Ride 2 Recap + Ride 3 On Hold

So with things getting a little hectic last week and Memorial Day weekend, I apparently forgot to update the CWF bike blog - sorry about that!

Despite the less-than-stellar weather in the morning last week, it all cleared up and we had a great time on Thursday. The ride around Lake Mendota was gorgeous - sunny, scenic, and sixty degrees. A little windy up on the north side, but not enough to be bothersome. And, of course, great company.

Ready to ride around Mendota

The Shorewood ride was similarly successful, with a good crew taking a nice tour through town and tackling a couple tough hills. Unfortunately though, we didn't get any pictures to prove it. Next time!

Thursday's crummy forecast. Click to see it bigger.

Those of you who have been watching the calendar know that this week we had planned to head the other direction, and take a lap south of town. Unfortunately, the weather doesn't look nearly likely to break for us like it did last week.


In fact, it looks so unlikely to break(we're talking 90% chance of T-Storms at 6 p.m. according to NOAA), that we're calling the ride early.


But we'll be back in force, ready to try it again next week! I hope you're all looking forward to it as much as we are.



To pass the time until then, I invite you to better my sad, sad haiku:

No bike ride this week

For better weather we wait

To ride again soon

Bike Ride 2

Rain, rain, rain.

Every day, all week.

Until: a sunny Thursday afternoon forecast! Sweet!


This week we'll build off of last week's great Bike Ride 1 with, you guessed it, Bike Ride 2. But as I mentioned on Friday, we're heading the other way this time.

The short ride will head out east and north from the Clean Wisconsin offices to tour town, campus, and the Mendota shoreline on the "Shorewood" loop. It will start out on the Southwest Commuter path briefly, then turn north to get to the Howard Temin Lakeshore Path. Following the path, we'll meander through Shorewood Hills before coming back on some nice neighborhood roads and hopping back on the commuter path in. All in all, the route will be a little longer and a little hillier than last week - but still nice and casual. Plan to be on the bike for between 1 and 1.5 hours at a similar pace to last week.

The longer ride will start our the same direction, but continue out through Shorewood and all the way around the Lake Mendota loop. The roads a little rough through town initially, but smooth out as we get out past Middleton. There's a nice mix of urban, suburban, and rural scenery on this one to make the miles (and rolling hills) fly by.

As before, maps and cue sheets are now up on the Routes page for anyone who wants to see them ahead of time and/ or print them out on there own (we'll plan to have a few extra copies on hand).

See you all in a few days!

- Tyson


P.S. Don't forget that an RSVP on Facebook or via email to bikerides@cleanwisconsin.org is requested to help us know how many to plan for - but certainly not required!

Ride 1 Re-Cap

Thanks to everyone who came out last night for the first Clean Wisconsin & Friends bike ride!

It was a great to meet everyone on the ride, and have a chance to hang out after - and we certainly couldn't have asked for a nicer evening.

early staging of the CWF crew

Our routes will be just a little longer and a little more urban next week, but just as fun - around Lake Mendota (25 miles) for the longer ride, and out through Shorewood Hills (11 miles) for the shorter.


Also, since a few people asked, I put the list of all the planned rides (subject to change, of course) on the "Calendar" page. That way you can look ahead to see if there are any in particular that sound really awesome!

showing the CW love

My only regret is that we had Ezra taking pictures, so we didn't get a shot of him riding his extra-long Surly commuter bike with his road bike strapped to the back!


We did, however, get a shot of Elizabeth really representing for Clean Wisconsin (note the rad CW shades!):


See you all next time!

- Tyson



 

Bike Ride 1

Should be a fun one! We're hitting up some classics this week for the kick-off of the Clean Wisconsin and Friends Bike Club.


A quick run-down as a reminder:

• We're leaving Thursday at 5:30 from Clean Wisconsin's offices at 634 W. Main St, Madison, WI 53703. (Yes, leaving at 5:30 means you should plan to get here sometime before that if you want to be leaving with the group.)
• Rides will be "at your own pace" which means you're welcome to ride together as a group, but are also free to do whatever you want - power ahead, stop to take pictures, ghostride the bike, etc.
•  Please, please, please read the ride rules and expectations. Clean Wisconsin isn't "running the show" here, so everyone is technically on their own, but we do want to make sure that everyone stays safe and has a good time (because we care!)
• Don't forget to stop by, hang out a minute, and have a drink Echo Tap up the road when you get back - and enjoy happy hour specials all night (because they care!).

As far as routes go, for the longer ride, we're thinking of taking the Capital City loop from the office - about 18 miles of beautiful bike path (ok, it does get a little crowded in town around rush hour) starting out across Monona Bay, heading over some gently rolling terrain through Fitchburg, and back home along the Southwest Commuter Path.

For the shorter ride, a 7-mile cruise around Wingra Creek sounds about right. Like always, it will start out the same way as the longer ride so you get to enjoy the company of your MAMIL friends for a while (that's "Middle Aged Men In Lycra" for future reference - I'm looking at you, Ezra). Then the route turns off onto the Wingra Bike Path at Olin Park. After a roll through Vilas Park, it also comes back to the office - and the Echo! - on the Southwest.


For more info, check it out over on the "Routes" page, if you haven't already. Links to Cue Sheets have now been posted below each map.

See you all soon!

- Tyson

Pre-Ride?

Here is the scene from our planned "pre-ride" last week with Clean Wisconsin staff. As you can see, weather didn't cooperate after all.

But that just means we've got good weather-karma coming our way for our first official bike ride next Thursday!

Hope you're getting excited about the Clean Wisconsin and Friends bike rides starting next week - we sure are!

In fact, we're so excited that a few of us Clean Wisconsin staff are planning to get a jump on the whole thing and do a little "shake-down" ride this week. That way we can make sure that we've dotted all our T's and crossed all our I's so everything goes off without a hitch when we do it for real next week!

Here's to hoping it doesn't rain on our little parade.

- Tyson


P.S. Check back here on Friday, for some pictures and recap from our little adventure, and then again next Monday for a little preview of what we have in store for the first CWF ride (including pdf'd maps and cue sheets in case you want to bring them, although we'll plan to have extra copies on hand as well).