Holy smokes what a cold front. When you wrestle with whether or not to bike this coming week, keep in mind that each day will be at least 20°F warmer than last Friday!
Looking for things to do indoors?
Got a few minutes? Peruse this collection of bike-themed art by local artist Jason Malina. Yes, he uses AI as a tool, but the result are creative and often stunning!
Got 30 minutes? Will Briggs has an excellent, locally-sourced article in the Capital Times about the challenges municipalities face with e-bikes and micromobility devices. It makes a good companion read to the November 2025 New York Times article “Are E-bikes out of control?” With new rules likely to make e-bike ownership even more confusing, a simple mantra for e-biker owners and shoppers: There’s no meddling when you’re pedaling! (aka skip the throttle and you can’t go wrong)
Got an hour or more? Watch the recording of last Thursday’s Madison Bikes’ Meet and Greet with Christof Spieler, Madison’s new Director of Transportation. As a recent emigre from Houston Texas, he repeatedly told us “you don’t know how lucky you are” for Madison’s strong bike culture, level of ridership, and extensive path network. I agree, we have it really good!
Got eighteen minutes and thirty-one seconds? Watch Mr. Spieler’s presentation to Madison’s Transportation Commission earlier this month on WisDOT’s Beltline “PEL” study. It’s a great “cliff-notes” of what WisDOT is considering. Afterwards, head over to the WisDOT PEL public involvement site, find the public survey (direct link), and share your thoughts! That survey closes Jan 30. Afterward, go register in support of the City’s opposition to heavy beltline expansion at Wednesday’s Common Council (see This Week below).
Got a couple hours? Read Madison’s Complete Green Streets Guide cover-to-cover while thinking about delivery vehicles and curb design. Mr. Spieler pointed out those deficiencies at our Meet and Greet and said we’d be hearing a lot about curb management going forward.
Got an afternoon? Review the maps and draft actions of the Southwest or Southeast Area Plans. These were published in October and will be adopted in the spring.
This Week / Regent Street
On Monday, January 26 (registration link) at 6:30pm is a Public Information Meeting (PIM) about the reconstruction of Regent Street between Monroe Street and Park Street. The takeaways from the first PIM last September were that the street should be pedestrian-first and that “dynamic curb use (loading, drop-off, delivery, outdoor seating) is preferable to fixed parking spaces.” That’s great and fits Complete Green Streets nicely, but it totally omits the local bicycling needs! The PIM takeaway slide 13 makes it sound like bikers were left out because too few of us said we were comfortable riding on today’s Regent Street. Hmm… Were we supposed to lie?
We need bikers to attend tonight and talk about all the great Regent businesses that they want to visit by bike. The nearby SW path is great for thru-biking, but it doesn’t help a biker trying to get donuts, coffee, dim sum, flowers, more coffee, cheese bread, pizza, more dim sum, bike repairs, frabonis, noodles, or drunk. The fact that Regent St is terrible for bikes today is no reason to keep it that way in the future.
On Tuesday, January 27 night at 6:30pm, Common Council agenda items 16 (legistar 91436) and 53 (legistar 91575) are both about the Cap City trail extension towards the Glacial Drumlin trail, detailed below. Agenda item 48 (legistar 91530) establishes Madison’s opposition to major Beltline expansion in the PEL study. You can read the whole text of the amendment by opening the legistar link and clicking the word “Text” just to the right of “History(3)”.
On Wednesday, January 28 at 4:30pm, Board of Public Works agenda item 19 (legistar 91625) takes up the Cannonball extension mentioned last month which will include a new bridge over Wingra Creek.
All these CC and BPW items are all great and expected to pass, but it never hurts to register support. Even better may be to send personal notes to the sponsors, engineers, and your alder.
On Sunday February 1 at 5:00 – 6:30pm is the monthly bicycle advocacy meetup at Machinery Row Bicycles. Lauren writes:
At our next Bike Advocacy Meetup, we’re going to take a moment to focus on hope and optimism! Bring your creativity and big radical ideas for how we can shape Madison into a more bike-friendly community with transportation options for all! We will share the results of our discussion with Christof Spieler, the new Director of Transportation in Madison. We’ll also discuss some of the projects that are currently in their planning phases, such as Regent St, the Beltline, and Stoughton Rd. Hope to see you there!
On Monday February 2 at 6:30 – 8:00pm is a Madison Lakeway Public Meeting to learn about their final plans to beautify the Lake Monona waterfront along John Nolen Drive after the road construction finished. We know there’s going to be a 10′ bike path, a 6′ pedestrian path, and a natural surface jogging path. Rumor is the pedestrian path may include a boardwalk over the water, observation spaces, and public art. Tune in!
Glacial Drumlin Connector
Madison and Dane County are moving forward with final plans to extend the Capital City Trail east to CTH AB in 2027 as part of the Glacial Drumlin connecter. Busy Will Briggs has a nice Capital Times piece about this. All that will be left is a final three-mile section to Cottage Grove; it’s in Dane County’s short-range plan and will hopefully be a “fast follow” in 2028 or 2029.
Coming Up
The new Rusk Path opened to little fanfare last fall, and the City already has plans to extend it to Rimrock Rd this year. See the project page and register for a public information meeting on Monday, February 9. Separately, Rimrock Rd and its rough bike lanes are supposed to be resurfaced in 2028. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?
On Friday, February 13th, we’ll be celebrating International Winter Bike to Work Day to help cyclists embrace hopefully-above-zero temps. Morning riders along the Capital City Path near Machinery Row can enjoy coffee from Cafe Domestique, donuts, and frozen company. At 4-6pm, we’ll host a happy hour at Working Draft Beer Company.
That’s it for the weekly round-up. Stay warm out there!
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. For construction updates, check out the city’s Bike Madison page.
Thanks to our sponsors who make our events possible!
