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Bike News

Monday Update: Happy July 4th!

Last Week

It was the end of an era: The Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle Commission (PBMVC) met for one last time. Going forward, Madison now has a Director of Transportation, and PBMVC and many other transportation-related committees have been replaced by a Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB), and a Transportation Commission (TC). Time to get used to new acronyms and a new political process…

One important agenda item from the last PBMVC meeting was the return of the undead Winnebago Street Option 1 proposal. A few weeks back, the Common Council had voted for Option 2, which had buffered bike lanes and was supported by Madison Bikes. Mayor Soglin then vetoed the Council’s decision, and at a subsequent Council meeting, there was no majority for any of the other options. Instead of going back to the drawing board and coming up with a comprehensive proposal for the whole corridor, Engineering made minor modifications to the failed Option 1 design and brought it back. “Option 1B,” as it is now called, suffers the same flaws for people on bikes: In order to preserve as much free on-street parking as possible, people biking on Winnebago would be squeezed in between a narrow travel lane on one side and a narrow parking lane on the other. The proposal will be back at the Common Council on July 10, and it will be important to voice your opposition to Option 1B. Stay tuned for an action alert.

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On a more positive note: The plans for reconstructing Atwood Avenue between Fair Oaks and Cottage Grove Road also were before PBMVC because the schedule for the project has been moved up. While not perfect, this project will greatly improve conditions for people on bikes and walking.

This week

Because of the holiday, things are quiet this week.

On Friday, Revolution Cycles Cycling Club has their kick-off party for the season. “Come meet the crew, learn about the club, try on some kit from Verge Sport, and enjoy yummy snacks from our sponsors, Banzo.” 7pm at Revolution Cycles.

And on Saturday, the BiciClub Latino de Madison is organizing a 24-hour ride in support of immigrants and refugees. How does it work? “You can join this ride in two ways:

  • Ride with Baltazar 30 minutes, one, two, three, or 24 hours.

  • Ride anywhere 30 minutes, one, two, three, or 24 hours and post your pictures to this page’s event. Ride solo or in teams

Only requirement: Use a white piece of fabric, or paper and write the following words: RIDING IN SUPPORT OF IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES and pin it to the back of shirt or jersey.”

Also on Saturday is the Fitchburg Festival of Speed, which includes a sanctioned bike race as well as more relaxed riding options. More details on their website.

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Bike News

Monday Update: Bike Week in full swing

It’s June, and it’s peak biking season in Madison. Wisconsin Bike Week started on Saturday and will serve a packed calendar of events this week.

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We from Madison Bikes had a blast at Ride the Drive yesterday, offering free ABC Quick Checks and chatting with lots of you! If you signed up for our newsletter at Ride the Drive: Thanks for stopping by, and welcome to Madison Bikes! More pictures on our Facebook page.

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Monday

On Monday there will be commuter stations at

  • Cap City Trail and Ohio Ave
  • SW Path and W Wash
  • Cap City at Machinery Row
  • Cap City at Law Park
  • Middleton: Old Middleton Road at Asbury Path
  • Fitchburg: Badger State Trail at Marketplace Dr

In the evening, come to Genna’s for a Women’s Cycling Happy Hour (open to all women-identified people), starting at 5 pm.

Tuesday

Madison Bikes is joining HotelRED to host a commuter station today! We promise: You won’t have to bundle up like we did in this picture from our commuter station during Winter Bike Week!

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Tuesday’s commuter stations will be at:

  • Cap City Trail and Ohio Ave
  • SW Path at HotelRED with Madison Bikes
  • SW Path and W Wash
  • Cap City at Dickinson with bacon cheddar waffles
  • Cap City at Central Park/McPike Park
  • Cap City at Law Park
  • Middleton: Old Middleton Road at Asbury Path
  • Fitchburg: Velo Underround (where Cap City, Cannonball, SW Paths intersect)

Our friends from Bombay Bicycle Club are hosting a ride and social in the evening, starting at the Hop Garden in Paoli. And north of Madison, join the 1st Annual Pedal For Paws, Creekside Family Bicycle Night in Sun Prairie.

