Ride Around

On the Ice Age Trail. 6/3/23 dwm

 Saturday was going to be one of the warmest days so far this year, 90 was forecast.  I wanted to avoid that, so my ride began after a brief workout with a trip to Waunakee.

 

 It was 65, by the time I finished it had warmed into the upper 70s.  At this point there isn't a network of trails between Verona and Waunakee so city streets were on the agenda.  That's another reason I like getting out before the traffic builds.

 

 Shortly after turning north on the Ice Age trail, a black-furred field mouse scampered across the trail in front of me.  That's three in a week, last Sunday, two mice sprinted from one side of a trail to another as I got close. 

 

 It was a good way to celebrate World Bike Day which is held the third day of June each year.  The goal is to build awareness of the benefits biking brings to riders and communities who are home to bikers of all ages.

 

The Ice Age Trail cuts through natural areas over a couple miles before the bike path and trail part with hikers on the Ice Age trail follow markers on the land.

 

This particular route is frustrating to ride because while the pavement is recent, every crack in the asphalt is very jarring and uncomfortable to ride.  Streets from Madison into Middleton are especially rough, more for bikes than cars.  Most streets are smoother which make these particular roads frustrating.

 

An hour after sunrise. 6/3/2023 dwm photo

A new path is under construction in Middleton that will eventually allow bikers and walkers to stay off the busy county highways while getting around the north side of Lake Mendota.

Six to ten blocks now have wide trails replacing sidewalks with several more in the early stages of trail building.  If you want to ride north of the lake, you need to ride on County M, which means being alert for vehicles moving at highway speed.

Much of it is limited to 45 mph but there are stretches where 55 is legal.  Thankfully most of M has a lot of smooth asphalt to the right of the white line.

An early version of that path goes through a corner of Governor Nelson State Park then joins a boardwalk across wetland on the north edge of the lake to where it borders the highway.  At the end of the path, I turned north, riding through Westport and Waunakee where I stopped for a chocolate milk and donut at Kwik Trip before the ride home.

This time I did have a tailwind for most of the ride south, finishing with an average speed of 15.2 over 35 miles.