This past week

We held a Volunteer Open House at Cafe Domestique. Although our immediate goal was to get people to put up Bike Week posters and hand out fliers, we also wanted a chance to meet some of the great people that have been supporting us and posting in our Facebook discussion. If you would like to help with any of our work, head over to our webpage and fill out the volunteer form. And thanks to everyone who came by, and thanks in advance for everyone who helps out in the future!

We also received a request from Open Doors for Refuges for any used bikes you might have. They help with resettlement in Madison and do wonderful work with people who may come to our community with nothing. They emailed us, "Transportation is almost always an issue for the folks who arrive here.... We’ve provided bikes to a lot of folks, but we’re short on bikes now and we’ve had recent requests for several more. If you have a used kids or adult bike that you're actually no longer using and that’s in reasonably good condition, we’d love to find a great home for it. If you so, please write to OpenDoorsDonations@gmail.com."

The week ahead

Although Wisconsin celebrates Bike Week in June -- and make sure to visit our Madison Bike Week page to see the evolving list of events -- May is Bike Month, and this week is Bike Week in much of the country. So don’t be surprised to see some events being promoted, such as the commuter station on Wednesday below. We just need a little extra time to warm up in Wisconsin, whereas it’s already blazing hot in Arizona. They’d rather have Bike Week in February.

It’s going to be a busy week for city meetings and topics of interest to bicyclists.

Monday

The Madison Bikes Events and Communications Committees will have a joint meeting at 6:00 pm at Bendy Works -- 106 E Doty St, 2nd floor -- to plan for Bike Week. If you would like to help plan the event or are willing to volunteer to get the word out, come by. All Madison Bikes committees and meetings are open to all.

Also on Monday is the Transportation Planning and Policy Board meeting, Room 201 of the City-County Building at 6:30 pm. On the agenda will be further discussion of the winter maintenance policy, something Madison Bikes has been working on since its founding. The TPPB will also receive a presentation about the concepts of Modal Hierarchy and Street Typology. Modal Hierarchy is the idea that a city decides which mode of travel to prioritize in its transportation planning and policy. Street Typology means that certain streets prioritize one mode over another. You can view the presentation materials online, attend the meeting, or watch the meeting streaming.

Tuesday

The Madison Common Council will receive a presentation on the Transportation Improvement Plan as part of its regular agenda. This presentation will detail all the projects coming up in the next five years, including pedestrian-bicycle infrastructure. These projects will be budgeted during the cty process in November. You can attend in person at 6:30 pm in Room 201 of the City-County Building or watch it streaming.

Also Tuesday, the city will hold its second public meeting about Bus Rapid Transit, 6:00-7:30 pm at the Madison Senior Center, 330 West Mifflin Street. An integrated transportation system is important for bicyclists, and good transit as an alternative to driving may convince more people to try biking for trips. Being able to take transit when the weather or circumstances don't favor biking makes it easier to break the driving habit and bike at other times. In addition, the city will have to decide how to integrate (or maybe trade off) infrastructure on some roads between bicycling and BRT.

There is a survey online that you can fill out to express what is important to you for stations, service, modal hierarchy (see, that’s coming up again), and BRT vehicle type.

Wednesday

Pacific Cycles will host a commuter station in front of their headquarters in honor of National Bike Week. You can find them on Hamersley Rd where the SW Path crosses the Beltline. Just look west on the south side of the bridge. Come by for coffee and pasties from 7:00-9:00 am

The Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee will meet at 6:00 pm at Bendyworks, 106 E Doty St, 2nd floor. If you want to work on issues with the city and help shape our agenda, come on by. We can help you communicate effectively with your elected officials and city staff.

First Annual Sun Prairie Ride of Silence will be held at 6:30 pm at Prairie Athletic Club, 1010 N Bird St.  The Ride of Silence is a national event honoring those that have been injured or who have died in biking accidents.  Riders are to all wear white for the ride. The ride is 8-12 miles at an average pace of 12 mph, and will be in silence. This year the ride honors and remembers Sun Prairie resident Annie Rubens who was killed in a biking accident last summer.  Join the grooup after the ride for conversation, food and refreshments at Prairie Athletic Club's restaurant/bar/coffee bar.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting for May will meet at 6:30 pm at the Water Utility offices, 119 E. Olin Avenue, Conference Rooms A-B. Nothing directly bike-related on the agenda, but it you’d like to see what the regional transportation planning board is talking about, you can check it out.

