Riding around Madison, WI?
 

We were thinking about taking our road bikes to Wisconsin for some summer riding (summer 2015). We are considering the Madison area because it's easy to reach (by plane). Are there some nice routes around there? We like to ride approx. 50 miles +. Road biking only. Thanks.

A good starting point...Bike Maps - Bike Madison - City of Madison, Wisconsin

If you like hills, drive about an hour west of Madison (Dodgeville/Mount Horeb area) for some challenging stuff.
Bike Routes near Mount Horeb/Bluemounds State Park | MapMyRide

Or go north to Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo. Beautiful challenging riding, although not as tough as the Bluemounds/Dodgeville/Mount Horeb area. Bike near the Wisconsin River by Prairie du Sac. You won't regret it. Plenty of touristy stuff if that's your thing.

Or make a run to one of the breweries. If you like beer, you can't go wrong with the New Glarus Brewery which is SSW of Madtown. It'd be in your 50-ish mile range depending on where you're staying.

How far is Baraboo from Madison? We would like to be able to ride out of Madison or at least not have to drive an hour to get to a ride. Thanks for your help.

Baraboo would be further than your 50-ish miles. It'd be about that one way.

Another suggestion, pick up set of these:
http://https://store.wisconsinbikefe...s-set-of-four/
Color-coded roads indicate the bike friendliness of a given road. Green = great, red = not great, blue = ok. I've used these for twenty years. They're worth every penny.

thank you. I could not open that link. What is it?

A set of four bicycle maps for the state. Try again...click on the Bicycle Maps (Set of four).
https://store.wisconsinbikefed.org/

More detailed info on this set.

Thanks for your help. I just read that summers in Wisconsin are rainy.

No prob. Muggy, yes. Rainy? Compared to where? Average annual precip is ~34". We do get more of it in the summer. Bring rain gear, but don't plan on using it much. June tends to be wetter, but these last several years of Julys and Augusts have been downright arid. At least the mosquitos haven't been so rampant.
Climate Wisconsin - temperature, rainfall and average

Wisconsin does have some great riding. And great beer too. There are a couple of motels in New Glaurus by the trails that connect to Madison that cater to bike tourists, and there's enough to see in New Glaurus to keep you busy if you make it a day trip from Madison. Don't be surprised if the natives (cheeseheads) are hard to understand, they talk funny up there.

I'm comparing to drought ridden south central Texas. Seriously, I don't like to ride in the rain for safety purposes. Maybe July would be best. And thanks to No Motor? for the New Glaurus suggestion.

http://www.swissaire.com/ We stayed here about 5 years ago, and they let us keep our bikes (2) in the room with us or there was an enclosed hallway we could have used if we wanted. Highly recommended.

The Sugar River bike trail runs through New Glarus to Brodhead. And Sugar River Pizza is right on the trail. I ate there last summer with friends after doing a one day tour. Great pizza with outdoor seating and an impressive selection of brews. Damn, I'm getting thirsty.

We ate there after riding around and before we got back to the motel. It was great, and I'm getting thirsty too.

The Glacial Drummlin Trail connects, for the most part, Madison to Milwaukee, 60 miles or so. Some paved, some crushed limestone.

The research Milwaukee busses back to Madison, they are equipped with bike racks on the front.

Benny

It looks like the GF and I will be going back to New Glarus in mid May, I'll try and post some pictures if you're interested.

If you're going to be staying in Madison you can absolutely get a beautiful 50 mile ride in without having to take your car to get there. Madison is nice enough to ride around in and even in the middle of the city you're only a few miles away from rural country roads. Go west of town if you want challenging hills. Go south of town if you want less hills. Going north you can ride to Devil's Lake State Park but there are less good routes north of the city. I don't ride east of Madison often since I live on the west side of town but that's going to be your flattest option.

I'm sure Madison is rainier than Texas but summers here are wonderful (can you tell I'm glad it's finally spring?) and the last few summers have been pretty dry. If you stay here for a week you might get one day of rain but more is possible if you're unlucky.