Wednesday

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On Wednesday, stop for free morning treats at:

  • Cap City Trail and Ohio Ave
  • SW Path and W Wash
  • Cap City at Brearly
  • Cap City at Machinery Row
  • Cap City at Law Park with Bratcakes
  • Middleton: Old Middleton Road at Asbury Path
  • Fitchburg: Badger State Trail at Marketplace Dr

Sun Prairie Bicycling Advocacy Group is hosting their Brats, Brews, and Bikes Ride in the evening. Meet at 6 pm at Wetmore Community Park.

Not part of Bike Week: The Madison Area Transportation Planning Board has their regular meeting at 6:30, Water Utility (E Olin Ave).

Thursday

More commuter stations!

  • Cap City Trail and Ohio Ave
  • SW Path and W Wash
  • Mifflin Bike Boulevard at Paterson: Celebrate the new diverter!
  • Cap City at Law Park with Bacon on the Bike Path
  • Middleton: Old Middleton Road at Asbury Path

In the evening you can pick among several social events: Revolution Cycles will have a Hot Pizza and Cool Drinks happy hour on the Cap City Trail behind their shop. On the way there, stop for a root beer kegger on the Cap City between First and Division. If you live in Waunakee, join Bombay for a 25-mile ride, departing 5:30 pm at Prairie Elementary. And in Middleton, you can join community leaders for an 8-to-10-mile ride featuring recent investments in bicycle routes and amenities, and learn about future plans and opportunities.

Friday

It’s your last chance to hit one of the commuter stations. Today you can find them at:

  • Cap City Trail and Ohio Ave
  • SW Path and W Wash
  • Cap City at Law Park
  • State St at Johnson (Short Stack Eatery
  • Middleton: Old Middleton Road at Asbury Path

Bike Week doesn’t end on Friday, but it is the day for the big bike week celebration at HotelRED from 5-6:30 pm.

Women-identified folks who want to learn about setting up the suspension on mountain bikes can head to Fitchburg Cycles for a “suspension clinic.”

Saturday

Bike Week ends with several options for riding your bike: The Trek 100 charity ride takes off from Waterloo. Bombay hosts a women’s ride starting at the Glacial Drumlin trailhead in Cottage Grove. And women-identified folks who want to test some MTBs should head to Blackhawk trail system in Middleton. If you prefer a Madison event, head to the UW Campus for an “open house of interactive programs on the UW-Madison’s East Campus Mall and along the Lakeshore Path.”

For more details about any of the bike week events, go straight to the Bike Fed’s calendar.

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Bike News

Monday Update: Mifflin diverter, Monona open house, city rankings

Last week

The highlight of last week certainly was the Common Council voting in favor of buffered bike lanes on Winnebago Street. Madison Bikes put a lot of energy into this project, and we’re very pleased that in the end, a majority of alders supported the project. You can watch a recording of the debate about the project on City Channel (starts at 1:04:00). Here’s the voting record:

Alders voting in favor of Option (buffered bike lanes): Bidar-Sielaff, Demarb, Eskrich, Hall, Kemble, Martin, Palm, Phair, Skidmore, Wood, and Zellers.

Alders voting against Option : Ahrens, Cheeks, Clear, King, Rummel, Verveer.

Carter was excused, Baldeh was chairing, and Harrington-McKinney abstained.

Please consider sending a quick email to your alder to thank them for or let them know your opinion on their vote.

[Breaking: We just learned that Mayor Soglin has vetoed the council’s decision. The Council now has to vote on it again, and the project will need a 2/3 majority to pass. Read the mayor’s letter here.]

Also at the Common Council was the Madison Yards project. This is a huge development project on the city’s west side, next to the Department of Transportation building on Sheboygan Ave. If you followed the news coverage and Facebook discussion after the council meeting, there was some confusion about an amendment that seemingly affected plans for bike lanes on Segoe. The amendment was voted down and bike lanes on Segoe (and other affected streets) remain part of the project.