Thursday

Middleton Good Neighbor Social Ride, 5:30-9:00 pm starting at Long Table, 7545 Hubbard Ave, Middleton.

Intro to Bikepacking, 6:30 pm at the Cargo Bike Shop, 1404 Williamson St. Join Bell Joy Ride leaders Sheenu and Sue Ellen for an introduction to bikepacking.  Demos include how to pack a bike, rehydrating food, and the basic necessities for bikepacking. After the demos, the ride will head out back for s’mores. Bell Joy Ride will be leading a bikepacking trip July 21+22 from Madison to Blue Mounds. This event is limited to Women/Trans/Femme identifying individuals. Please get a “ticket” so the organizers get enough s’mores supplies. There is space for 30 attendees.

Sunday

Mountain Bike Demo, 10am – 1pm, at Quarry Ridge Recreation Area, 2740 Fitchrona Rd (It’s actually off the Military Ridge Trail. The easiest way to find it is to Google a map.) You’ll be able to test out a couple of different types of bikes to see which one works best for you.

And if you want to have your bike blessed, head on over to the Vermont Lutheran Church, 9886 Vermont Church Rd, Black Earth for a Breakfast and Blessing of the Bikes, 10:30 am -12:30 pm.  This is an annual fundraiser for Dream Bikes. A great breakfast (donation) and a real blessing of all the bikes present. All breakfast donations go to Dream Bikes. Bombay Bicycle Club will lead a ride from Lakeview Park in Middleton at 9:30 am (40 miles total). Join us on the ride or drive or bike on you own...but, please support Dream Bikes and enjoy homemade pancakes, sausages, coffee, etc and save your bike from damnation for a year...guaranteed!! Contact Tenny Albert for info at tennyalbert@gmail.com

What have we been talking about on Facebook?

Closing of the SW Path and whether the detour is marked, adequate, both, or neither. Warning: Because of rain, the closing and detours are likely to continue for another week.

The Joint Finance Committee has removed from the state budget the repeal of a prohibition on using eminent domain to build bicycle and pedestrian facilities. This prohibition was inserted into the budget anonymously two years ago and has meant that many planned paths, trails, and even sidewalks cannot proceed across the state, including in Madison.

A lively discussion about whether there should be yield or stop signs on area paths and what they mean when they are there.

I enjoyed last week’s bike ride to Paoli so much that I thought I would embark on a similar type ride to Mt. Horeb.

I checked the weather on Tuesday morning and realize it would be a great day for a ride- no rain or high winds. I quickly packed up some essentials and hit the trail for my 50 mile ride. I generally pack pretty light for these rides:

I brought the following:

• My cell phone and earbuds
• Replacement bike tube, handheld tire pump and a plastic spoon for manipulating the tire off the wheel
• Credit card and sunglasses
• Lunch
• Small camelbak to hold the above
• Bike, helmet, and water bottle filled with Tailwind

For this ride, it is very hard to get lost if you’re coming from the east side. Basically, you take the Southwest Commuter Path to the Velo UnderRound and then take Military Ridge State Trail until you hit Mt. Horeb.

This route also hosts the Planet Trek Dane County (PTDC). According to the UW Space Place website “PTDC is, at heart, a scale model of our solar system: We shrunk the Sun, planets, and other bodies by the same factor so that the sizes and distances are represented to scale relative to each other. In our model, the scale is about 200 million to 1. This means the Sun is a sphere about 24 feet in diameter at Monona Terrace, and Pluto the size of a marble in Mt. Horeb”. Yes, Pluto is still holding on strong despite being downgraded to a dwarf planet. Each sign provides educational tidbits and really drives home the spatial features of these celestial bodies. The installment was intended to be temporary with removal planned for 2011, but the signs have been replaced with updated versions in the past year or two.

(Stay strong, Pluto!)

Anyway, if the Planet Trek hasn’t convinced you to bike to Mt. Horeb, the town’s charm and dining options are another great reason to make the ride. The presence of Norwegian immigrants has played a significant factor in the historic and contemporary identity of the town. It is known as the “Troll Capital of the World” with numerous troll statues sprinkled along the major streets. In the past couple of years, Mt. Horeb has expanded its tourist offerings with numerous cafes, restaurants, shops, and even a cider pub. I often enjoy stopping by Grumpy Troll Brew Pub for an enormous pretzel and a craft beer or Schubert’s Diner for some well-earned baked goods.

