Month: July 2019

Another slow week for our weekly update, but we do have a highlight on Saturday!

The bike week starts with Mondays Around Monona, a chill social bike ride around Lake Monona. The ride has been around for a long time, but this week it has a new start and end destination: The ride will start at 5:30p sharp at Capital City Trail and Sugar Ave and end at the newly redeveloped Garver Feed Mill where people will gather for dinner and/or drinks.

On Saturday, I’m very excited about an event centered around the idea of mobility justice with anthropologist and activist Dr. Adonia Lugo! Organized by the JUST Bikes Coalition, there will be a community bike ride, lunch, and a book talk about “Locating ourselves in Mobility Justice: Planning for multiracial and just future streets.” Adonia Lugo is a cultural anthropologist who did her doctoral research on biking and bike activism in Los Angeles. One of the ideas she develops is a tension between physical infrastructure and human infrastructure, as well as the connections (and tensions) between bike activism and environmental, social, and racial justice. This is the schedule for the day:

9:00 am: Helmet Fitting & Bike Checks in the Villager Mall parking lot
10:00 am: Neighborhood Bike Ride followed by lunch
11:30 am: Book Talk (Locating Ourselves in Mobility Justice: Planning for Multiracial and Just Future Streets)/Discussion with Adonia Lugo Cultural anthropologist at the Goodman South Library

If you can’t make the event, check out Dr. Lugo’s book “Bicycle/Race” or listen to a WORT interview with her from last year.

Also keep in mind that the CrossFit Games are happening this week. Be prepared for more people riding, running, and walking on our trails and paths.

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.

Last Week

On Sunday, a 56-year-old woman riding her bicycle tragically lost her life at the intersection of the Military Ridge State Trail and County Highway PD in Verona. It’s a reminder of just how vulnerable we are on our bikes and the need for everyone to be on the lookout for each other, especially at intersections.

On Thursday, the first public meeting around the Garver Path took place. This path is only part of a series of planned paths to help connect residents of several north east Madison neighborhoods to the Capital City Path. The first leg would extend from the Capital City Path by the Garver Redevelopment up to Milwaukee Street along Starkweather Creek. Eventually the path will connect with the Marsh View Path which is an existing car-free path across State Highway 30.

This Week

Monday, July 22,

Freewheel Community Bike Shop will be providing free bike tune-ups at the Lakeview Library on the north side Monday and Tuesday in the afternoon. You can read more about this event here.

Bike Fitchburg is having their monthly meeting. The meeting starts at 6:30 PM at Fitchburg Public Library, 5530 Lacy Rd in Fitchburg.

Wednesday, July 24,

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) is hosting a public input meeting around using the center medians as extra travel lanes during peak hours. The meeting will take place from 5 PM to 8:30 PM in the Community Room at The Village on Park at 2300 South Park Street. You can read more about this here.

The Transportation Commission (TC) is meeting in Room 207 of the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. at 5:00 PM. Topics on the agenda include reconsideration of speed humps planned for Spaight Street and Lake Point Drive, and topics for the Tuesday, August 27 Joint Meeting between the TC and the TPPB. Read the full agenda here.

Friday, July 26,

The Wisconsin Bike Fed is teaming up with Wheels for Winners to host the Kennedy Heights Pride Ride, a family-friendly group ride through the north side. This event will start at the Kennedy Heights Community Center at 199 Kennedy Heights in Madison. Free food and water, and free repairs courtesy of Wheels for Winners, will be provided. The cookout and neighborhood party starts at 12:30 PM and the ride will start at 2 PM. Childrens bicycles and helmets will be available to be lent out, and vegetarian options will be available. Read more about this ride here.

We have an important city meeting coming up with week as well as a number of Madison Bikes committees. A reminder that all Madison Bikes meetings are open to the public, and you are welcome to attend. We are always looking for people to help on our committees, so stop by if something looks interesting.

Monday

The Madison Bikes Events Committee will meet at 6:00 pm at Rockhound Brewing, 444 S Park St.

Tuesday

The Madison Bikes Communications Committee will meet online at 6:00 pm. We normally meeting in person, but we moved July’s meeting because of the July 4^th holiday. If you would like to participate in the meeting, drop an email to Heather Pape: heather@madisonbikes.org

Wednesday

The Transportation Commission will be meeting and considering the final plans for the S Broom St and W Wilson St project that is scheduled for next year. This will be an important project with the potential to improve bicycle connections on the south side of downtown. More on that project in last week’s Monday Update.