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At the Board of Public Works, the East Mifflin diverter passed unanimously. The diverter blocks motor vehicles from entering Mifflin at Blair and should help to keep traffic volumes on the bike boulevard in check. The city’s report on the test installation of the diverter was positive, but public testimony at the meeting had a large number of critical voices. The project will now go to the Common Council.

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Places for Bikes released their new city rating system on Wednesday. The scoring system incorporates a variety of data sources on ridership, infrastructure, community perceptions, safety, and current investment levels. Madison scored 3.3 out of 5 possible points. This puts us on 6th place overall, and 3rd among large cities. Where we did worst was in the “acceleration” category, which rates “how quickly a community is improving its biking infrastructure and how successful its encouragement programs are at getting people to ride.”

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On the weekend, the Wisconsin Bike Summit took place, including the Madtown Unity Ride on Friday evening, “celebrating the unity and diversity of Madison and to connect communities together.” Channel 3000 has a short segment on the ride.

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Oboi Reed from Equiticity presenting at the Summit (Photo: Peter Gray)

This week

Tonight, on Monday, the Madison Bikes events committee has their monthly meeting. The next big event on the horizon is Ride the Drive and Bike Week in early June. 6pm at Barriques on Park. New faces are always welcome!

If you want to see better biking and walking in Monona, attend the ped/bike open house on Tuesday. The city’s bike and ped ad hoc committee will give a presentation on the committee’s goals and an open house to discuss potential improvements. 6pm at Winnequah Elementary School.

On Saturday you need to choose between two bike events: REI is hosting their Big Backyard Bike Bash. Dreambikes will accept donations of bikes and used parts at the event, and you can get free safety checks and use the bike was station. 10-4 at REI on the west side. If you’d rather combine biking and Craft Beer Week, join the 80s-themed Madison Bike & Brew Tour. All proceeds from the event go to Down with Bikes, Madison’s newest mobile bicycle repair non-profit. 11am at Alt Brew.

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

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Bike News

Breaking: Common Council votes for buffered lanes on Winnebago

At last night’s meeting, the Madison Common Council voted in favor of reconstructing Winnebago Street from Bashford to Second with buffered bike lanes and canopy trees (option 2)! Madison Bikes supported option 2 with a position statement that you can read below. The decision to remove on-street parking and reallocate that space for safer and more comfortable bike facilities and street trees is a major victory for active transportation and livability in our city.

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We’ll have more details later. Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this happen!

Madison Bikes Position Statement Winnebago

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Bike News

Action Alert: Winnebago Street at the Common Council

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We’ve written about the Winnebago Street reconstruction several times. But now it’s decision time: The Common Council will decide the future of the street at their meeting next Tuesday (5/1). Without a strong showing of support from the public, the Council will most likely go with Option 1. Alder Rummel supports Option 1, as does the Board of Public Works. Some of the neighbors affected by the conversion of on-street parking into space for trees and bikes will likely speak at the meeting, supporting option 1.

So please voice your support for Option 2 by speaking at the meeting or writing to your district’s Alder.

As a reminder, these are some of the arguments in favor of Option 2:

  • space for bigger, canopy-type street trees
  • better access for walking from southeast side of street, especially with the elimination of the current grade separation
  • better, shorter crossings for people on foot
  • buffered lanes for bikes instead of a door-zone bike lane on a bus route with narrow lanes
  • ADA accessible bus stop at Fourth St
  • narrower lanes for motor vehicles to encourage lower traffic speed

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Rendering of Option 2 (Image: City of Madison Engineering)

Grant wrote a comprehensive overview of the project and its implications for people walking and biking on Winnebago here. The Isthmus also covered the debate in a recent article.

