Author: Jim Wilson

Atwood Ave. with a lane closed for people on bikes

A few virtual events happening this week, but there are some ongoing items we’d like to mention.

We already mentioned it last week: The City of Madison Parks Division has entered Phase II in the plan to make some major improvements to Vilas Park, several of which directly impact cycling through and around the park. There are three separate proposals detailed, but a well-designed survey does a great job of helping you identify which elements from each of the proposals you liked and disliked, so we can presume that the resulting plan may incorporate elements from each of them. In addition to important cycling changes, you can also comment on ice skating, parking, shelter placement and wetland planning. Something for everyone!

As part of Virtual Bike Month, Madison Bikes has a Love to Ride Group where people can log their miles and help Madison Bikes reach a goal of burning 1000 tacos by the end of the month.

Madison Bikes has also started a Virtual Bookclub where we’re reading bike-themed books to get through social distancing. The first book: How Cycling Can Change the World by Peter Walker. The book can be found online including in e-reader format. We recommend purchasing ASAP as some delivery times are impacted. Consider purchasing from a local bookstore. Additionally, the library does have some copies and is now doing pick ups. The book club will meet virtually on Friday, June 12. If you’re not on Facebook and would like to participate, send an email to marybeth@madisonbikes.org.

Starting Monday, the UW will be closing down sections of Arboretum Drive to car traffic to enable social distancing among walkers and cyclists. This follows Madison restricting car traffic several streets or lanes to enable better social distancing on popular bike routes. Most recently Madison has shut down Sherman Ave. near Tenney Park.

Arboretum Drive

Monday, May 18 is the monthly meeting of the Madison Bikes Board. The meeting will be held virtually at 6 PM. We’re currently working on identifying and prioritizing gaps in Madison’s low-stress bike network.

On Thursday, May 21 at 12 PM there is a free Learn to Ride Webinar in English and Spanis. This webinar is intended for parents, guardians, teachers or other caregivers that are there supporting children learning how to ride a bicycle. Also for adults that would like to learn how to ride a bicycle. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/learn-to-ride-online-aprende-a-montar-la-bici-en-linea-tickets-104150342478

BCycle is continuing it’s Virtual Bike Week celebration this week with a Lake Loop Challenge. Take a picture on your ride around the lake (Monona or Mendota) and submit it to BCycle’s social media for a chance to win prizes!

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.

Lots of traffic on the SW Path

Last Week

Sunday’s unseasonably warm and sunny weather seems to have gotten people out on their bikes as evidenced by an uptick in bike traffic recorded by the bike counters. The counter on the Southwest Path showed 405 people biked over it, up from the previous week’s weekday high of 403, and the counter on the Capital City Path soared to 649 people on bikes over the surprisingly consistent weekday numbers between 478 and 505. It is typical this time of year for weekend counts to be lower than weekday counts since there are more people commuting by bike in the winter than people riding recreationally on the weekends. It is important to note, however, that a percentage of weekend bike traffic consists of commuters who work on weekends.

This Week

Monday, February 3,

At 5:00 PM Madison’s Transportation Policy & Planning Board (TPPB) is meeting in Room 215 of the City County Building at 215 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. This meeting the TPPB will look at creating a subcommittee to look at Pedestrian/Bicycle Enhancement and Traffic Calming. The TPPB will also discuss BRT updates, and a 2020 work plan which includes the Wilson Street Corridor Study and the Madison Ordinance Analysis of Parking Strategies (MOAPS). Read the full agenda here.

Tuesday, February 4,

Tuesday is Transit/Transportation Equity Day, which is on Rosa Parks’ birthday to recognize and honor the civil rights champion. The Sierra Club is organizing two rallies at the State Capitol in support of funding 11 transit project proposals in Wisconsin, one of the being a Madison Metro one. The first rally is from 7:30 to 10 AM, and the second is from 4:30 to 6:30 PM. You can learn more about these events and RSVP on the Transit Equity Day page on Sierra Club’s website.

