We made it through the cold snap! The weather this week looks to return to more normal winter conditions, which is perfect because this week is Winter Bike Week! Madison Bikes is organizing Winter Bike Week as an event to encourage and celebrate riding throughout the winter. Events include group rides, bike stations for winter riders, bike maintenance/skills classes, a winter bike photo contest, bike happy hours and more! Since there are so many Winter Bike Week events going on this week, I will not be covering them all in this post but mention a few highlights. For up-to-date and complete information regarding winter bike week events, please refer to the Madison Bikes Winter Bike Week web page: https://www.madisonbikes.org/winterbikeweek
Mayoral Candidate Questionnaires
As Madison’s mayoral primary is coming up fast, we’ve sent out a questionnaire to each candidate asking about a variety of bike-related topics. You can expect the responses to be published Tuesday morning.
Last Week
Madison saw a new record low temperature for January 31st Thursday morning at -26°F, but even the cold weather did not keep people from biking. Unfortunately, due to lake conditions, the Frozen Assets Bike Race and Sled Pull were canceled, but Winter Bike Week is just beginning, so there are lots more events to attend.
The Wilson Street Public Input Meeting #3 that was scheduled for this past Thursday was rescheduled due to the cold weather to Monday February 18. We feel improving this street is crucial to our mission to make Madison a city where anyone can bike conveniently and comfortably to anyplace year round. You can read the action alert that was sent out before the meeting to familiarize yourself with this important gap in Madison’s bike network.
This Week
It’s Winter Bike Week! As mentioned earlier, I will not be covering all of the events here. You can find out what’s happening over at the Winter Bike Week web page: https://www.madisonbikes.org/winterbikeweek
All week long there will be a photo contest where you can participate at the following Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/791108974555609/ The theme is: Show us how you Winter Bike!
Today, Monday, February 4, kick off Winter Bike Week with Madison Bikes at the Law Park Bike Station from 7-9 AM which will be near Machinery Row. There will be coffee by EVP and treats from the Willy Street Co-op.
Also today there will be a meeting of Madison’s Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) at 5:00 PM in room 201 of the City County Building. There are a few important bicycle-related agenda items worth mentioning. First, there will be a discussion about bicycle facility planning, which will help guide transportation engineering on best practice treatments when constructing bicycle facilities that will allow people to feel safer biking on our bike network. Improving our bike network to improve the feeling of safety is a crucial step to encouraging the “interested but concerned” segment of the population, over half, to start biking more. Another important agenda item is the Wilson Street Corridor Study and the Bassett Street Corridor Study. These corridor studies will guide the long-term development of these crucial corridors here in Madison, both of which need significant improvements to make more bike friendly. Finally, there will be a discussion of next steps to take regarding Madison’s winter bikeway maintenance policies. This ongoing discussion is focused on crafting and adopting best practices for winter bikeway maintenance, which includes path and bike lane clearing. Here is the full agenda for this meeting.
At 6:30 PM, there will be a forum for mayoral candidates on the west side of town at Oakwood Village Center at 6205 Mineral Point Road. This will be a more casual format of mayoral forum and will provide the public an opportunity to talk with the candidates after the forum. See the Facebook event for more information: https://www.facebook.com/events/289570018570045/
Tonight is also a MEAThead ride. This ride starts every Monday at 7:00 PM November through March regardless of the weather. The ride starts at Ford’s Gym, 2114 Winnebago St in Madison. Read more about the group on their Facebook page.
Tuesday, February 5, Winter Bike Week continues with Bike Fitchburg hosting a Commuter Station from 7-9 AM at the Velo UnderRound (i.e. the bicycle roundabout where the Capital City Trail, Badger State Trail, Cannonball Trail, and Military Ridge State Trial all meet). They will have hot drinks, bagels, free maps, and (empty) water bottles.
There will also be a Bike Station near Revolution Cycles from 7-9 AM serving coffee and treats. In the afternoon, Machinery Row Cycles will have an Indoor Bike Station from 4-6 PM. Stop by for coffee from Café Domestique and a free bike safety check.
On Tuesday evening, come to Just Bikes and Free Bikes 4 Kids’ indoor bike shenanigans, starting at 4:30 pm. Track stand contests, an obstacle course, and much more at the giant Free Bikes 4 Kids space on the west side.
Wednesday, February 6, there will be an Indoor Bike Station from 7-9 AM at both HotelRED and Canteen on the Square. Both locations will feature coffee and treats.
Starting at 6:30 PM there will be a Northside Mayoral Candidate Forum at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center. Before the forum, starting at 6 there will be a meet and greet with the candidates. This is an opportunity for residents of the north side to get to know their mayoral candidates and to discuss north side specific issues. Read more about the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/359133981546598/
Thursday, February 7, there will be an outdoor Bike Station from 7-9 AM hosted by Café Domestique and The Cargo Bike Shop where the Cap City Trail intersects with Dickinson St. There will be free coffee and breakfast sausage corn dogs by Underground Food Collective.
At 6:30 PM, there will be a Madison Common Council District 15 Candidate Forum at Lake Edge UCC on Buckeye Rd. The candidates are Grant Foster, Angela Jenkins, and Justin Williams. Read more about the event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1934248313360495/ (Disclosure: Grant Foster is a board member of Madison Bikes. We do not endorse or oppose any candidate for political office.)
Friday, February 8, there will be two Bike Stations from 7-9 AM: One b Taqueria & Tequila Bar on the square where there will be free coffee and churros, and one Outdoor Bike Station hosted by Design Concepts at E Wilson and Ingersoll on the Capital City Path with coffee and breakfast kebabs. At the Design Concepts Outdoor Bike Station you will also have the opportunity to clean and lube your chain, and get your portrait taken.
This is also International Winter Bike to Work Day, so all day we are encouraging folks to “Mob the Bike Counters” by trying to ride past either one of Madison’s two bike counters (on the Southwest Path by Regent and Monroe and on the Capital City Trail along John Nolen near North Shore Drive). Although the display at the Capital City Trail counter is not working, it is still picking up data that is provided publicly here: http://www.eco-public.com/ParcPublic/?id=4336
Finally, there will be an End-of-Week Happy Hour Celebration hosted by Madison Bikes at the Nutty Bar/Bandung (600 Williamson St) from 5-7 PM. Here we will have the results of the Winter Bike Week Photo Contest and door prizes to give away provided by Planet Bike.
Saturday, February 9, there will be a Up To Snow Good Dual Salom event held at Tyrol Basin. This is a spectator friendly bike race will include costumes, music, rowdy crowds, klunkers and epic wipe-outs because this race is on snow! You can sign up to compete or just come to watch, either way this one sounds like it will be a lot of fun. You can learn more about the event at their website: http://www.uptosnowgood.com/ or on the event’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/273221906596692/
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 our work, consider a donation to Madison Bikes.