(A delicious cookie from Schubert’s)

A few things to note before you go:

1. You will need to acquire a State Trail Pass to bike on the latter portion of the bike trail to Mt. Horeb. This can be accomplished at multiple kiosks along the way and you may be asked to show your state pass by park rangers.
2. Things may seem to get oddly tough near the the final few miles of your bike ride to Mt. Horeb. Don’t worry, it’s not you, the elevation gradually increases in these miles.
3. You will be biking on paved areas and on crushed stone. Some of the crushed stone portions of the trail has uncomfortable ruts and bumps due to use when the paths were wet, that have since dried. I’d assume a fat tire bike or mountain bike would handle these areas just fine.
4. There are great stopping areas with benches along this route if you’d like to take your time and enjoy the scenery for a bit. Verona, WI (between Neptune and Uranus, about halfway) has a great shelter with two bike stations and bathrooms right next to the bike trail.
5. If you’d like to go bikepacking, Blue Mound State Park and Governor Dodge State Park are accessible by Military Ridge State Trail. Mt. Horeb would be a great place to stop before or after camping at these sites for a treat.

Enjoy your ride! Tailwinds!

(Even trolls like to bike!)
PS: Not sure what gear you’d need for a successful bikepacking trip? Watch this handy YouTube video!

Last Week

Road construction woes continue. As discussed at length, the big construction projects at the "hairball intersection" (John Nolen/Blount/Williamson) and at First Street have posed challenges to people biking through areas. But as Karla on our Facebook community pointed out: "Even though it's a cluster right now, at least I can get thru there faster by bike than car. That makes me smile everyday I commute by bike."

Photo credit: Rick Leib

A group of high school students from Oshkosh came on a field trip to Madison. It wasn't an ordinary field trip, though: The students were on bikes, and the theme was bike-friendly communities. Our board member Pete Wilson, Steve Arnold from Bike Fitchburg, and a number of other Madison volunteers took the students around town and showed off our city's bike infrastructure.

This week

SW Path detour signage

Did I mention construction? Well, I have another one for you: From Monday through Friday, between 9am and 3:30pm, the Southwest Path will be closed between Crazylegs Plaza and Commonwealth. MGE is working on the power poles in that stretch. Fortunately there will be a good marked detour in place: "The sections of the detour that will use Regent (eastbound) and Monroe (westbound) will have a lane marked off for cyclists to use."

The bike week starts on Wednesday this week. You can pick between two options. The Madison Public Market project is moving along, and you can get a sneak peek of their building and provide feedback at an open house. The goal for the market is to be a very bike-friendly destination, and at the open house you can offer input on how to best achieve that. Bonus: There will be free food and samples from future market vendors. 5-7pm, 200 N First St (City of Madison Fleet Services Building). RSVP appreciated but not necessary.

Also on Wednesday is the Transportation Commission's regular meeting. Some items of interest on the agenda:

• Approval of a million-dollar upgrade to the traffic signals on East Wash. The goal is to "improve travel times and lessen traffic congestion along the entire USH-151/East Washington Ave corridor including 21 signalized intersections." Color me skeptical about the promise of less congestion -- ultimately the improvements in capacity most likely will be eaten up by induced demand (i.e. more people opting to drive). There is no mention of buses specifically. But hopefully the new system will be capable of things that can speed up buses on this future BRT corridor, such as extending the green phase for an approaching bus.
• Also up for approval is the new bus route to Sun Prairie. While its service will be limited to the morning and evening rush hour only, it's great to see more transit connections to our neighboring communities.
• Other proposed changes to Metro service will also be discussed.
• Most relevant for biking, the commission will receive an update on the "Criteria to Evaluate the Success of the Pilot" of new bike infrastructure on Bassett. In case you missed it previously, the city plans on installing parking-protected bike lanes on a stretch of Bassett, but only on a trial basis for now.

Proposed Route 23 between Sun Prairie and downtown Madison

Want to test ride a fancy road bike? Come to Neff Cycle Service on Friday afternoon for a BMC demo event, followed by a group ride.

