Jim Winkle's Bike Rides from Madison, Wisconsin

Mt. Vernon park

Below are some nice rides that build up to a century ride. And here are some tips for long-distance biking and tips for adjusting your bike for comfort (I can help; just contact me).

These rides start from our house at 813 Emerson St. Some of these rides require a state trail pass to make it easier to get out of Madison. These use Google Maps, and will open in a new window. Many of these are lovely rides, especially the longer ones. There are generally restrooms and water at the halfway point.

• Capitol City Shroom, 23.1 miles, pretty flat. Shorter options:
  • 19.5: remove the stem by simply continuing on the Capitol City trail.
  • 15.5: remove the stem, and slice the cap by turning right on Seminole, then turn right on Arboretum Drive
• Verona Vroom (or possibly the Paoli Pump), 23.6 miles, pretty flat. Anyone for lunch/coffee at Tuvalu? Longer options:
  • 27.8: Turn left at Fitchrona Rd, left on M, right on Borchart Rd, right on Sunset Dr, right on Range Trail, left on M.
  • 30.5: Turn left at Fitchrona Rd, left on M, right on Borchart Rd, left on Purcell Rd, right on Sayles Trail, right on Sun Valley Parkway, right on Range Trail, left on M. The Paoli pump water tastes terrible; better to wait until Verona.
  Cue sheet (two for the price of one!).
• The Oregon O (loop), 32.0 miles, few hills. For four extra miles, go to Paoli. Anyone for lunch/coffee at Firefly?
• Mt. Vernon, 41.3 miles, few hills. Cars go fast on G, but there's a pretty good shoulder and good visibility. Cue sheet.
• Mt. Horeb, 50.4 miles, some hills. The short option is 36 miles and follows the same route, but stops when you hit the Riley Tavern. Cue sheet.
• South of Stoughton, 52.5 miles, some hills.
• Brooklyn or Oregon, 54.7 or 36.5 miles, few hills. Cue sheet.
• New Glarus or Paoli, 55.4 or 35.8 miles, few hills until you get near New Glarus, then a long hill and then a steep hill. Cue sheet.
• Devil's Lake State Park, 64 miles, long-ish hills; great ride! If Crystal Lake road is closed, go straight on Gluth Rd., turn left at Hwy 60, and then follow the cue sheet at Oconnor. Cue sheet.
• Brooklyn and Beyond (loop), 71.8 miles, some nice hills, steep but short. Brooklyn is the last water stop. Cue sheet.

• Rock River

  Rock River Ramble (with loop), 77.1 miles, some hills. Lunch on banks of the river. Water after lunch at Gibbs Lake Park, the second entrance (not the bridal path). Bonus: the oldest (and smelliest) pit toilets in the state! Options: 30, 38, or 51 miles. <--- This weekend's ride
  • 31.4: Instead of turning right on Lake Kegonsa, continue on Rutland Dunn Townline for 0.3 mi and go straight on Lake Kegonsa Rd (not right on Rutland Dunn Townline).
  • 38.9: Instead of turning left on A, turn right on A for 1.4 miles, slight left on A for 0.3 miles, and turn left on Starr School Rd.
  • 52.6: Instead of turning right at Riley, continue on Stebbensville 0.3 miles and turn left on McGinnis.
  Cue sheet.
• Folklore Village, 94.4 miles (47.2 miles one way), some nice roller-coaster hills. See their website to see if there's anything going on. Cue sheet.

• On the full century, you might need to stop here and say a prayer

  Here's the century (with a half-century option) that I did in Sept, 2009; both are loops.
  • Century, 106 miles. A spectacular ride, this century covers some of my favorite roads and has everything. There are nice roller-coaster hills (nothing huge), cool valleys, ridges with great vistas, some beautiful old stone houses, country churches and schoolhouses, historic cemeteries, meandering creeks, assorted farm critters, rock outcroppings, and even a UFO! It's really quite nice. Cue sheet.
  • Half-Century, 57 miles. The first 34 miles and the last 12 miles are exactly the same as the century. It's a nice ride too, though it misses some of the more spectacular scenery that's further west. Cue sheet.
• Another Century Ride, ~100 miles, a work in progress.

Other rides

You'll generally need to drive to the start of these rides.

• Wednesday nite bike rides, quite hilly and fun rides through scenic rural Dane County.
• Bombay Bicycle Club, many, many rides, starting in and out of town.
• Spring Green to Madison, 55.4 miles, hills.
• West of Mt. Vernon (loop), 67 miles, hills. Some of this route is untested, especially the western loop, and in 2oo9, Moscow Rd was gravel (so just take F to 78 in Blanchardville). It's 40 miles before lunch and water in Hollandale, so bring a snack. 50 mile option: Instead of turning onto Urness (which was gravel in 2oo9), continue on Hwy K for about 3 miles into Hollandale.
• Manitowoc Metric Century, 59 miles, few hills, the start is 13 miles from the Lake Michigan cabin.
• Jim and Bonnie's 2009 bike tour. We didn't ride all of this, so some is untested.
  • Part I: The Crawford County Climb, 86 miles, days 1 - 3. A gorgeous ride, especially day 1. Morovits Hollow Rd is gravel (so is Walker)... they're working on getting it paved, and it has a dreadful uphill at the end. Hwy 35 along the Mississippi and Ferryville were a bit of a disappointment... few businesses open (perhaps because of the recession). Next time we'd go a different way, perhaps Hwy 27 (which is a ridge road). Make sure you get the wonderful biking map of Crawford County.
  • Part II: Vernon Vistas and Valleys, 105 miles, days 4 & 5. We never made it to Wildcat Mountain, stopping instead in Viroqua. We took Cty Hwy J back to Soldier's Grove, and River Road into Gays Mills (contrary to the map, it goes all the way).

Contact me if you have questions or suggestions about any of this.