Some quick tips for writing an effective comment:

  • Primarily address your district’s alder, but also include allalders@cityofmadison.com as a recipient
  • Start the letter by saying why you care about this issue. Do you live in the neighborhood? Do you frequent businesses on Winnebago? Does your kid go to East High? Does your commute take you in Winnebago (or would it, if conditions were better)? Do you support the city’s sustainability goals? Do you like big trees on all Madison streets? Have you had a good/bad experience riding or walking on Winnebago? Etc.
  • Short letters are fine, as are long ones
  • Make it clear that you support Option 2
  • Ideally send your letter by Monday evening

Feel free to share your comments in the comment section below or on Facebook so that others can see them as well.

Categories
Bike News

Monday Update: Atwood Ave, Milwaukee St, Terrace Town

Last week

The Wisconsin Bike Fed is changing its organizational structure to become more effective in their advocacy. Last Wednesday, the Bike Fed’s executive director Dave Schlabowske met with Dane County bike advocates and presented his plans and ideas. Stay tuned for further announcement online or at the Wisconsin Bike Summit.

Bombay Bicycle Club had their annual spring membership meeting on Sunday, and their 2018 ride calendar will be available shortly. We’ll work with them to also get those rides on our Community Bike Calendar.

This week

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Current plans for Atwood Ave reconstruction

The big advocacy event this week is a public involvement meeting on Atwood Avenue. The street is going to be reconstructed between Fair Oaks and Cottage Grove Road, and one goal of the project is to improve conditions for people walking on biking in the corridor. Right now, Atwood forms a barrier between the residential areas and the park and lakefront. Crossing the road is difficult, and vehicle speeds are high. Bike access is limited to a narrow sidewalk shared with people on foot. The city has proposed a number of improvements that would address some of these issues. But some important questions remain — for example, do we really need two lanes in both directions on Atwood? Will the new road design lead to slower vehicle speeds and allow safe
crossing? Why does the city want to allocate more space for car parking? So please attend the meeting and help the city get this
project right. Monday, 6:30-8 pm at Olbrich Botanical Garden. You can also send questions and comments to the project staff:
cpetykowski@cityofmadison.com and bwilkinson@msa-ps.com

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Current state of Atwood (Image: Google Maps)

Sun Prairie Moves, the local bike advocacy group in Sun Prairie, also meets on Wednesday. On the agenda: Updates on planned events, on a planned network of off-street paths, and on a new official bike map in Sun Prairie. Wednesday, 6:30pm at Colonial Club Sun Prairie.

An area that also could use improvements for those who don’t get around by car is the Milwaukee Street Special Area. The planning efforts for the area are still in the early stages. Learn more at the first open house at Whitehorse Middle School on Thursday, 6:30-8pm.

On Saturday, you can again join the folks at Cafe Domestique for their rain-or-shine Spring Rides. Meet at Cafe Domestique at 8:30am. A more mellow ride option starts at noon at Freewheel Community Bike Shop: This kid- and family-friendly ride will go to Elver Park and include a potluck picnic. And if you’d rather stay inside on Saturday, consider attending Terrace Town at Monona Terrace: Dane County elementary school kids have build a small-scale city with a focus on sustainability out of recycled materials, and now they’re eager to present their work to the public. 10-4 at Monona Terrace.

And on Sunday, bike out to Warner Park for the Annual Bird and Nature Festival. Or finally get that tax return done…

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

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Bike News

Dispatch from Small-Town Germany

Madison Bikes Board member Harald reports some impressions from his recent stay in Germany. This article was originally published on Harald’s blog, Ride or Pie?!

I grew up in small-town Germany. Welzheim, my home town, is a city of 10,000 people. It’s on the edges of the Stuttgart metro region (population 2.7 million), about 30 miles from Stuttgart itself. My parents still live in Welzheim, and I visited them for a week this March. And, of course, I rode my bike.

Lovely small roads make for great biking

So as Welzheim is in Europe, there obviously is a lot of bike infrastructure, right? And nobody drives a car. Well, note quite. Germany with good reason is known as a nation of cars (Mercedes Benz and Porsche have their headquarters in Stuttgart). And in a small, rural town like Welzheim, there’s actually not much obvious bike infrastructure to speak of. There are zero protected bike lanes, bike parking is pretty mediocre, and even on-street bike lanes don’t exist, with the exception of an advisory bike lane on two streets. And yet, the biking experience is much better than you’d expect.

