I just moved to Madison and was really excited because this is a bike town!! Bike lanes? Dozens of bike shops? My last city couldn't compare!

But now that I'm here, the one thing I'm kind of shocked at is how terrible the roads are. Just terrible. It's almost embarrassing. Weather is no excuse, the place I came from had exactly the same climate. The quality of the roads in some places rivals those in Africa when I road there (and at least there the traffic all but non-existent so you can ride right down the center). I've almost ate face twice already just hitting these gigantic crater like pot-holes. What's the deal?

Where did you live before, if I may ask.

Ithaca, NY

Exggerate much?

I lived in upstate NY for 12 years, too, north of Ithaca. It does not get regularly to 0 F and below for weeks at a time. It gets cold, but not like that. Once it snows, it stays for 3 months or more.

Also, Madison is 5 times larger than Ithaca which equals more traffic. Get a little out of town on the lightly traveled roads and things improve greatly.

And secondly, it's April. The roads are at their worst this time of year as the winter craters are getting fixed.

Plus, some of the road money is spent on bike improvements. Pick your poison.

University Avenue was partially rebuilt last year and the rest will be rebuilt in 2011.

I would advise e-mailing the city using the pothole form (go to www.cityofmadison.com and go to the Transportation section) to note the craters and there should at least be a temporary fix in a few days.

I've ridden in the Madison area and just thank yourself you don't live in Missouri then. The roads in Wisconsin are great in my opinion. If you really feel that strongly, get involved with your local government and raise the road taxes!
~Nick

Thanks for the info! Good to see they are on top of fixing things. It's actually University Ave in particular I was thinking of. Going out west towards Middleton things seemed to get a lot better.

Well, hmmmm ... welcome to Wisconsin!

Subie,
You may want to look here: www.madisonbiking.com to hook up on some casual group rides. They are not the hammerfests you read about on this forum. Not data-driven, friendly and often some refreshments. Also, I am a member of Bombay club, www.bombaybicycle.org which has organized rides. I'd encourage to check both out. I'm on the west end of Madison and I can assure you that once you get out of town you will see a lot of smooth pavement. University Ave is bad, but honestly, I don't ride on it much because the Blackhawk Path and Lakeshore Paths allow me to avoid it for the most part. There is also a path right along "Campus Drive" that you could take. I'd encourage you to pick up the Dane County and City of Madison bike maps which will also steer you towards better roads.

If you are interested in racing, check out the Great Dane Velo Club. They are racing the next few Sundays in the Research Park which is off Mineral Pt Rd and Whitney Way.

The OP needs to spend some time riding on Michigan roads, he'll complain less about Wisconsin.

HAHA...I went to high school outside of Syracuse.

FWIW - the roads in greater cheeselandia are by far much better than the roads down here in the flatlands. I always find it refreshing when we choose to fire up the passports and explore behind the cheese curtain.

Michigan roads suck. Bad. Worst I have ever seen in civilization in fact.

I have never been somewhere where there are still dirt roads in developments with million dollar houses as a norm.

i always figured the horrid roads were due to the influence of the Detroit guys - helping drive up their repair parts business

No kidding. Talk about potholes. In relative terms, WI has excellent roads. The reason - milk. The glass bottles needed to be transported on roads that were paved as opposed to gravel. Go to Minnesota and you will see plenty of rural roads that are merely gravel. It was kind of weird the first time I was there. "Wait, this isn't someone's driveway?" When I think of gravel roads, I think of some forested log roads leading into the Adirondacks or something.

Speaking of the FIB'ers and the cheese curtain, a ride has been organized out of New Glarus. There is a thread here somewhere.

Plus, ride up and down Seminole Hwy south of the beltline. You'll feel better right away. It's like a beautiful airline runway with lines.

Wiswell has a lot of great suggestions as to find good roads to ride. I think you will find the major issue will be low volume roads not the quality of the road itself. I know the Bicycle Fed of Wisc puts out an inexpensive map available most places that indicate what roads are better from a traffice standpoint.

Lately I've been riding north - Hwys M, Q, and K have been great. What part of town are you in?
Some of the residential roads on the Monona loop are pretty rough. But there is a ton of great riding in this town.

Wait, what? I thought you were a flyover native? I spent 12 years in the Albany area (not all at one time).

And yea, the Monona lake loop sucks. I stopped doing it (not that I did it much anyway) because the roads were so horrible. And then when you finally hit a decent road, it got a bassackwards design with curb cuts right in the bike lane.

Riding areas - for a challenge, go west or due north.
Flatlandia wind - east
Rolling hills with some challenges - south

Welcome to Madison!

+1 www.madisonbiking.com

+1 www.bombaybicycle.org

Also check out www.wnbr.org

I moved a ton.

Born in Indianapolis 4yrs->Bloomington 8 yrs->Taipei, Taiwan 1 yr-> El Paso, TX 2 yrs-> Manlius, NY 4 yrs-> West Lafayette, IN 8-ish yrs-> Mebane, NC 4 months-> Detroit burbs, MI 8 months-> Bloomingdale, IL 8 months-> St Marys, OH ~2 years-> Elgin, IL 6-ish years.

You're still moving a ton.

(Like I'm not one to talk, but couldn't pass that one up. )

Even the part that was rebuilt looks like a friggin bombed dropped on it, esp. the bike lane... i ride on that thing every day and it feels like i need a mountain bike for some stretches

I think madison is better than most cities with the extensive bike trails for the size of the city.

I was wrong, part of University Ave will be reconstructed this year.

https://www.cityofmadison.com/enginee...ewoodSegoe.cfm

The part of University near campus was not reconstructed last year - they worked on one lane, yes, but it was not an overall repave job like Johnson a few years back.

there are 2 seasons in Wisconsin... Winter and Road construction. NY may have the snow but they don't have the cold. I will second the fact the Michigan roads are worse the ours.