in Trailbuilding and Advocacy

Our off-road survey asked the following:

• What off-road bicycling facilities are missing in Dane County, including Madison?
• What facilities would you like to see added to the Madison Parks system?

The top 3 answers to both questions are:

• Flow Trails (sometimes also described as Singletrack).
• Skills areas for both cyclocross and mountain bike.
• Pump Tracks

You also provided a wide variety of comments and suggestions (some more "colorful" than others). Here are the 4 most common:

• The majority of you would prefer to ride less than 15 minutes to access a trail.
• Many of you indicated a lack of trails on the north and east sides of Madison.
• While there is some support for a large “bike park” for multiple disciplines, the majority of you want neighborhood trails (especially singletrack), perhaps a combination of linear dirt and existing paved surfaces forming a kind of “adventure trail” loop throughout the entire City. Some of you also suggested that portions of an "adventure trail" could be built along existing paved paths and incorporated into commutes to work or school.
• Finally, there were repeated requests to lift the “ban” on cyclocross group rides in all city parks, especially Garner Park. Comments point to a perceived misunderstanding by Madison Parks Division regarding the non-lasting impact on grass (especially compared to other sports/hiking activities) and no known history of conflicts with other Madison park users (despite 20+ years of group rides prior to 2012).

These results will be used to negotiate off-road trails into Madison Parks’ revised Master Plan for 2018-2022.

Thank you for answering our survey. Statistics-wise: as of January 10th, 2017, we had 467 responses (191 CORP members). That is awesome. 8)

Let’s keep the conversation going. What Madison parks would you include in a city-wide “adventure trail” loop?

[Many of you pointed out that winter fatbike was not included in this survey. Don’t worry! We’re making some progress with Madison Parks right now about the possibility of serving up some wintertime fatbike opportunities next season.]

Thanks,
Rob Lewis

Madison parks allowing fatbikes would be huge!

Madison parks allowing fatbikes would be huge!

Huh? Fat bikes aren't allowed in Madison parks?

Madison parks allowing fatbikes would be huge!

Huh? Fat bikes aren't allowed in Madison parks?

Nope.  Only in Northeast Park (new this year, on a trial basis).  I guess the Winter Fest at Elver would have been an exception as a special event.  I don't know any other details, perhaps Rob could chime in?

Actually it is Northeast park.  And also Quarry Park.  But yes, there is a general prohibition of bikes in Madison parks.  If that doesn't seem right to you, fill out the surveys, and maybe more importantly, go to the listening sessions and speak up.  The more Parks officials hear that there is interest in off-road cycling, the more likely it is to make it into the Master Plan.  Once it is in the Master Plan, we have a much easier row to hoe as far as developing trail or adopting existing trail.

We are making progress, and we have some allies in Parks.  But they are really constrained by what is in the Master Plan, so the hour or two you spend helping advocate could have a big payoff.

The final listening session is coming up this week: Wednesday, March 1st at Alicia Ashman Library  Sessions begin with a half-hour informal open house from 5:30 - 6:00 PM and will include highly interactive presentations, discussions and exercises from 6:00 - 8:00 PM.

Surveys can be found here: http://www.madcitydirt.com/index.php?topic=3623.0.

I will second the comments above. When working with government entities, nothing has more impact than the Master Plan. Any opportunity to impact the Master Plan will have the biggest payoff by far. It may not always be as fast of a route as we want to see. But persistence changing the Master Plan will pay off and it will have long-lasting effects.