Traffic calming is one big reason for this. On most residential streets, the speed limit is 30 kph (19 mph). More importantly, the streets are built so that people by and large actually drive at that speed. The streets by default are much narrower than a typical US residential street. So when a car is parked on the street, two cars generally can’t pass each other, keeping speeds down. Further, intersections are usually unsigned, meaning that the person coming from the right has the right of way. Effectively that means that at each intersection you have to be prepared to stop. Actual stop signs, on the other hand, are so rare that my navigation app actually gave me a voice notification the few times that I did encounter one.

Traffic signals are also much rarer than in the US. The whole town of Welzheim has not one signal. Roundabouts, on the other hand, are plentiful. Starting in the 1980s, new intersections on busier streets often were built as roundabouts, or old ones were retrofitted. On the 8-mile drive from the nearest train station to my parents’ house, you will encounter no fewer than 10 roundabouts. Now in the US, among bike advocates and the general population, roundabouts have a bad rap. Much could be said here, but it’s important to note that German roundabouts are built smaller than US ones, and multi-lane roundabouts like the one we have on Mineral Point Road in Madison are very, very rare. More narrow lanes means people driving have to slow down more and aren’t tempted to pass people on bikes on the roundabout approaches or in the roundabout.

Some residential streets are designates as “traffic-calmed area,” a concept similar to the Dutch woonerf. Cars must drive at walking speed, and people walking and biking are entitled to the whole street. Again, those streets are usually built in a way that makes it clear that people must drive slowly.

What about commercial streets? Welzheim’s main street looks like this:

The speed limit is 20 kph (12 mph), and as a pedestrian you can easily cross the street wherever you like. Through strategic placement of planters or on-street parking spots, there will be locations where two cars can’t pass each other, keeping speeds down.

Going one step further, some cities have pedestrian malls in their city centers. This is Schorndorf:

Biking is sometimes restricted in these areas, either banning bikes at specific times or asking people to bike at walking speed. Deliveries by car or truck are permitted only during a short time window each day.

Bike parking is not that great by Madison standards. If there are bike racks at all, they often default to what Germans call the Felgenbieger (rim bender) style of rack. This is probably one reason that kickstands are very common on bikes, allowing people to just park their bike wherever when they go for a quick trip to a shop.

E-assist bike on a rim bender rack
Note the wheel lock on the bike on the right. Good enough for a quick stop.

At train stations and in larger cities, bike parking facilities tend to be better. For instance, at the Bad Cannstatt train station, there is a “bike station” where you can valet your bike (and also have it repaired while its parked there). With the Judge Doyle Square bike center, Madison is poised to get similar facilities. We’ll have to see how well they work without a transit location.

The bike station is run by a charitable enterprise, training and employing people with disabilities or other challenges

Once you get out of town, biking can be really awesome. One feature of the region is a dense network of farm or forestry service roads and tracks. For historical reasons, parcel sizes in this part of Germany are very small. This is an aerial image of Welzheim and its surroundings (Image: Google Maps).
All those little strips of fields that you can see are owned by different farmers (and the same is true for forest parcels). And of course that means that each farmer has to be able to get to his or her field. The service roads to get them are public right-of-way, but motor vehicle access is limited to farm traffic.
Farm road
Forest service roads are usually unpaved
Navigation on these roads and tracks used to be a challenge. There is no orderly grid system, and it could often be hard to tell where any given road would take you. Fortunately, over the past decade or so, communities have made much progress on signing bike routes that string together little pieces of road to connect villages and cities.
The green signs point show bike bike route destinations and distances; the small square signs underneath them are for touristic bike routes; the yellow sign is for hiking.

I want to be clear that there are some problems with these routes: Welzheim is in a rather hilly area, and the easiest routes up those hills are often taken up by roads. So if you follow a bike route, you should always be prepared for steep climbs. The routes also do not get cleared of snow in the winter. And finally, sometimes the routes are geared more toward recreational biking instead of providing the most direct route. But overall, they provide an amazing low-stress network for people biking, for recreation and transportation alike.

