Bike Path to Nowhere

The Dodgeville area is badly in need of an off-road paved (asphalt) bike path.  Every time I go to Madison, I am envious of all the bike trails they have.  Why can’t small towns like Dodgeville and rural areas have some paved bike paths, too?  Brigham County Park in rural Dane County has a beautiful new trail.  Why not Iowa County?

I’d really like to see the Military Ridge Trail between Dodgeville and Ridgeway paved.  Anyone interested in serving on an ad hoc committee with me to make that happen?

There is a 5.1-mile paved trail called the Shake Rag Trail which runs along US Highway 151 between Dodgeville and Mineral Point, but it is far from ideal.  First of all, there is no safe way to bike to it from Dodgeville!  You can ride through the hospital parking lot to Heritage Lane, head south until you get to Brennan Rd., turn right, but when you get to WI Highway 23, you have to ride along the east shoulder of that busy road with fast-moving vehicles for 0.4 miles to get to the bike path, as shown in the map below.

What a relief!  You’ve now reached the paved bike path, and it is off-road!

But, after traveling only 0.5 mile, the bike path suddenly ends at Chris-Na-Mar Road.

You now ride 0.7 miles on Chris-Na-Mar Road, and then the off-road bike path starts up again.

Now, you get to ride 1.3 miles on an off-road paved bike path.  Yay!  But the bike path again abruptly ends at County Road YD.  It is not clear what you should do next except maybe turn around?

Persistence pays off, and if you soldier on you’ll find that you can ride 2.1 miles on County Road YD until you reach the off-road bike path again.  You’re almost to Mineral Point!

The bike path goes another 0.5 mile until it ends at Shakerag St. in Mineral Point.  You’ve traveled a total of 5.1 miles on the Shake Rag Trail, but less than half of it was on a bona fide bike path.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really glad that the Shake Rag Trail got built.  But for any of you who have ridden the crushed rock Military Ridge Trail between Dodgeville and Ridgeway (all off-road), you’ll understand how much nicer Military Ridge Trail would be than the Shake Rag Trail if only it were paved.

Bike Ride to Ridgeway (and back)

Ridgeway, Wisconsin is a special place.  A point right on the central meridian of the Central Time zone and the 43rd parallel (90° W longitude and 43° N latitude) is within the city limits of Ridgeway, and you can almost get there from here.

The point 43° N, 90° W

You can easily bicycle to this location by taking the Military Ridge State Trail into the west side of Ridgeway and turning north onto Ternes Ct.  I wonder if there’s a marker along Ternes Ct. at its closest point to 43° N, 90° W. If not, we need to put one there.

Getting to the point 43° N, 90° W

But wait!  Right where Ternes Ct. intersects Bier St. and becomes a gravel road, there’s a sign that says “Game Farm, No Trespassing”.  Foiled!

You know, we should have regular bike rides from Dodgeville to Ridgeway and back along the Military Ridge State Trail.  Anyone interested?  The distance from the Wisconsin DNR parking lot in Dodgeville to Badger Mart right next to the trail in Ridgeway is 9.2 miles, so it would be an 18.4 mile round trip along pretty flat terrain.  Badger Mart in Ridgeway is a convenient place to stop for a snack and a beverage before heading back to Dodgeville, and they are open from 5:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. every day of the week.

Would love to see this trail receive an asphalt surface someday, but the existing screened limestone surface isn’t bad.

Please post a comment here or email me if you’re interested in making this ride with me from Dodgeville to Ridgeway and back!