Wednesday, February 5,

The Madison Area Transportation Planning Board (MATPB) is meeting at 6:30 PM in Rooms A&B at the Madison Water Utility Building located at 119 E. Olin Ave., which can be accessed by bike from the Wingra Creek Path. The MATPB will be amending the 2020-2025 Transportation Improvement Plan to include Madison’s east-west BRT line. They are also going to look at designating a section of US-151 as an Alternative Fuels Corridor. Read the full agenda here.

Saturday, February 8

The 5th race in the Hugh Jass Fat Bike Race Series will be taking place at Blackhawk Trails located at 10118 Blackhawk Rd. in Madison. The theme for this race is TOGA PARTY, and participants will be awarded points for racing in a toga. Having flannel/plaid on your body/bike will also earn points. Registration for the event starts at 9:00 AM and the race starts at 11. Registration is $40, or $30 for youths under 16. Learn more about this event and register at their website or on their Facebook Events page.

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.

Last Week

Initial reports are that the Free Bikes 4 Kids collection went well with hundreds of bikes collected.

Also last week saw some discussion of the poor quality of bike rack options at the Alliant Energy Center campus at the Bike Swap on the Madison Bikes Community Facebook Page. You can read the thread here.

Image: Packed fence racks at Alliant Energy Center Saturday. Fence racks do not meet City of Madison standards for bike racks. Photo credit: Robbie Webber.

This Week

Monday, January 13,

The monthly Madison Bikes Board Meeting is taking place at Madison’s Central Library and starts at 6:00 PM.

Wednesday, January 15,

At 6:45 PM one of Madison’s newest bike shops—Slow Roll Cycles—is continuing its Suspension Learning classes with the Suspension Learning Session 202 Level. This is the second level of their bicycle suspension learning sessions. It is not required to have attended the 101 class as long as you understand the basics of suspension and how it works, but if you want to take part in the hands-on service session you must have sat in on the 101 or 201 level sessions. You can read more about this session here on the event’s Facebook page.

At 7:00 PM there are two events to choose from. The first I will mention is the Lower Yahara River Trail (LYRT) Phase 2 Public Meeting. This meeting will take place at the Pleasant Springs Town Hall located at 2354 CTH N in Stoughton. Phase 2 of the LYRT will see a trail built between Fish Camp County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park along the north side of Lake Kegonsa. You can read more about it on Dane County Parks web page or on the Facebook Events page.

Image: Early proposed alignment for the Lower Yahara River Trail. Phase 2 would be constructed between Fish Camp County Park and Lake Kegonsa State Park. Source: Dane County Parks Presentation from February 27, 2014.

The other 7:00 PM event is a Capitol Times talk called Madison’s Gentrifying Neighborhoods: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This talk will be at the High Noon Saloon located at 701 East Washington Ave. Doors open at 6 PM and the talk starts at 7 and is a free event. You can read more about it on High Noon’s website or at the Facebook Events page.

Thursday, January 16,

The Cargo Bike Shop is hosting a Wheel Building Session starting at 6:00 PM. The event will be $25 and will cover a spoke wrench, snacks, and possibly a beverage. Not included in the costs will be the components for your wheelset, but the Cargo Bike Shop does have on hand great hubs, rims, spokes, and nipples and will work with you to help design your ideal wheelset. The session will start with a review of wheel components and theory and then move into lacing, tensioning, and trueing. You can learn more about the event and buy tickets at the Facebook Events page.

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.

Last Week

Last week saw a number of updates to regional bike infrastructure projects. One major update came in the form of a Feasibility Study for the Wisconsin River Recreation Bridge at the southern end of the Great Sauk Trail in Sauk City. The bridge will connect the Great Sauk Trail to Dane County and is part of a planned trail network to connect Madison to the ‚Äò400′ State Trail in Reedsburg. You can see the general routing of the trail connections here. The bridge will feature numerous lookouts and fishing piers, and the proposed design was guided by numerous public outreach efforts. You can view the presentation here. You can also follow the progress of the Wisconsin River Recreation Bridge at their Facebook page.

