Appleton/Fox Valley Riders?
 

I'm just wondering if anyone here rides the Appleton/Fox Valley area. I see a few riders when I am out and about and I figure there must be at least someone else on this forum.

If there are any of you where do you ride? Have you found any decent hills around here(I'm sure this question will be answered with laughter)?

Ben

Alas, you live in one of the flattest parts of the state. Your hills are off to the southeast. You can get in plenty of short, steep climbs on the Niagara Escarpment east of Lake Winnebago. I live in Milwaukee now, but went to UW-O long ago and found the best hills within 50 miles of Oshkosh to be around Sherwood, Stockbridge & High Cliff State Park. From Appleton, that should be only about 10 miles away.

Ph is correct on the hills around the Appleton area. High CLiff is the closest I would think. I don't really ride the hills to much as all of the riding I do is north of the city and there is truely no hills north of here. If you are looking for a riding partner PM me. I am always looking for a ride partner, I ride alone now.
Stacey

Its ok...before worrying about hills I need to worry about getting lighter first. Good thing the Green Bay duathlon is a really flat course. It is about 600ft total climbing give or take a little. That is exactly what I've been riding.

Stacey:

Where abouts do you ride north of the city? I live right downtown and about half of the time I ride north of the city on Cty E (or is it EE?) towards Freedom and then either north on 55 or continue on EE. You can find a few hills if you ride east-west up there because all of the rivers run north-south. Which leaves a few decent hills as you ride in and out of valleys.

I usually ride out on Meade or Gillette. Same basic direction you are riding just more rural. I also ride out on weekends and ride up north, Bonduel and that area.

i just got a road bike and i was wondering what a good 30ish mile route would be from downtown appleton
any suggestions?

Sure
 

It depends on where you live downtown. Here is one route that I use out of downtown:

http://routeslip.com/map.php?map=12467

You can do different variations on this route, stay on the bike path for a route length of 15 miles, or take Cty E to Freedom and go straight rather than turning on 55 and then turn left on Orlando Dr or Cty EE (can't figure which is the real name) for a really hilly ride.

Also you can take prospect out of the city to the western part of the city where there are plenty of good roads. Another possibility for longer rides is to put your bike in your car and drive to the location, as leaving from downtown sucks as Appleton hasn't really figured out this 'bike thing'. I take my bike to work and ride from the Neenah High school, there are a ton of nice roads out there.

Use this map to help find good roads to bike on, but it isn't always correct:
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/...countymaps.htm (click on a county)
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/...ewinnebago.pdf

An example of where it isn't correct is in that second link I ride on G all the time and it isn't that busy.

Hope this helps and perhaps we should go on a ride sometime.

riding near appleton
 

I ride north of Appleton all the time. The county roads get very little traffic once you're north of S. Right now, I ride up French Road and ten miles out or so head west. Black Creek is a good destination and the round trip will give you your thirty. I've also gone north of Shiocton along 187. There's a little park just north of town where you can leave your car, if you don't want to bike all the way from Appleton. Every once in a while the scenery gets interesting. Now and then there's a discovery, like a wild pear tree at the side of the road, or a pioneer cemetery that has whole old time German families and Civil War boys in it to give you a good catch in your throat (There's one with two brothers, the younger a casualty a day or two before Appomatox), or a quiet stream, and so on. Often, you get the feeling of time traveling, it's so still. If you google Wisconsin Bike Maps and then check that out by county, you'll have new territory for quite a while. Carpe diem!

If you are looking for some fun group rides, the fox cities tri club http://www.foxtriclub.com/ puts on Tuesday night and weekend rides. Usually the weekend rides leave the downtown YMCA and headout to Highcliff. Check out the web site for info. Afterwards we meet for coffee at Atlas brewing. About once a month there will be a longer ride. :D

Ben (and others)-

looks like a good approach out of town, and by the looks of it you're not all that far from where I live (by the post office). I usually start out heading out of town on Prospect, then make my way to CB which then opens up to the better biking out in the Neenah area. Not much in the way of hills, but at least there are some quiet roads that way.

If you see a red Waterford, give a wave, maybe we can do a thirty or so.

Brian

When do the Tri club rides start going out? When it gets warmer, or is there a start date? thanks

I recently moved to the south east corner of the 441/41 loop. Now it is sooo nice to be able to just get out and ride rather than deal with downtown Appleton. I also have a nice hill at High Cliff for climbing! Not much but better than nothing.

I was pondering joining the Tri club, I saw a good number of people wearing the club jerseys at the Green Bay duathlon last fall.

i'm not that close to Appleton as I live on the southeast side the lake, but i'm only about 10km from 7Hills Rd... a road everyone in WI should ride at least once.

The Tuesday rides will start on the 17th at 6:00pm. The Saturday rides will start on the 21st at 8:00am. This is assuming that it stops snowing by then. :rolleyes:

Where is that at? I haven't heard of it.

Open to non-members? What is the usual pace? Do people usually leave their aero bars on (being that you're a tri-club)?

It sounds like it might be worth trying it out, now I just have to see what nights the fiance works ;) .

well, i've only been in the area since the new year, and i'm not native to WI, but i do know this road was mentioned in Bicycling (i could be wrong there) as one of the best rides in the country. 10 miles long and just east of Fond du Lac.

yea it was mentioned in 100 best climbs in america. on a sidenote I saw a movie in drivers ed about a girl who was driving down that road at 120-130 mph and she crashed and killed her two best friends. It was one of those movies thats meant to scare the s**t out of you

EDIT: racerx99 i took your routeslip route to highcliff today. I kinda got lost but it was fun until it started snowing.

Definately open to anyone, usually have a mix of aero-bars and roadies. I will let the aero-bars lead and cut the wind.;) Also, usually enough people to go out in two groups.

racerx99 i took your routeslip route to highcliff today. I kinda got lost but it was fun until it started snowing.[/QUOTE]


Yeah, I have done that ride enough that it is memorized. I have tried to make it a loop now (can not take to many out-and-backs). I give you credit for going out, it was a weird day for the weather, and more snow tomorrow:(