The commission will also be looking at the initial geometrics for the University Ave project that will be built in 2021. This project will run from Campus Dr to Shorewood Blvd. Note that bicycle facilities on the south side of the road are NOT included at this time, despite a number of people mentioning the need at the June public information meeting. More on this project later this week.

What are we talking about on Facebook?

The Madison Bikes Community group always has some interesting discussions going on. In the last week, people have posted about unexpected construction on their commuting routes, why bicyclists sometimes avoid paths, and common myths about bike lanes. Check out the discussion and join in.

Midwestern summer is here in all its glory: Festivals, heat, humidity, mosquitoes, thunderstorms.

Let’s start this newsletter with — a plug for another newsletter: For the latest information on construction and detours that affect people on bikes in Madison straight from the source, check out the city’s Bike Madison newsletter. The newsletter has been around for a long time, but since Renee Callaway was hired as Pedestrian and Bike Administrator, the newsletter has become much more active again. So if you want to know what’s happening with the construction at First St, the Blair/Nolen/Williamson/Wilson intersection, or elsewhere, consider subscribing to Bike Madison: https://www.cityofmadison.com/bikeMadison/getInvolved/newsletter.cfm

A few quick reminders:

If you haven’t done so, please help us make Madison Bike Week better by taking our short survey. We already have over 100 respondents, but it’d be great to get some more. Link to the survey: https://forms.gle/fgcXi6Rwh8NVCs1e8

And it’s also not too late to support our Pinney Library Rack Raising campaign. Show your support for biking and our public libraries by contributing to our fundraiser. Our goal is to raise $1000 for the new Pinney Library, and we are over halfway there, with $505 raised. You can donate on Facebook or on our website. Thanks to everyone who has already made a contribution.

This (short) week

Mondays Around Monona are back! Join this social ride around Lake Monona with our former board member India. All genders welcome. Ride starts at 5:30pm at the intersection of the Cap City Trail and S. Fair Oaks Ave. Ride ends at Tex Tubb’s Taco Palace (2009 Atwood Ave) Gather for food and/or drinks after the ride.

What a two-way protected bike lane may look like on Broom/Wilson

On Monday, the Transportation Policy and Planning Board (TPPB) is meeting. On their agenda:

• Adopting the interim recommendations for South Broom Street and the 300 block of West Wilson: Much work has happened around Wilson and Broom Streets, further refining designs that allow low-stress bike access to our downtown. This includes an addendum to the interim recommendations that just came out last week. We will cover this topic in more detail later.
• Discussion items include better bus access to the new Pinney Library, planning for policy around electric scooters, and reviewing the Department of Transportation’s latest work plan.

The TPPB meeting is taking place at the City-County Building, Council Chambers, starting at 5 pm.

On Tuesday, the Madison Bikes Communications Committee has their regular meeting. Please email heather@madisonbikes.org if you’re interested in attending.

Another edition of the weekly bike repair clinic at the Latino Workforce Academy is happening on Wednesday.Wheels for Winners, the Latino Academy, and the Bridge-Lakepoint-Waunona Neighborhood Center are offering free bike checks from 5-6:30pm

Cl√≠nicas de reparaciones básicas de bicicletas: Tienes una bicicleta que necesita reparacion basica? La Academia Latina y Wheels for Winners te pueden ayudar con la reparacion. Trae tu bicicleta los miercoles de mayo, junio, julio y agosto. Lugar: Academia Latina, 1917 Lake Point Dr.

And on Saturday, ride around Lake Monona with Cafe Domestique — over and over and over again.

The Lake Monona 100 started as a joke. What’s the most ridiculous way we could spend the day riding our bikes? Where could we ride, for a hundred or so miles, but also have lots of stops for coffee, beer, snacks, swimming, parks, more beer, maybe stop at home for a nap, etc.? How about a bike ride where you’re never more than like 6 miles from a bike shop, and could take a taxi to said shop in case you got a flat tire?

Enter the Lake Monona 100. One hundred miles of bike riding on Madison’s most popular bike route. Or not a hundred miles. You choose how far you ride, where to stop, who to ride with.

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.