Rendering of the Wisconsin River Recreation Bridge
(Photo Credit: Wisconsin River Recreation Bridge Feasibility Study)

Another project we were updated on last week was the Cannonball Trail Phase 6 extension to the Wingra Creek Path on Madison’s south side. Two options were presented at a meeting on Wednesday, both with their advantages and disadvantages. One option would remove an on-street bike lane to make room for a multi-use path on the same side of the street. The other option would be a new off-street path through Bowman Park. You can see a general image of the options here. You can also find the presentation slides and follow project updates at the City Engineering’s page for the Cannonball Path Phase 6.

Last week also saw the release of The League of American Bicyclists‘ Bicycle Friendly State Rankings. Wisconsin scored below average in its ranking at 29th place in the nation. When the list was first released in 2008 Wisconsin was #2 on the list and has dropped in ranking precipitously since, ranking #9 in 2015 and #26 in 2017 according to the LAB’s Historical Rankings Chart. In order to learn why Wisconsin is doing so poorly on the Bicycle Friendly State Rankings you can read the LAB’s 2019 Report Card for Wisconsin.

This Week

Wednesday, December 11

The Transportation Commission is meeting at 5:00 PM in Room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. There will be a number of bike-related informational updates at this meeting so this will be a good one to watch online or in-person. First up will be a presentation on City Engineering’s 2020 Projects, including the 2020 Bikeways Projects. The Bikeways Projects are usually minor resurfacing projects that don’t involve a major reconstruction. One path scheduled for resurfacing is the Southwest Path continuing west from the 2017 resurfacing to Glenway Street. After that there will be an update to the Blair Street project that will include reconstructing part of the path by Machinery Row and adding stop lights to Blair Street’s intersection with Main Street–a major Bike Boulevard connecting to Madison’s downtown. Then, the Commission will be updated on the Cannonball Path Extension options discussed earlier. Finally, there will be an update to the University Avenue Project. You can read the full agenda to learn more about any of the projects and to see what else will be before the Commission.

At 5:30 PM, there will be an Arts, Crafts, and Cocktails event hosted by Trek Madison West, located at 8108 Mineral Point Road on Madison’s west side. Trek will provide the wheels, decorating supplies, and craft cocktails from Gib’s Bar. You bring any extra ribbons, ornaments, or lights that you want to make your wreath unique.The event is capped at 30 people. Learn more about it their Facebook Events Page.

At 6:45 PM Slow Roll Cycles at 4118 Monona Drive, near the intersection with Buckeye Road, will be hosting a Suspension 101 class. The class will cover basic suspension theory and basic set up and maintenance. You can read more about this class on their Facebook Events Page.

Saturday, December 14

Trek HQ will be hosting Race #2 in their Hugh Jass Fat Bike Race Series. Event registration will start at 9:00 AM at Trek Headquarters, 801 W Madison St, Waterloo, WI. The race will start at 11:00 AM, and at 1:00 PM there will be a party and awards given to the winners. Learn more about the event and get tickets at their website http://www.hughjass.bike/ or on their Facebook Events Page.

Revolution Cycles will be hosting a free Surly Fat Bike Demo at Camrock Park out of Cam Rock 3 Shelter. From 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon WOMEN (Women, Trans, Femme) will have priority, and from 12:00 to 3:00 the demo will open up to EVERYONE. Be sure to bring a helmet and a driver’s license to check out a bike. After 3 PM they will do a lap or two of the Camrock Trails. The bikes being demoed are the Surly Ice Cream Truck and the Surly Wednesday. Read more about it on the Facebook Events Page.

At 11:00 AM, Fitchburg Cycles, located at 2970 Cahill Main in Fitchburg, will be hosting their own Fat Bike Demo. Fat bikes from Giant and Borealis will be available. A photo ID, or a credit or debit card will be needed for a test ride. Beer and snacks will be provided and anyone who checks out a bike will be entered in a raffle to win one of a number of prizes from their vendors. Read more about this Fat Bike Demo at their Facebook Events Page.

Finally, Saturday is the Madison Santa Rampage. The Wisconsin Bike Fed is partnering with numerous local organizations to host the event. Rides from the west, north, east, and south will depart at 11:00 AM and convene at Library Mall where at noon they will ride up State Street Mall and around the Capitol Square. Learn more about the event from the Wisconsin Bike Fed page or the Facebook Events Page. Registration is $10 and goes to support a grant-match for Equity-based programs in Madison.