And if you're interested in supporting Madison Bikes and Madison Bike Week through volunteering, come to the Volunteer Open House at Cafe Domestique. You can help us by distributing posters, chalking the bike paths, helping with our party at the end of week, and more. We know that volunteering for the first time can be daunting, and so we're hosting a Volunteer Open House where you can ask questions, meet our board members and fellow volunteers. Drop by any time between 5-7 pm at Cafe Domestique, 1408 Williamson Street. Please RSVP by email or on Facebook.

Madison Bike Week is less than a month away!

Speaking of volunteering, on Saturday you can help the Capital City Offroad Pathfinders get our local trails in shape at three different workdays, at Quarry Park, Sheehan Park, and the Farm. Or you join the Bike & Brew Ride. Registration is $25, and the proceeds go to Freewheel Bikes.

And finally, on Saturday REI is hosting their second Big Backyard Bike Bash. Madison Bikes will be tabling at the event, and you can donate used bike and parts to Dreambikes. REI "will have our bike techs on site from 10am - 4pm to perform safety checks on your bicycles and advise you on any repairs or fixes that might be needed to be road worthy. Plus, there will be a bike wash station to keep all the bikes in your quiver clean and looking fresh for a new year. To satisfy your desire to learn new things, we will have classes and presentations running throughout the day on bicycle touring, bikepacking, roadside repair, bicycle shoes and pedal selection and tube and tire selections."

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes.

Hi Madison Bikes Community, I'm Steph! I am a new member of the Madison Bikes Board, an avid cyclist and coffee drinker. I will be contributing to the Madison Bikes blog on a weekly basis to provide a voice of bike-related encouragement, insight, and amusement. While I am not a bike expert by any means, I am obsessed with all things bike-related and look forward to sharing my thoughts on a new topic with you each week!

Happy National Bike Month! I have personally declared this month to be “YOLO (You Only Live Once) May”. For me, this means saying yes to new opportunities and trying to make everyday memorable. Today, I decided to take the advice of a bike friend and ventured off to Paoli (pronounced pay-oh-lie) for a roughly 33 mile ride. I have wanted to make this jaunt happen since I learned that it would incorporate a part of the Badger State Trail that I have never been on before.

I wasn’t confident how to get from my home to Paoli, so I used the directions for bikes in Google Maps to get me there. I am very grateful to have had the directions flowing through my earbuds, as I surely would have gotten lost near The Velo UnderRound. Even with my five years of being a Madison resident and very user-friendly maps at the Velo UnderRound, I manage to get lost around there more often than not.

(The Velo UnderRound)

Despite my directional impairments, I highly enjoyed my little adventure. The weather was perfectly cool, the route is not very hilly, I saw red barns and spotted cows, and even got to ride on a bit of crushed stone.

(Sun Valley Pkwy)

I decided to stop in Paoli for a quick lunch before heading back home. So, I set my eyes on Paoli Schoolhouse because of the great reviews and cute name. As it turns out, I was a bit under-dressed (Rev Cycles chamois speckled with gravel bits), so I left and I made a note to come back another day. There are alternative places to grab a bite in Paoli including The Hop Garden (lunch is served on the weekends) and Cafe Domestique’s satellite location (open weekends only).

(I kinda wish I had noticed the word “FINE” on their signage before entering the restaurant dressed as I was.)

Without alternatives, I ate a snack I had packed just in case, I mooed at some cows and I headed back home. I hope to do another day trip out to Mount Horeb and possibly bikepack to Governor Dodge State Park this month too. Both are accessible using the regional bike trails.

If you are waiting for a nudge to take this ride, consider this your nudge!

Happy riding and tailwinds!

(YOLO grin)

P.S: Wisconsin Off-Road Series (WORS) begins this week with the Englewood Open! If you’d like some local advice on mountain biking (MTB), look no further than Frank Hassler’s blog with new posts on MTB racing.

