miles of pissed-off cops and
agressive tandemeers.
-
Breaking Away Tour de France
- James A. Peters' 1994 account of his participation in a supported tour
of the Tour (TIOOYK).
