I'm going to Milwaukee for Biketoberfest in a couple of weeks, and if possible, I'd like to make the trip by bike. I'll be riding in on some skinny tires, and am trying to find a paved route from Beloit. If anyone on here has done this trip, or knows of where a discussion of such a route already exists, I'd appreciate your comments.

I'll have to dig out my road atlas after I ride today, but my 'from the hip' response (small "h") is that both Hwys 24 (National Ave) and 36 (Loomis Rd) are both quite ridable a long way south from Milwaukee and would be a quick way up here. I can get you from Delavan to Milwaukee, but south of there is unknown to me.

I'll have to dig out my road atlas after I ride today, but my 'from the hip' response (small "h") is that both Hwys 24 (National Ave) and 36 (Loomis Rd) are both quite ridable a long way south from Milwaukee and would be a quick way up here. I can get you from Delavan to Milwaukee, but south of there is unknown to me.

To get to Delavan take Creek Road all the way from Beloit.

Thanks guys! If I can figure out a good way to get from Delavan to 36 I should be sitting pretty. It looks like a possible way to do that would be take Highway 11 from Delavan to Burlington and meet up with 36 there; can anyone here give me an idea of conditions on that stretch of 11?

Try these maps. http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/countymaps.htm

The ones I have used are pretty accurate. Hwy 36 is red due to heavy traffic, but much of it has a very wide shoulder.

11 is probably not the best choice. Narrow in many places, high speed limit, relatively high traffic.

Could try taking 11 to Cobb rd (near 67) to Potters rd to DD to FF to D to 36 in Rochester.

11 between Delavan and Elkhorn is a piece of cake.

I rode this last back in March:

http://hometown.aol.com/j999w/Delavan3.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/j999w/Delavan4.jpg

http://hometown.aol.com/j999w/Delavan5.jpg

Another route would be to take 24 from East Troy all the way into Milwaukee.

It's only 2 lanes but it's actually a pretty nice ride. Twisty, rolling, and decent traffic.
I've ridden this a number of times and it will take you right into Milwaukee without
worries of missing any turns.

Here's the ROUTESLIP (http://www.routeslip.com/routes/64735)

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/1489601487_1fa3bf02aa.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1228/1489601529_8afb1d78dd.jpg

I can make a ROUTESLIP from Lake Geneva or Burlington to Milwaukee since I'm
riding these roads several times a week.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed to this thread. I ended up taking 24 from East Troy, which worked out quite well. At about 85 miles, that was the longest ride I've ever been on, and I'm looking forward to increasing on it.

Excellent ... glad it went well.

Thanks for the update too, all too often we never hear how things went. :)