There are over 100 miles of paved trails in Madison if I am not mistaken. In a lot of places speed is not an issue but through the heart of downtown you need to keep it around 15mph or slower when on the paths due to foot traffic.

I have a book, Great Dane Bike Rides, that have maps and directions of 42 routes of “The Best Bombay Bicycle Routes.” Most of them originate from Madison. Their route to New Glarus is an all-road route and is 63.7 miles long. I do a variation of the route where I take the Badger State Trail to New Glarus and the road back. It cuts the miles down to 45 and the elevation is a little over 2,000 feet. The trails are usually in pretty good condition but are limestone gravel packed. On the trail, I usually opt for my hybrid with 700:32 versus my road bike with 23’s. But I will see people with 23’s and they will zoom by me. The book is about $20. For fun, you’ll want to bike around the University, check out the shoreline by the Union and then bike down State Street to the Capital. From there you may like to bike around Lake Monona which is 20-30 miles (short and long variations) of paved trails and bike route roads. Their “Devil’s Lake Plunge” is 88 miles and originates on Madison’s west side. This and another route which is shorter is a lot of fun because it will have you cross the Wisconsin River on a free ferry ride.

Where can a person get that book?

"Where can a person get that book?"

That is a good question. I received my book as a gift but I’ve seen the same at bike shows, bike shops and I believe the University Bookstore. Unfortunately, I can’t be specific with any certainty so I’ll look around and tell you where I found it. Fortunately, almost 2 dozen of the rides are directly available from Bombay Bicycle Club’s website in either pdf or gpx. You can also contact them from this website. They’re a great group of people and would welcome you to come along and go for a ride with them.

Bombay Bicycle Club

I remember eating at a restaurant called the Bombay Bicycle Club in the late 80's/early 90's somewhere by Rockford. It looked like a Benigan's clone, is there any connection to the bike club you mention?

I don’t know. We had a Bombay Bicycle Club restaurant in Madison about the same time, perhaps a little earlier, early to mid-80’s.

My first stop: Machinery Row Bicycle. I asked if they had the book and the clerk said no but showed me one very much like it and offered me a free city bicycle map as well. Both are real nice. By the way, Google-Maps-Bicycle works pretty well for getting from one place to another within the city by bicycle. They do have the book at the library. Perhaps, they might make an inter-library loan with your city library. Finally, using website, Ride with GPS, I put in Madison and the keyword “Bombay” and came up with a 264 hits--that should keep anyone busy for a week or two.

I'm from Madison and my favorite ride is to bike around Lake Mendota; approximately 25-30 miles, depending on how close you hug the lake. Depending on where you're starting from, you could use the Southwest Commuter bike path (road) to go from west to east until you hit the Isthmus, then cross over to the Capitol City Trail (also road) (the merge point of which, as of today (5/9/15), is under construction :( but hopefully they'll be done soon!), then ride that until you hit the Yahara Bike Path (road), which you'll take briefly to cross to the north side of the Isthmus. That takes you to Tenney park, and from there (you'll have to Google Map this part, I just bike this by feel), you take the inner roads of the Maple Bluff area up the east side of the lake, until you reach County Highway M. This gets a little hairy during rush hour, but other than that it's quite bike-friendly. Take CoHwy M all the way across the north side of the lake, and you'll eventually get to Middleton. Either take Allen Blvd, or go all the way to Century Ave. if you feel like a challenge, then turn left to head south. Using Gammon Rd. or the like, you'll eventually hit the Southwest again :)

As others have mentioned, Mt. Horeb is also a fabulous bike destination/course, and you can reach it through either state trails or paved country roads.

Well we went and had a great time, but due to some bad engineering with Dia Compe XCE cantilever brakes, bad advice from Performance on a set of replacement brakes, bad weather and the bike rack not fitting on my hatchback without an adapter we didn't have we didn't bring the bikes. We did go to Sugar Creek Pizza and highly recommend eating there.

Thanks!