We were able to steer clear of the worst of the snow over the weekend, so the roads should be in pretty good condition. The city had warned about the possibility of needing to bust out the salt trucks again, but it doesn’t seem to have been a major salt event. So you have the go-ahead to keep tuning up and starting to ride your summer bikes! No need to worry about this happening:

Photo credit: J. Michel (aka: Mitch) Carriere, CC BY-NC-ND

This Week

Tuesday

At 6:30 PM the Common Council is meeting in 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Room 201 (City-County Building). The full agenda is available. There are two items of note:

1. The council will vote to accept the permanent easement granted to city for a pedestrian/bike path on the east side near the Highway 30/US 151 interchange. In effect, enables the creation of a small section of trail cutting through from Rethke Ave to Burke Ave, a nice alternative to Commercial and probably formalizing a defacto path anyways.
2. The council will vote on up to $10,000 in cooperative in development funds for Madison Freewheel Bicycle Company, to be used to improve and expand the co-op. In addition, these funds will be used to help in the planning for their work as the bicycle concessionaire for the Judge Doyle Square project.

From 2pm to 6pm, Moots will be at Machinery Row Bicycles to demo new gravel bikes and more.

Wednesday

It’s your day off from bicycling-related news, nothing of note. Enjoy a chance of AM thunderstorms and afternoon sun? Make your own news!

Thursday

Bombay Bicycle Club has a social ride at 5:30 pm, starting in Cottage Grove at Fireman’s Park (~25 miles). See their ride guide for their entire schedule of rides.

Friday

At 6:30pm, help celebrate the grand opening of Slow Roll Cycles on Monona Drive with free food and music along with a silent auction to benefit Capital Off Road Pathfinders (CORP) and a presentation from Liv Cycling.

Saturday

All day Saturday, continue the Slow Roll Cycles grand opening with a raffle, free bike tuneups, a no drop ride at 10am and free giveaways for kids.

Too muddy to ride? From 8am to 3pm, there’s a CORP workday at the Quarry Ridge trails in Fitchburg.

Middleton more your style? From 9am to 12pm there’s another CORP workday at the Pleasant View MTB trails.

Sunday

Bombay Bicycle Club has a ride leaving from Middleton’s Lakeview Park at 9am (54 mile) and heading north as far as Gibraltar Rock near the Merrimac Ferry. See their ride guide for their entire schedule of rides and details about the alternate start for the shorter 30 mile loop.

You Might Have Missed It

Madison Bikes has a very active Facebook community so sometimes some discussions slip through the cracks. Here are some interesting ones you might want to check out from this week:

• Bicycling advocates around the country are using the red Solo cups to demonstrate the need for better bike lanes that actually protect cyclists by physically separating them from traffic.
  
  Photo Credit: jamie_okeefe, CC BY-SA 2.0
• The discussions on the Madison Bikes Community page have an impact! See how a city alder responds to a forwarded discussion.
• And finally, a lively discussion about riding in the door zone stemming from some accidents out on the roads.

Upcoming

Wheel and Sprocket is looking for a few ride leaders to help out at their first annual Ride of Silence on May 15. This is a nationwide event that honors and remembers cyclists we've lost on the road.

Madison School & Community Recreation (MSCR) is looking for volunteers to help at Learn 2 Ride events on Sunday, May 5 and Sunday, May 19. Do you remember where and how you learned 2 ride and who taught you? Sign up to help right here!

And of course, Madison Bike Week will be here in just a few weeks. Mark your calendars for June 1 through June 8!

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes.

Hi Madison Bikes Community, I'm Steph! I am a new member of the Madison Bikes Board, an avid cyclist and coffee drinker. I will be contributing to the Madison Bikes blog on a weekly basis to provide a voice of bike-related encouragement, insight, and amusement. While I am not a bike expert by any means, I am obsessed with all things bike-related and look forward to sharing my thoughts on a new topic with you each week!

Earlier today, I found myself grumbling the old saying “Wisconsin has two seasons: winter and construction season” while biking from Madison’s east side through the hairball intersection.

While it is easy to whine about the exponential growth of orange construction barrels in the past few weeks on Madison’s east side, I’d like to focus on something more positive. Recently, I recalled an acquaintance referring to my SASY-area home being located in “biker’s paradise”. It’s true. Even with the construction, I am so lucky to live in a neighborhood that is as bike-friendly as it is.

Here are seven reasons why I live in a biker’s paradise:

1. There are so, so many bike groups that start their rides from this part of town including ones held by Spoke Haven, Cargo Bike Shop, Brazen Dropouts, and Revolution Cycles.

(Brazen Dropouts Saturday ride)

2. Lots of local businesses care show they ❤ bikers with lots of bike parking outside their establishments and/or by participating in the Bicycle Benefits program.