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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.

Path Clearing under Verona Road. (Photo by City of Madison Engineering.)

At Tuesday’s Common Council meeting, the Council adopted an Operating Budget that funds snow and ice clearing for Madison’s arterial shared use paths within 12 hours of a winter weather event! Previously there were only funds to keep the paths cleared on weekdays and non-holidays. This is a major victory for biking and walking in Madison. It will prevent some of the major issues with clearing paths on Monday after a Friday snow where a weekend’s worth of walking and biking compacts snow and creates dangerous, icy patches that cannot easily be removed. This will also help keep the paths clear for commuters whose job schedules don’t revolve around a 9 to 5, Monday through Friday schedule.

Also in the budget: $350K towards the implementation of Vision Zero/Traffic Safety. Introduced as an amendment by Alder Grant Foster, all council members signed on as co-sponsors and the amendment passed unanimously. The money will be available to do safety enhancements to some of our city’s most dangerous intersections and corridors in the coming year. Vision Zero, which aims to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries, will be a larger process, but it’s great that we have some money available to kickstart it.

Thanks to everyone who emailed their alder in support of this vital path maintenance!

The Monona Terrace Bike Elevator is down! @MononaTerrace reported on Tuesday that the Bike Elevator has suffered a breakdown. At this time it is believed the bike elevator will be operational some time this week after substantial repairs are made.

This Week

Monday, November 18,

The monthly Madison Bikes Board Meeting will be held at 6:00 PM in the first floor conference room of Madison’s Central Library.

Tuesday, November 19,

At 7:00 PM in the Discovery Building on the corner of Randall and University, the Crossroads of Ideas: How Can We Move Forward on Wisconsin Transportation? lecture will discuss the future of transportation in Wisconsin. The lecture will be in the H. F. Deluca Forum. The lecture will be held by several local transportation officials including Madison Bikes Board Member Robbie Webber and City of Madison Traffic Engineer Yang Tao. This event is free to attend, but registration is requested. Learn more about this event on the Facebook Events page.

Wednesday, November 20,

The Transportation Commission is meeting at 5:00 PM in Room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. The Transportation Commission will be reviewing the Third Quarter Traffic Safety Report by Madison Police and the City Engineering’s 2020 Projects among other items. You can read the full agenda here.

At 6:45 PM Slow Roll Cycles at 4118 Monona Drive, near the intersection with Buckeye Road, will be hosting a Suspension 101 class. The class will cover basic suspension theory and basic set up and maintenance. You can read more about this class on their Facebook Events page.

Saturday, November 23,

Join Revolution Cycles and Trek at the Trek HQ in Waterloo at 9:00 AM for the 2019 Wisconsin State Cyclocross Championships! Learn more about the event on their Facebook Events page.

Sunday, November 24,

At 10:00 AM join Bombay Bicycle Club for the Bombay Freezaroo Ride. The ride is 26 miles round trip with a coffee stop at the half-way point in Cross Plains. The ride starts at Garner Park on Madison’s west side. The event has a Facebook Events page you can follow..

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.

We had some warm weather for the first part of the week, but as of Friday colder weather has moved into the area. Winter is coming. If you didn’t know, Madison Bikes hosts an annual Winter Bike Fashion Show to show people just how easy it is to keep biking throughout the winter! This year’s Winter Bike Fashion Show will be hosted at the High Noon Saloon on Saturday November 2nd from 1 to 4 PM! More info here.

If you want to join the Madison Bikes Board of Directors, you have until October 20 to throw your cycling cap into the ring. More info in last week’s blog post.

This Week

Wednesday, October 16

At 5:00 PM the Transportation Commission (TC) will meet in Room 215 of the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Boulevard. One agenda item is on a toolkit for traffic safety. Hopefully that toolkit includes all options to improve the safety of all non-motorists, including pedestrians and bicyclists. Read the full agenda here.

