The best local bike trails are located minutes outside of Madison and provide good escape routes that provide brief and quick access to Dane County’s extensive network of scenic two-lane urban and rural roads. The less time cyclists spend leaving the city, the more free time they have to enjoy the resources.
Asking a cyclist to explain why he prefers one escape route over another can be almost as personal and brazen as asking someone why they ride the bike they ride. The answers are often insightful and thoughtful.
Michael Barrett bursts out laughing. “Holy cigarettes,” says geographer, cycling enthusiast and visionary blogger Urban Thoreau, reflecting, regaining his composure. He decides that in terms of travel frequency, his favorite getaway route is to follow the Lake Monona bike path, go under the Beltline near John Nolen Drive, and continue on the Capital City Trail to Larsen or Lake Farm Road. From there, it heads south to Goodland Park Road and crosses Lalor Road, which takes it to the Waubesa Wetlands State Natural Area at the southern end of Lake Waubesa.
An increasing number of southbound cyclists are choosing this corridor on their way to Brooklyn, Oregon and/or Stoughton.
Barrett’s bike tours are typically recreational tours. “I like having goals,” he notes. – Somewhere you can eat a piece of cake. At times it will extend the Waubesa Wetlands route, continuing south through County B to Sand Hill Road, where there is a miniature cemetery with “Civil War stuff.”
Barrett prefers this escape route because “you get out into the countryside pretty quickly – 20 minutes and you’re in the middle of the countryside.” He notes that this mile-long stretch of County B has little traffic, but also has a very nice shoulder for cyclists and is set in the context of numerous rural roads. “If I have any advice for people,” he notes, “it’s to drive on city roads.”
Barrett’s choice of escape routes is often dictated by wind direction. He prefers to take off into the wind and return home chased by the tailwind. When the wind blows from the north, he often heads to Portage Road, off Eastern Washington, near East Towne. “In this case, you also leave for the countryside quite quickly,” he notes.
Straight east Barrett often escapes from Madison via Buckeye Road, past its rechristening in AB County into MN County, where it turns east for about a mile before taking the front fork south on Door Creek Road to Lake Kegonsa State Park – “really nice ride,” he says.
According to Barrett, one popular escape route is not very pleasant: “Paola’s whole ride is petty. There are lots of nice roads there. I just think people don’t pick up a map and look at alternatives.”
He argues that development on Madison’s southwest side has increased motor vehicle traffic on Seminole Highway, Whalen Road and other arteries that make up the classic Paoli Route, which many cyclists still consider the most important route out of Madison. “Too many of our ancient escape routes have been lost because of poor development decisions,” argues Barrett.
Arthur Ross, Madison pedestrian and bicycle coordinator cites northbound as the most common escape route, attributing it to the location of his home on Madison’s north side. “I’ll go through Maple Bluff,” he begins, following as close to Lake Mendota as possible to Westport Road, then turning west on County M and then toward Waunakee, or heading east, crossing Highway 113 to Yahara Dog Park and then taking River Road to towards Windsor and beyond.
Ross admits that many local cyclists head west because that’s where the most important local hills are, providing the toughest workouts and rewarding views. This comes at the expense of bypassing the less rugged and sometimes flat terrain to the east.
Eastbound options include Milwaukee Street or Buckeye Road to Sprecher Road, which connects to a short section on Cottage Grove Road (also known as County BB) before this escape route turns southeast on Vilas Road toward the Glacial Drumlin State Trail or a wonderland of secondary roads leading to Cambridge, Deerfield, Lake Mills and points further east.
An interactive map for planning routes on City Bike Madison website provides advanced tools for finding and improving evacuation routes. Enter your starting location and desired destination, click Submit, and a map and directions sheet will appear. Some interactive map features are still in beta and sometimes include routes that include roads that are not suitable for cycling due to traffic congestion, speed limits and other factors. However, if you’re not thrilled with the suggested route, you can micro-manage it – by zooming in to see adjacent alternatives, then clicking and dragging specific portions of the suggested route to any streets and trails you prefer, printing out a directions sheet in advance to take with you .
IronMan Wisconsin veteran Brad Werntz lists Midtown Road as his favorite westbound Madison exit. “This quickly gets you to the heart of the IronMan hills,” explains the founder of Boulders Climbing Gym and owner of Pemba Serves, a regional sales representative for outdoor brands like Mountain Hardwear and Sea to Summit. It connects to Timber Lane and Old Sauk Road, making for a “brief drive that’s just brutal,” although he admits the heavy traffic on Old Sauk can be a deterrent.