(Bike parking by Mint Mark)

3. There are a lot of bike trails/paths on this side of town, including: Capital City, Yahara River, Sherman Flyer, and Starkweather Creek.

(Biking on the Cap City Bike Trail)

4. Some of our residential streets have sharrows in the middle of the travel lane. This symbol provides cyclists with extra validation that we can take the full lane, instead of smooshing to the side and hoping for the best.

5. The near east side has wayfinding signage for places like Middle Earth and the Space Station.

6. The Monona Lake Loop meanders through residential segments of the neighborhood.

7. There are TWO bike-friendly intersections with biker-focused stoplights and green lane markings.

(Intersection at Dunning and Atwood. How many bikes do YOU see in the photo!?)

(Intersection at Blair and Mifflin.)

Sure, not everything about any neighborhood is perfect. However, the near east side is pretty darn close though; you should bike on over for a visit and see for yourself.

Happy biking and tailwinds!

P.S. Haven’t gotten enough bike-related content yet? Check out a video clip from last week’s Amstel Gold Race. A veritable nail-biter (especially the final few minutes).

The steady rise in temperatures this spring is starting to pay off with warmer weather and more people out on bikes! The bike counter on the Cap. City Path in Law Park saw its highest daily count so far this year at 2,783 bikes on Saturday, April 20! The counters at Law Park and on the Southwest Commuter Path both saw their highest weekly count of 2019 for the week starting on April 15 with 12,041 and 8,152 bikes counted respectively. The data for all of Madison’s “Eco-Counters” are available online at http://www.eco-public.com/ParcPublic/?id=4336

Just as a reminder, Madison Bike Week is coming in just over a month! Save the date!

Construction Updates

E Johnson St. - Construction will switch to Stage 2, the work zone for this stage is the north side of Johnson St. and the west side of First St. up to Mifflin St. so the side path on the south side of Johnson remain open. Click here to see the open pedestrian and bike facilities.

Williamson/Wilson St. - Starting Tuesday, April 23 the path on the south side of Williamson St. in front of Machinery Row will be closed for approximately two weeks. A signed detour is provided on the Capital City Path from the Lake Loop on Paterson St.

This Week

Monday, April 22,

Bike Fitchburg is having its monthly meeting starting at 6:30 PM. The meeting takes place at the Fitcbhurg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd in Fitchburg.

Tuesday, April 23,

The Bike for Boys & Girls Club Kick-Off is starting at 5:30 PM at The Thirsty Goat, 3040 Cahill Main, in Fitchburg. The event’s Facebook description says, “This evening will include appetizers, light music, and even better company. This is a great opportunity to learn more about our annual Bike for Boys and Girls Club, as well as how to get involved.”

“Free prizes will be distributed to those who attend!”

The Bike for Boys & Girls Club ride is an annual fundraiser ride to benefit Dane County youth through the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County. Read more about the ride on their website: https://www.bike4bgc.com

Wednesday, April 24,

At 5:00 PM, the Transportation Commission (TC) is meeting in the Common Council Chambers, Room 202, at the Madison Municipal Building in downtown Madison, 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Click here to access the full agenda for the meeting.

At the meeting TC members will be voting to adopt the Interim Recommendation for the Wilson St. Corridor Study, which will include a pilot project for a protected cycle track on Broom St., and a reconstruction of the 300 block of W. Wilson St. that would not preclude a future cycle track on the south side of Wilson St. See the Legistar entry for this agenda item to read the full text of the legislation, and read the Interim Recommendation document for more information on what process the corridor study went through to arrive at the interim recommendation.

TC members will also be given a presentation on the Draft 2020-2025 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) by City Engineering staff. The TIP is a document that lays out a 5-year budget plan for transportation project priorities, including major streets and bikeways. The TIP generally gets reviewed by a series of committees before ending up in the city’s budget process for the next annual budget.

At 7:00 PM, there will be a Ladies Night celebration hosted by Machinery Row Bicycles in coordination with Erica DeAnda of Wisconsin Pink Boots Society at their location on the corner of Williamson St. and John Nolen Dr. The celebration is for all women and female-identifying cyclists in the Madison area, and will feature a beer tasting, treats, and door prizes! Admission is free! Read more about it on their Facebook events page.

Saturday, April 27,

The Capital Off Road Pathfinders are looking for volunteers for two spring projects. Both projects start at 9 AM and go until noon.