From 5:30 PM to 6:45 PM at Badger Prairie County Park there is a free Cyclocross Practice opportunity. Badger Prairie County Park is located at 4654 Maple Grove Drive in Verona. The free cyclocross practice is sponsored by the Capital Off-Road Pathfinders, L5, Neff Cycling, and Madison Parks.

At 6:00 PM, there will be a Basic Brakes Class at the University Bicycle Resource Center in the Helen C. White Garage (Lot 6) across from the Memorial Union. Bring your bike and learn from India Viola how to identify and use your barrel adjusters and how to clean braking surfaces! Free Planet Bike Blinky lights to the first five (5) attendees! No registration is required and anyone is free to join! Classes are first come, first serve, limit twenty (20) people.

Saturday, October 19

If you head out to Trek’s headquarters in Waterloo, you can put your cyclocross skills to the test. “GPJO 2019: a cyclocross celebration” will host races all day starting at 9 am. More info here, or you can go straight to the registration here.

If you’re more interested in road biking, join the Trek Store West for the El Diablo Gran Fondo, a supported 92 miles to Devil’s Lake and back. It seems like registration is free. More info here; starts with a breakfast at 7:30 am; departs 8:30 am.

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.

Editor’s note: Apologies for making our Monday Update a Wednesday Update this week. If you’re interested in supporting our Update team, send an email to harald@madisonbikes.org.

Last Week

On Saturday a person riding a bike, Kay Larson, was killed on a Madison area road. This time on West Broadway, which is a Dane County highway just south of Monona, at about 1:40 AM. The Police Report states the bicyclist was riding erratically prior to the crash. Although Broadway has bike lanes, they are in poor condition and littered with debris–some of it even quite large–making it difficult to not ride somewhat erratically to avoid it. It is legal to take a lane past the debris and bad conditions, however it would present further risks to bicyclists especially with traffic regularly going 10 miles per hour over the already high 40 mile per hour speed limit, and distracted and drunk driving being a constant problem. Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call to Dane County to better maintain bikeways on their roads.

Last week’s heavy rains have also flooded a part of the Military Ridge State Trail. The flooded section is an underpass of US-151 just west of Verona that the DNR knows chronically floods because of the permanent installation of a depth gauge. You can take an alternate route around the flooded section using Nine Mound Road and a paved path near the Epic campus.

This Week

On Monday and Tuesday, Madison Bikes and the City hosted a delegation of elected officials, state, regional, and city planning staff from all around Utah. Bike Utah, the statewide bike advocacy organization had organized the trip to promote biking and allow the delegation to learn from Madison’s bike successes and challenges. We had a great time showing them around on a guided tour on BCycles and hearing outsiders’ perspectives about our city.

Wednesday,September 18

From 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM at Badger Prairie County Park there is a free Cyclocross Practice opportunity. Badger Prairie County Park is located at 4654 Maple Grove Drive in Verona. The free cyclocross practice is sponsored by the Capital Off-Road Pathfinders, L5, Neff Cycling, and Madison Parks.

The third Law Park Community Workshop is being held at 6 PM, this time at the Madison’s Central Library, located at 201 W. Mifflin St. in Madison’s downtown. As mentioned above, you can learn more by heading over to the city’s Law Park Master Planning process web page. You can also fill out the public survey or send in your thoughts via email to LawPark@cityofmadison.com.

Also at 6 PM, there will be a free Flat Fix Class held at the University Bicycle Resource Center in the Helen C. White Garage (Lot 6) at 600 N. Park Street just across from the Memorial Union. Learn how to fix a flat tire with confidence by bike advocate India Viola. Bring your own wheel to practice with or look on with another student. You can bring your own tools to learn with if you like, otherwise tools will be available. Free Planet Bike Blinky light set to the first five (5) students.

Thursday, September 19

The Transportation Policy and Planning Board is meeting at 4:00 PM in room 215 in the Madison Municipal Building at 215 Martin Luther King Boulevard. There’s an item on the agenda regarding a Winter Bike Maintenance Policy Update and Budget Ask that might include an action item, so feel free to send an email to the board in support of improving bike route maintenance in the winter. Link to the full agenda.