Some snow left on this forest road

Are there any takeaways for bike advocacy in Madison? Obviously some of the things I have described we can’t recreate here. The issue of traffic calming may offer some lessons, though. Many advocacy efforts here in the US focus on creating protected bike lanes as a way to enable people of all ages and abilities to bike. And there are good reasons for that. But at the same time we shouldn’t lose track of the fact that traffic calming can also create spaces that are great for biking and walking (and have other benefits such as reduced noise). This applies not only to residential streets, but also to commercial corridors. This does require being serious about it, though. Merely slapping a 20 mph speed limit sign on an otherwise unchanged street is not going to be enough. And neither is the occasional speed bump or sporadic enforcement. Diverters that prevent cut-through traffic, reducing the width of a street, creating bump-outs at intersections–these are some measures that may transform a street into one that many people will feel comfortable biking on.

A second takeaway is that good signage can add a lot of value at little cost (financial and political. In a way, the farm roads in Welzheim are similar to, say, the network of multi-use paths in Fitchburg.

Fitchburg path network (Map: OpenStreetMap contributors)
You can get to many destinations on those paths. But unless you’re really familiar with the area, navigation is a challenge. Similarly, if you’re riding on the Southwest Path or Cap City Trail, knowing where to turn off to get to a destination on Monroe or Willy Street is not obvious. Good signage would help with this. Dane County actually developed a “Bicycle Wayfinding Manual” (warning: big pdf) to address this issue, but implementation has been slow so far.
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Bike News

Weekly Update: Bcycle returns, St. Patrick’s Day

This edition of our weekly update is brought to you from an airport in Germany. I’ve been visiting my parents for a week and am now back on the way to Madison. Stay tuned for a post about biking in Germany. Until then, here are the latest bike-related events for the week.

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Lots of bikes in Freiburg, Madison’s sister city in southwest Germany

On Monday, the Madison Bikes Events Committee is going to lay out the schedule for our organization’s events for the year. If you’re interested in being involved, please come to Barriques on W Wash at 6pm or email our volunteer coordinator Heather.

I’ve been told that spring hasn’t fully arrived in Madison yet, but that does not deter BCycle from starting the 2018 bike share season on Thursday. Welcome back!

On Saturday, you can join Madison Bikes board member Baltazar for the regular Tour of the Latino Family/Tour de la Familia Latina. This month’s theme is St. Patrick’s Day/Dia de San Patricio. Meet at Olin Park at 1pm

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

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Bike News

Monday Update: Winter Bike Week recap, Winnebago, Tour de la Familia Latina

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Another successful Winter Bike Week is over! Did you have the opportunity to stop at any of the commuter stations, the social rides, or at the celebration at Nutty Bar on Friday? Sadly, even though of course I was biking to work all week, my schedule was so busy that I could only make it to two of the many events. But I’ve seen the pictures and read reports from others, all saying that. Here are some impressions from last week (thanks to Peter Gray, Linda Larsen, Kevin Hayes-Birchler, and our board members for the pictures):

Winter Bike Week 2018

If you can’t see the images in your email, please open the post on our website.

Thanks go out out to the Madison Bikes board members and volunteers, our many community and business partners who stepped up and partnered with us to make the second Madison Winter Bike Week another success!

Bandung’s Nutty Bar
Cafe Domestique
Canteen Taqueria & Tequila Bar
Clean Lakes Alliance
EVP Coffee
HotelRED
Liv Cycling/Fitchburg Cycles
Madison Bike Winter
Monday Night MEAThead Ride
Orange Tree Imports
Revolution Cycles
Rockhound Brewing Co
Taqueria Guadalajara
The Cargo Bike Shop
Underground Food Collective
UW Bicycle Resource Center
UW Health

We’ll be back next year — let us know if you want to partner with us for Winter Bike Week or any of our other events.

This week

On Monday, the Madison Bikes Events Committee meets at Barriques on Atwood. If you’d like to get involved with our events, just stop by!