The first is a Cross Plains Spring Workday for the off road mountain bike course. This project is for general cleanup after winter and perhaps a few building projects. No special skills or tools are required to participate. Read more about it at their Facebook events page.

The second is a Garlic Mustard Removal and Trash Clean-Up project at Quarry Park, 3302 Stevens St. on Madison’s west side. This project is co-hosted by the Rocky Bluff Neighborhood Association. Read more about this volunteer opportunity at its Facebook events page.

At 11:30 AM, join Freewheel Community Bike Shop and ALT Brew for a Bike and Brew Tour. The tour starts at ALT Brew, 1808 Wright St. in Madison. Same-day registration is $25, tickets are available in advance for $20 from Alt Brew. Proceeds will benefit Freewheel Community Bike Shop. All registered participants will receive an ALT Brew pint glass and a “free beer” card to use at a brewery, mini tire levers, a $10 freewheel coupon, and stickers. Stops include ALT Brew, Rockhound Brewing, Working Draft Beer, Parched Eagle, and Karben 4 Brewing and all breweries on this tour have Bicycle Benefits discounts available. To learn more about this event check out their Facebook event.

As always, you can find an overview of all bike events on our Community Bike Calendar. Email us at info@madisonbikes.org to add your events. And if you value our newsletter and other work, consider donating to Madison Bikes.

Hi Madison Bikes Community, I'm Steph! I am a new member of the Madison Bikes Board, an avid cyclist and coffee drinker. I will be contributing to the Madison Bikes blog on a weekly basis to provide a voice of bike-related encouragement, insight, and amusement. While I am not a bike expert by any means, I am obsessed with all things bike-related and look forward to sharing my thoughts on a new topic with you each week!

Last week, I learned about a new bike event called Paris-Roubaix. To be honest, I had no idea what the heck a "roubaix" was, where it was, or even how to pronounce it (ROO-bay, FYI). What I did deduce was that the Paris-Roubaix was a BIG deal in certain segments of the bike world because there were heaps of references to the event in the popping up on my Facebook feed.

Here were just a few events in the area that Facebook thought I should know about:

Every two years we have elections for the city council, and every four years we elect a mayor. This year there are a LOT of changes, and all the new people take office Tuesday, just two weeks after the election. What will that mean for bicycling or transportation overall? We’ll see.

Wilson Street update

On Tuesday of this past week, a number of MB board members, volunteers, and supporters attended the public hearing on Wilson St. In last week’s update, Harald linked to the final study, so you can see all the options. What we heard on Tuesday was that: 1. No decision has been made about what will be built; 2. The first section of the road – between Broom and Hamilton -- will be rebuilt this year, principally due to deteriorating storm sewer pipes that cannot wait any longer; 3. The next immediate decision will be where to place the curbs during that project; and 4. The preferred option will allow bike two-way facilities to be placed on the street in one of three configurations, however, the bike facilities will not be built yet – until a decision is made on how to add facilities through the entire corridor from Blair to Broom.

So, you will see construction on W Wilson this year, but there won’t be any bike facilities on that section when the dust clears in the fall. There will be one more public information meeting before this project starts to wind its way through city committees and the Council. The next meeting will mostly be about assessments to adjacent landowners and the timing of work.

Traffic Engineering will also be building a two-way cycle track on Broom this year; it will run between John Nolen Dr and W Wilson. That should make getting between the lake path and local streets a little easier. They will be doing a test as to whether it is possible to extend the same treatment to W Main St. TE will test this out by closing off a portion of the right lane to see how this affects motor vehicle traffic flow.

We’ll keep you informed about any news on this project. 

Bike rack campaign at the library

The Madison Public Library Foundation is raising funds for the new Pinney Library. It's like a "brick campaign" -- where individuals can sponsor a brick in a building -- but with bike racks! Because so many Madisonians get to their library by bike, the Foundation wanted to provide an opportunity for sponsors to put their name on one of the 64 bike racks at the new library. 

"Become a part of history at the new Pinney Library! For a $1,000 gift, our community-based 'Rack Raising' fundraising program gives you naming rights that will appear on a sturdy metal U-shaped bike rack outside of the new Pinney Library.

