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| Oregon's iconic water tower. 7/19/24 |
First thing you need to know is that here in Wisconsin, we refer to the community south of Madison called Oregon is pronounced OR -e - gone.
It's a delightful town but it's not easy to get to on a bike. There is a direct route from Verona but the county highway is heavily traveled with lots of cars and trucks going at least 55 miles per hour.
I headed east on Lacy Road until it curved north and I could continue straight to County Road MM where I turned right on MM. It did have pavement to the right of the white line that defines the shoulder but for long stretches that pavement was broken or missing.
It helped that it was early in the day and most traffic was going north to Madison while I was heading south. There are some less-traveled roads that reach Oregon but they aren't approaching from the north or west. There aren't bike trails heading that way either and it seems unlikely any will materialize soon.
I made it safely around three round-a bouts where MM intersects with U.S. Highway 14. I made it through safely but kept my head on a swivel. The tower was built in 1898 with a wood tank. The steel tank was an upgrade in 1921. Ut stopped being used in 1981 but was preserved as an historic landmark.
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| Netherwood Road heading west. 7/19/24 dwm |
As I rode south through town I asked a man walking his dog where I could get on a nice road going west. He was kind enough to offer a few ideas, mentioning he rode and used one of the routes as his favorite.
I went west on Netherwood Road to Fish Hatchery Road that I took north into Fitchburg. I crossed Lacy Road that I had taken on the way out, going another block to East Cheryl Parkway. Then it was to Syene road where I got a snack at a new Kwik Trip before getting on Syene for a half-mile to the Capital City trail which I took west toward home.
When I made the turn onto the state trail I knew I'd need two to three more miles when I got to Verona, so I took the Military Ridge trail past my usual turn-off and on the final stretch reversed course on Cross Country road to get the last quarter mile I needed to hit a nice round number. I stopped in front of our garage door with 40 miles on the bike computer with a 15 miles per hour average.
It was a beautiful day to ride, on the cool side when I left home as temps were still in the 50s, and warming only into the 70s by the time I reached home. It was a fun ride.
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