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On Tuesday, please come to the Winnebago Street public input meeting. As Grant has outlined in his post, the choice is to either keep things as they are, or to create a Winnebago Street that works for everyone. Tuesday, 2/13, 6-8 pm at the Goodman Community Center.

On Saturday, Madison Bikes board member Baltazar is hosting another Tour de la Familia Latina. Meet at Olin Park at 1 pm.

And on Sunday, the Madison Bikes board will have its annual strategic planning session to identify our priorities for the coming year and beyond.

For details on any of these events, head to the Madison Bikes calendar. If you have an event that you’d like added, send the details to info@madisonbikes.org.

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Bike News

Sunday Update: It’s Winter Bike Week!

Our Monday update comes a little early a week. Why? So that we can tell about all the great things happening during Winter Bike Week!

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Winter Bike Week had a bit of a bumpy start, with both the fat bike race organized by the Clean Lakes Alliance, and the Madison Bikes Fat Bike Sled Pull being canceled because Lake Mendota was just too slick. Bummer, but that’s how winter biking can be sometimes. On the other hand, I heard that Revolution Cycles and Surly Bikes hosted an awesome party and show on Friday night! I haven’t received word yet from today’s Liv/Fitchburg Cycles Winter Warm Up Ride to the Madison Winter Festival at Elver Park, but conditions should have been favorable!

During the whole week until Friday (2/9), you can participate in the Madison Bikes Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt. Take pictures of yourself and your bike and post them to the event page! Some examples from last year:

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On Sunday (Feb 4), you can start the day early and watch the men’s cyclocross World Championship races at Cafe Domestique, starting at 8am. If that’s too early, Rockhound Brewing has some special brunch deals from 9:30am to 1pm. Just mention Winter Bike Week.

Monday morning will feature the Madison Bikes Kickoff Commuter station. Join us on the Cap City Trail near Machinery Row for coffee and treats, 7-9 am. In the evening, you can join the MEAThead ride, a friendly no-drop loop around Lake Monona, starting 7:05 pm sharp in front of Ford’s Gym on Winnebago.

EVP Coffee on East Wash or University Bay Drive is the place to be on Tuesday: Winter riders can get a free small coffee, all day. And our board member Pepe will lead a slow roll to the Lower Yahara River Trail, across the bridge to McFarland. Departure at 6:30 pm at Gates & Brovi, or you can join at 7 at Colectivo on the Square or 7:20 at Olin.

The Wednesday commuter station is hosted by Canteen Taqueria & Tequila Bar on Hamilton St. From 7-9 am you can get free coffee, cookies, and pan dulce. Over lunch break, former Madison Bikes board member and UW Bike/Ped Coordinator Chuck Strawser will host a Bike Traffic Skills Class. Free and open to anyone. And in the evening you can join Aaron and the Madison Bike Winter Crew for their classic Dane-to-Dane social ride. Meet at the downtown Great Dane at 6:30 pm.

Winter Bike Week is for people of all ages. On Thursday, the kids will get their own commuter station! The Cargo Bike Shop, Cafe Domestique, and Underground Food Collective are joining forces to serve kid-friendly snacks and beverages on the Cap City Trail at Dickinson from 7-9 am. And if you appreciate an indoor commuter station, HotelRED delivers: Free pastries and coffee will be served in their lobby on Monroe/Regent from 7-9 am.

Winter Bike to Work Day

Friday is Winter Bike to Work Day. You can pledge to ride on their website, and also participate in a gift exchange with other participants from all over the world! If that’s not enough incentive to ride your bike, Canteen will again host a commuter station on the Square, 7-9 am. Winter Bike Week will wrap up with a Happy Hour at Bandung’s Nutty Bar. Drink and food specials will be available from 5 pm, and we may have some prizes for those who participate in our Scavenger Hunt.

Phew, this is a pretty packed schedule! Thanks to all my fellow Madison Bikes board members, volunteers, and business partners who have made this possible! Happy Winter Bike Week!