Friday, September 20

At 9:00 AM the Global Climate Strike is taking place. Students and workers alike will strike to protest humanity’s continued dependence on fossil fuels. You can read about the strike in Madison here, or read more about the Global Climate Strike on their Facebook Events page or their website: ycatwi.org/sep20

As part of the Global Climate Strike there will be two Critical Mass Rides to Support Climate Action. At 11 AM the ride will go from Olbrich Park to the top of State Street, and at 7 PM the ride will go from the top of State back to Olbrich Park. If there are fewer than 25 people the ride will follow Willy Street and if there are more than 25 people it will follow East Wash. Read more about it on their Facebook Events page.

Saturday, September 21

Saturday is the 21 anniversary of the creation of Surly Bikes, and to celebrate Revolution Cycles is hosting a Sub-24 Hour (S24O) ride/bike-camping trip from their shop to Sandhill Station campground in Lake Mills. Meet at Rev Cycles at 12 PM, and the ride will start shortly thereafter. You will need to supply your own bike (doesn’t need to be a Surly), camping gear, and food.

Sunday, September 22

The Telenet UCI Cyclocross World Cup Waterloo starts at 12 PM. The event will be at Trek’s headquarters at 801 W. Madison Street in Waterloo and will be free to attend. This is the largest cyclocross event in the U.S. and promises to be a lot of fun. Family friendly and a festival atmosphere. Read more about it at their Facebook events page.

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 call for donations: Pinney Library Bike Rack

Our fundraiser for the new Pinney Library is nearing it’s end. We have raised just shy of our $800. Can you help us achieve our $1000 goal, which would allow us to get a Madison Bikes-branded rack at the library? Donate now on our website! And thanks to all those who have already contributed!

Public Input Wanted

There are a few Master Planning projects in the works of particular interest to this group. They are the Law Park Master Plan and the Vilas Park Master Plan. Law Park is the major waterfront park that runs from Machinery Row to the John Nolen Drive bridges over Monona Bay, and includes the most heavily used path in the state, the Capital City Path. Vilas Park is adjacent to Henry Vilas Zoo and currently has a one-way road with a somewhat deficient contraflow bike lane. Both of these projects have open community surveys with which you are encouraged to participate, links below.

There is also a Bicycle Friendly Community Survey being conducted by the League of American Bicyclists looking for input about local bicycling conditions from everyone who bikes in Madison. The survey is being conducted to assess the LAB’s Bicycle Friendly Community rating for the city. Madison is currently rated a Platinum Bicycle Friendly Community by the LAB. There are also Bicycle Friendly Community surveys available for Fitchburg, Verona, and Sun Prairie.

Law Park Survey

Vilas Park Survey

League of American Bicyclists Survey

Last Week

On Thursday, the city held its first planning workshop with regards to the Law Park Master Planning process. Law Park is a major waterfront park in downtown Madison that includes the heavily used Capital City Path, and the city wants your input in how the park will be used in the future. Thursday’s workshop was the first of four public outreach efforts the city is planning. The second one being this Wednesday, so watch out for that. In the meantime, you are encouraged to fill out the public survey or send in your thoughts via email to LawPark@cityofmadison.com.

Several construction projects have also started to enter their final stages.

The construction on Wilson and Williamson Streets has largely been completed, and the light poles are now up for the Blount Street diagonal crossing. As part of this project, new stop signs were erected to face car traffic at the Capital City Path crossing at Blount, demonstrating the city’s commitment to improving bicycle infrastructure for people.

The construction of the Shorewood Hills Path between University Bay Drive and Marshall Court is also nearing completion. Last week the asphalt was laid to bridge a long-identified gap in that path that starts on the University campus and extends all the way to Allen Boulevard near Middleton. Although the asphalt has been laid, there is still much work to be done, including pouring the concrete for the curb ramps, so be patient and continue to use Marshall Court for the time being to allow the contractor to properly finish this project.

Also, according to the East Johnson Street project web page, the path between Burr Jones Park and First Street is expected to reopen this week, although it appears the path crossing at First Street will continue to be closed.

This Week

Monday, August 19

The monthly Madison Bikes Board Meeting is taking place at Madison’s Central Library and starts at 6:00 PM.