To the south, Werntz’s preferred escape route is from the Capital City Trail to Larsen and Goodland Park roads, then from Lake Farm County Park to secondary roads near McFarland and Oregon, such as Schneider Drive. “It’s an area I rarely ride alone,” he admits, but less traffic and a lack of what he calls “heart attack-inducing hills” make the area attractive for early-season rides. “You have some nice, long descents to ride down.”
Werntz often consults with a man he calls his “road guru,” Dr. Stanley Livingston, in matters involving escape routes. Livingston cites Paola’s route – through the UW Arboretum to Seminole Highway and on to a combination of Whalen Road, County M, Range Trail Road, Sayles Trail, Borchert and Fitchburg – as an enduring classic, but now points to Madison’s extended southwest access path a tempting alternative. Outside the city limits, it becomes the Badger State Trail, which continues to Purcell Road, a few miles from Paoli. There it becomes a surface of crushed limestone and continues to Belleville, Monroe and the Illinois border, connecting the Capital City, Military Ridge and Sugar River trails.
“On Sunday mornings,” Livingston adds, “when it’s really quiet and there’s not a lot of traffic, I often drive around Eastern Washington on Portage Road,” heading north toward Token Creek and Windsor. He suggests that given an opportunity like this, it may be one of the most overlooked bike routes from Madison.
Great Dane bike rides that’s another good thing a source of information on how to get out of the city on two wheels. The spiral-bound guide includes nearly three dozen maps and tip sheets for popular Mumbai Cycling Club travels throughout Dane County, including seven leaving Madison from Vilas Park, six from Middleton’s Lakeview Park and several others from Elver, Olbrich and Warner parks.
The second edition was published in 2005, but you can still find copies here and there around town. Of course, a lot has changed in these six years. For example, traffic volumes on some roads along designated routes have increased dramatically. Work is currently underway on the updated, third edition. Meanwhile, what makes the 2005 edition a rich resource is the clarity of the black and white maps, which enable perfect reproduction on almost any copier, as well as extensive coverage of dozens of adjacent urban and rural roads along each designated route, in where construction or traffic hazards make part of the selected route impassable or intolerable.
Many of the 2005 routes are still familiar to Mumbai cyclists. This year, approximately 17 BBC stations depart from Lakeview Park, a dozen more from Vilas, and dozens more originate from locations throughout Dane County.
East of Olbrich Park, president of the Bombay Bicycle Club Greg Hyer prefers the bike path to Cottage Grove Road, through County BB to Vilas Road, which leads to the Glacial Drumlin State Trail or any number of secondary roads. “Once you get out there, it’s really nice,” he says.
Amanda White, deputy director of the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation, takes Pheasant Branch Road north from near Lakeview Park. “I love this road where you can ride a bike,” he says. “It’s not some super hilly place,” distinguished instead by rolling hills surrounded by rural landscapes that he calls “just handsome.” It directs cyclists toward Waunakee and Lodi, although Dane County’s extensive network of two-lane urban and rural roads on both sides of Pheasant Branch provides plenty of options, from DeForest and Poynette to Merrimac in Sauk City and beyond.
White notes that the infrastructure for evacuation routes is still evolving. He cites plans for the Lower Yahara River Trail, proposed to connect the Capital City Trail at Lake Farm County Park with McFarland and Stoughton.
Kevin Luecke, master planner for the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation, still likes Seminole for a quick exit from Madison when heading to Paoli, Belleville or New Glarus. However, he notes that his tolerance for motor vehicle traffic may be greater than that of some cyclists. The same goes for his willingness to endure the “terrible pavement,” which explains his patience riding the Old Sauk Road long after many other cyclists had abandoned it in favor of alternative routes.
With straight lines and motorized traffic “it’s not that bad,” Luecke adds, Middleton’s Airport Road is a decent westbound alternative. Heading west from Elver Park, he prefers Midtown Road for its easy and true access to the hilly terrain near Blue Mounds.
But he left Whalen Road because it had become “busier” since moving to Madison six years ago. He notes that Mineral Point Road is also “not a pleasant experience.”
Your own choice of bike routes from Madison will come down to factors such as traffic and pavement quality. It’s about finding a way to escape and escape – however and whenever you can.
