Featured Bike Ride Route: Capitol Square to Clasen’s Bakery

by Peter Herreid

Clasen’s European Bakery in Middleton is a great destination for a peaceful bike ride along the shores of Lake Mendota. The bakery has a wide assortment of torts, pastries, chocolates, and breads, including the common German Brötchen (bread roll).  I can ride fast there and back before work on my touring bike, but on a Saturday, I am not in such a hurry and can take my upright bike, such as on the beautiful Saturday, January 7th, when we had abnormally mild winter weather in Madison.  

My Mittened Response to Angry Honks on Snowy Days

 

Often with the snow comes disparaging talk about cyclists. You can find it in the elevator at work, overhear it at the bar, and it comes in the form of blaring horns.

Bird Perched on Handlebars

Ring Your Bell

Urban bike paths aren't road bike racetracks. They are places where both cyclists and pedestrians can feel comfortable and where the pace is slow enough for conversation. Still, more times than I can count, a sport cyclist has zipped past me with no warning. I have seen them dash around pedestrians as if they were the yellow cones in an obstacle course. After a flash of Lycra, they dissapear down the path.

I guess that mounting a bell on their bikes would increase wind resistance, but surely they can say, "On your left"?

Ringing a bike bell is an easy and pleasant way to let others on the bike path know where you are. It can be hard to judge what a pedestrian or cyclist in front of you is going to do - give a ding before passing.

There are enough haters on the road. Let's use good etiquette to keep Madison's bike paths a welcoming space, as well as go at speeds that allow for conversation and interaction with our community.

Blueberry Bike Crate

Madison FBC

FBC, also known as the Full Moon Bike Club when in mixed company, meets on every full moon (or a night close to it) for a casual group ride. On its Facebook page, the group's organizers describe it as "a non-exclusive group of bike-riding and beer-drinking enthusiasts who gather every full moon to partake of bike riding and beer drinking."   

Although the Facebook page mentions beer twice, the drinking is not excessive and there's no pressure to - this isn't a frat party.

DIY: Pinstriping Lugwork

Freshly Pinstriped Lugs

It is easy to add the classic aesthetic of pinstriping to your bike.

Colorful Spokes

Red Bike

How I Got My New Dutch Bike Home from Chicago

by Peter Herreid

This last month I was in the market for a Dutch bike. Since there are no bike shops that sell Dutch bikes in Madison, I went looking in Chicago. According to Ding Ding Let’s Ride, three shops in Chicago sell Dutch-style bikes. On December 10th, I took a walk on the the north side of Chicago to visit all three. First, I eyed Pashleys at Boulevard Bikes in Logan Square, then test rode “Student” Velorbis bikes at Copenhagen Cyclery on North Milwaukee Ave., and last, I test rode Dutch bikes at J. C. Lind Bike Co. in Old Town. Then I continued walking to Daley Plaza in anticipation of some warm Glühwein at the Kristkindlmarket.