Trip 28 - Ride the Ridge

Military Ridge trail west of Verona. 9/7/24

  After enjoying the first ride of the Badger State trail in several years, I decided it was time to venture west of Mount Horeb on the Military Ridge path.

 Most of my rides include the Military Ridge because it connects Verona to two of Madison's bike trails. I stopped going west as often because it didn't seem to get regular maintenance and I found sand in places on the trail that made things slippery at best and hazardous at worst.

 Just as I was leaving town, the trail passes through the high school property. It was hosting a cross country meet through the adjacent forest, so there were parents, coaches, and dozens of athletes crossing the trail to watch or race.

 It passes the sprawling Epic campus after the high school. I paused to get the photo (left) a couple hundred feet from their property. Epic develops software used by doctors, clinics, and hospitals; the Verona campus has buildings for its 13,000 and growing employees. Many of them bike to work, some use this trail to get there.

 Less than an hour later, I was pulling into Mt. Horeb, 13 miles into the ride. It wasn't where I turned around.

Downtown Mt Horeb. 9/7/24 dwm photos

You should plan to spend time in Mt. Horeb if you're in south Wisconsin. In addition to the bike path, there are a number of cute shops along the down-town "Trollway." A community with strong Norwegian heritage, it buys into the trolls and its history. There is town museum across from the Grumpy Troll restaurant and brewpub and the headquarters of Duluth Trading Company. There is Duluth Trading Company store on the Trollway.

Before you get to Mt. Horeb you ride through Riley. It's a dot of a town these days, but as home to the Riley tavern, it bustles with business on weekends, luring bikers (and those with cars) to fish fries and home-made pizza. The tavern first opened in 1884 as a general store.

West of Mt. Horeb you'll find Barneveld. The growing community has a couple growing factories and is close enough to Madison to serve as a bedroom community thanks to the four-lane highway. The biggest event in Barneveld history happened in 1984 when an F-5 tornado that destroyed 90% of the town.  It's nice to see the recovery its made over the years. 

The west edge of downtown. 9/7/24 dwm

 When I got to Barneveld I still wanted a few more miles before turning back so I crossed the bridge over U.S. 151 to grab a granola bar at Kwik Trip, then rode two more miles to reach 25 before heading home.

 The ride out was good. I didn't run into any treacherous parts of the trail. There was a head-wind and a sneaky challenge pedaling into Mt. Horeb. The grade wasn't a big deal. The fact the climb is at least three miles made it tougher.

 When I headed back, the wind was mostly behind me and three mile downhill improved my average speed.

 I stopped twice in Mt. Horeb. First to buy brownies for sale at a impromptu brownie stand, then at the bike hub downtown to use the restroom. It was there I talked with a couple, whom I believe were visiting from Norway. 

 It was a gorgeous day. In addition to abundant sunshine it was unseasonably cool, with highs in the low 60s. That's just about perfect in my book.

 You can ride the ridge all the way to Dodgeville, 15-miles down the path from Barneveld.  If you start east of Verona, it's 40 miles one way. I've done that a couple times, with my wife meeting me in Dodgeville. This time out, I was glad to get back in touch with parts of the ride with which I'd lost touch, round-trip was 50 miles, the total for the year is 1,129.  Keep riding!

Near Verona riding west on the Military Ridge State Trail. 9/7/2024 dwm photos