Tuesday, August 20,

Bombay Bicycle Club is having a Ride and Social starting and ending at Wisconsin Brewing Company, located at 1079 American Way in Verona. Meet at 5:45 PM for a route briefing, and stay for the post-ride social from 7-9 PM. More details, including the Ride With GPS route, can be found on the Facebook Events page for the event.

Wednesday, August 21,

From 9 AM to 11 AM, there will be Free Bike Tune-Ups courtesy of Freewheel Community Bike Shop at First United Methodist Church, located at 203 Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Madison. There will also be an educational element to the event. Read more about the event here.

From 5:30 PM to 6:45 PM at Badger Prairie County Park there is a free Cyclocross Practice opportunity. Badger Prairie County Park is located at 4654 Maple Grove Drive in Verona. The free cyclocross practice is sponsored by the Capital Off-Road Pathfinders, L5, Neff Cycling, and Madison Parks.

The second Law Park Community Workshop is being held at 6 PM, this time at the Warner Park Community Recreation Center, located at 1625 Northport Drive on Madison’s north side. As mentioned above, you can learn more by heading over to the city’s Law Park Master Planning process web page. You can also fill out the public survey or send in your thoughts via email to LawPark@cityofmadison.com.

Thursday, August 22,

The City of Madison is hosting a public meeting regarding Demetral Park Path Lighting. The meeting will run from 6 PM to 7 PM at Bashford United Methodist Church, located at 329 North Street on Madison’s east side. Read more about the meeting here on the City’s website.

Sunday, August 25,

Trek is hosting a Mountain Bike Demo at Quarry Ridge Park, located at 2740 Fitchrona Road, in Fitchburg. The demo runs from 10 AM to 2 PM, and you are welcome to try out Trek’s new full-suspension and hard tail MTBs. Read more about this event on its Facebook Events page.

Madison Bikes is looking for Board Member Candidates

If you think you would be a good fit on the Madison Bikes Board, there will be a board member open house on September 12 at 6 PM. Location TBD.

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.

Last Week

The entire fleet of BCycles were replaced with sleek new electric BCycles. If you’re reading this you’ve probably already seen several being ridden around town. We’ll have a review of the new bikes later this week.

Madison Bikes also launched a fundraising campaign for the new Pinney Library, and we hope to raise $1000 for the library and in the process have our organization’s name printed on one of the new bike racks going in there. You can read more about this effort on Madison Bikes’ website page about the fundraiser, or Madison Bikes’ Facebook Fundraiser page. It looks like we are very close to our goal of $1000 and your contribution to this effort would be greatly appreciated.

This Week

Monday, June 24,

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

Wednesday, June 26,

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 funding for three battery packs for electric Metro buses, a discussion of topics for the August 2019 joint Transportation Policy and Planning Board and Transportation Commission meeting, and discussion of the annual work plan for the TC for 2019/2020. Read the full agenda here.

For people more interested in a movie, there will be a screening of Return to Earth, a film by Anthill Films and sponsored by Trek. Watch the trailer here. Return to Earth is a cinematic journey into the simple act of living completely in those moments by riding bikes. The screening will be at the Barrymore Theater at 2090 Atwood Ave. Doors open at 5:30 PM and the screening starts at 7:30 PM. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 day of. All proceeds benefit our local trails. Read more about this film on the Facebook events page.

At 6:00 PM there will be the first Public Information Meeting (PIM) on the Henry Vilas Park Master Plan. These Master Plans determine how the park will be used and developed in the next few decades, so input from interested members of the public is valuable to the city. This process provides a unique opportunity rethink how people access and use the park. The meeting will take place at the Vilas Park Shelter, 1602 Vilas Park Drive. Read more about the master planning process on the City’s Parks Projects web page. The City has also put together a Facebook Events page for the meeting.

Saturday, June 29,

A Pride Ride will start at Cafe Domestique at 10 AM. The ride will be about 14 miles around the capitol and around Lake Monona. B-Cycle bikeshare bikes will be available to rent. Everyone is welcome to join the ride. Read more about the ride on their Facebook Events page.