From children and teens to adults, many Pinney Library visitors rely on bicycles as a primary form of transportation and use the adjacent Capital City Trail to get there. Providing lots of parking and security for their bikes promotes safety and protects their investment, as well as encourages an environmentally friendly way to travel around Madison."

Find more details on their campaign website.

Bike Week site up

If you, your employer, or a business would like to sponsor Bike Week or schedule an event, more information and forms to contact us are now available on the Madison Bikes website. There is now a dedicated page for Bike Week.

The week ahead

Monday at 6:00 pm is the monthly meeting of the Madison Bikes Board of Directors. As always, members are welcome to attend. We meet at the Central Library, 201 W Mifflin.

Tuesday, the new Mayor and members of the Common Council will be sworn in at noon. Not only is our new Mayor, Satya Rhodes-Conway a dedicated bike and bus commuter, but she is passionate about transportation as one of her highest priorities. Grant Foster, former President of the Madison Bikes Board of Directors will become the new alder (city council representative) for District 15.

Although these are two prominent examples, we are fortunate in Madison to live in a city where getting around by bike is considered fairly normal, and there are many elected officials, both current and former, who make this choice. In addition, many city staff, including our Traffic Engineer, Director of Transportation, and the head of the Metropolitan Planning Organization are all year-round bike commuters.

Good luck to all the returning and new elected officials. You’ll be hearing from us!

If you scroll through the Council agenda, there are pages and pages of mundane items: liquor licenses, contracts to build a sidewalk or sewer line, notices that a small street will be repaved. But sometimes you find some interesting tidbit. Here are a couple that are on the agenda Tuesday that are in some way bike related. You can click on the links if you want to see more.

• A storm water watershed study for the intersection of the Capital City State Trail, Badger State Trail, Cannonball and Southwest bike path.
• The city is going to rebuild University Ave from Shorewood Blvd to University Bay Dr/Farley. More on this soon, and there isn’t anything at that link yet. It’s not happening until 2021, and they haven’t even had public information meetings, but we will be keeping an eye on it.
• A committee to look at on-street parking and policies that might be changed. That may not seem bike-related, but parking affects many things we care about, from the ability to put in protected bike lanes to how much traffic a street or neighborhood has.
• They are going to extend the cycletrack on Bassett down to W Washsington.

Wednesday is the monthly meeting of the Madison Bikes Advocacy Committee. If you interested in outreach to other members on advocacy issues, learning how to influence city decisions, or have issues that you would like to work on, please come by. We meet at 6:00 pm at Bendy Works, 106 E. Doty St, second floor.

What are we talking about on Facebook?

On the Madison Bikes Community group, here are a few discussions from the past week.

Would there be a market for a location where people could park their cars and then bike the rest of the way to their jobs?

Cambridge, Mass., becomes the first city in the U.S. to mandate protected bike lanes.

Madison Bikes is excited to announce that we are organizing Madison Bike Week in 2019, in partnership with the City of Madison! Bike Week has a long history in Madison, going back at least twenty years to when it was a single "Bike to Work Day." For the past couple years, the Wisconsin Bike Fed has organized the local events as part of the statewide Wisconsin Bike Week. This year, the Bike Fed continues to organize the statewide event, but Madison Bikes is taking over in Madison!

From June 1-8, we will celebrate biking in Madison. The Madison Bikes vision is a city where anyone can ride to any place comfortably and conveniently, and Madison Bike Week is an important part of making that vision a reality. Bike Week celebrates riding to work, to school, to a park, to the library -- or biking to feel the warm wind blowing through your hair. Bike Week also celebrates the diversity in biking in Madison: We aim to have events in all neighborhoods of the city and partner with community groups.

Madison Bike Week will feature big, well-established events such as Ride the Drive and Bacon on the Bike Path, as well as Bike Stations with free treats or bike checks, organized bike rides, or special Madison Bike Week offers from local businesses.

Get involved in Madison Bike Week and show your support for biking:

• Host an event with your business or community group, or offer deals/discounts to people riding bikes. You can sign up here.
• Sponsor Madison Bike Week: Show your commitment to biking and support us financially. Please get in touch with us by email.
• Spread the word and volunteer: Ask your employer or favorite local business to participate in Bike Week, tell your friends about the event and motivate them to participate, or sign up to volunteer. We'll be hosting a volunteer session in early May.

Check madisonbikes.org/bikeweek often, or subscribe to our email newsletter.