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Dave Rusin
June 24th 04, 12:33 AM
I will soon be traveling from the Chicago area to Minneapolis, and
returning two weeks later. One possible route looks scenic and
fun, using lots of trails (Brodhead WI to New Glarus, then Reedsburg
to Winona, then along the Great River Road to near St Paul MN) and
whatever backroads are suggested by the biking maps at
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/bikemaps.htm

I'm thinking of saving that route for the return trip (in reverse -- duh!)
and am hoping there is a speedy route I can use for the northward route.
Mapquest.com finds a route which is only 373 miles and probably flat,
but has the teensy little drawback that it's all along interstate highways.

I can easily reach the IL/WI border, and I guess I'll just have to
wing it once I pass the WI/MN border. But what's quick in between?
I'd appreciate hearing of any direct bicycle-friendly routes connecting
any pair of points roughly between Beloit WI and Hudson WI.
Access to campgrounds and/or cheap hotels is a plus.

dave

Ron Wallenfang
June 24th 04, 05:31 AM
I've biked US 12 from Augusta (east of Eau Claire) to Wisconsin Dells and
would readily recommend it. The through auto traffic is on I-94, leaving 12
with quite light traffic. I've also biked 16 from the Dells to Columbus,
and can recomend that. South of Columbus, I'd probably take 89, though I've
only biked bits and pieces of it. That avoids Madison which,
notwithstanding some nice trails, also has some high traffic areas. On the
other end of the trip, I suspect 12 would also work west of Augusta; but I
can't speak from experience.

An added advantage of 12 is that it has access to the motels that service
I-94 traffic. I can't comment on campgrounds - insufficient knowledge.



"Dave Rusin" > wrote in message
...
>
> I will soon be traveling from the Chicago area to Minneapolis, and
> returning two weeks later. One possible route looks scenic and
> fun, using lots of trails (Brodhead WI to New Glarus, then Reedsburg
> to Winona, then along the Great River Road to near St Paul MN) and
> whatever backroads are suggested by the biking maps at
> http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/bikemaps.htm
>
> I'm thinking of saving that route for the return trip (in reverse -- duh!)
> and am hoping there is a speedy route I can use for the northward route.
> Mapquest.com finds a route which is only 373 miles and probably flat,
> but has the teensy little drawback that it's all along interstate
highways.
>
> I can easily reach the IL/WI border, and I guess I'll just have to
> wing it once I pass the WI/MN border. But what's quick in between?
> I'd appreciate hearing of any direct bicycle-friendly routes connecting
> any pair of points roughly between Beloit WI and Hudson WI.
> Access to campgrounds and/or cheap hotels is a plus.
>
> dave

Tim McNamara
June 24th 04, 07:51 PM
(Dave Rusin) writes:

> I will soon be traveling from the Chicago area to Minneapolis, and
> returning two weeks later. One possible route looks scenic and fun,
> using lots of trails (Brodhead WI to New Glarus, then Reedsburg to
> Winona, then along the Great River Road to near St Paul MN) and
> whatever backroads are suggested by the biking maps at
> http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/travel/bike-foot/bikemaps.htm
>
> I'm thinking of saving that route for the return trip (in reverse --
> duh!) and am hoping there is a speedy route I can use for the
> northward route. Mapquest.com finds a route which is only 373 miles
> and probably flat, but has the teensy little drawback that it's all
> along interstate highways.
>
> I can easily reach the IL/WI border, and I guess I'll just have to
> wing it once I pass the WI/MN border. But what's quick in between?
> I'd appreciate hearing of any direct bicycle-friendly routes
> connecting any pair of points roughly between Beloit WI and Hudson
> WI. Access to campgrounds and/or cheap hotels is a plus.

Hudson is a long way from Winona, so one of the two will be very much
out of your way.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/northerntier.cfm

These maps might help for part of your trip, especially from Winona
(where I used to live) to St. Paul (where I live now). I grew up near
Chicago (in Elmhurst) but have few good ideas for getting from there
to the LaCrosse-Winona area. I'd ride along the Illinois Prairie Path
to the Fox River Trail and take that north towards Wisconsin, and then
pick up some roads.

Southern Wisconsin is a bit hillier than northern Illinois which can
be dead flat and very boring. There are bike trails such as the
Sparta-Elroy Trail that will get you into the LaCrosse area quite
nicely. Lots of information on the Web about this. The upper
Mississippi River Valley is wonderful riding, especially from
LacCrosse-Winona to southern fringe of the Twin Cities metro area.
The Adventure Cycling maps have decent routes into town through the
St. Croix River valley.

A copy of Richard Arey's _Twin Cities Bicycling_ will offer a number
of useful routes around Western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities. There
was a thread on routing from Chicago into Wiconsin and west to Madison
a month or two ago in this newsgroup- you could find it on Google.

You know, if someone wanted to make a useful bike touring Web site,
it'd be one with just route and map information and not one with long
tedious tour descriptions (like the ones I've posted to the Web...).

Craig Holl
June 25th 04, 04:11 AM
"Tim McNamara"
> A copy of Richard Arey's _Twin Cities Bicycling_ will offer a number
> of useful routes around Western Wisconsin and the Twin Cities. There
> was a thread on routing from Chicago into Wiconsin and west to Madison
> a month or two ago in this newsgroup- you could find it on Google.

Here's the web page detailing the Chicago to Dells route:
http://www.neiu.edu/%7Erkastiga/bike/chi2wisc.htm

Here's the Google thread:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&th=a9d9f2b8f96ced36&rnum=2

--
Craig Holl
Mechanical Engineer; New Berlin, WI
http://www.midwestroads.com/craigholl/bike
*remove all numbers and caps to reply*

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