I am looking for some advice, I am new to the Milwaukee area and not sure where to go.

Idealy I am looking for some 25-60 mile loops that could start from my upper eastside home.
I would like to get away from trafic if possible and I would like to see the best hills the area has to offer. I know its flat here but I was hoping that there is some road some where with a slope.

Thanks for the help guys. Looking forward to many more posts on this board.

I am looking for some advice, I am new to the Milwaukee area and not sure where to go.

Idealy I am looking for some 25-60 mile loops that could start from my upper eastside home.
I would like to get away from trafic if possible and I would like to see the best hills the area has to offer. I know its flat here but I was hoping that there is some road some where with a slope.

Thanks for the help guys. Looking forward to many more posts on this board.
Upper Eastside? Like Glendale? I've only been in the general Milwaukee area for about 4-6 years now and am still learning where the different neighborhood names are.

I"ll assume you're talking about road rides. The hills tend to be rolling, some moreso than others. Some of the backroads are more cycling friendly than others. There's some routes out in the Holy Hill area about 25 miles west and north of you. There's a few hill circuit routes I know of out by Hartland and Merton where I used to live. I'm still learning my way around the Cedarburg and Saukville and Port Washington areas.

Check the lakefront ride that goes from around the Brown Deer area all the way up to Port Washington, ends up on hwy-C along the lake in Port. There is the Interurban trail system found at http://www.interurbantrail.us/Index2.htm which I'll be using parts of in my riding. Might give you some ideas for connecting loop routes.

There is a Wheel & Sprocket store on N. Port Washington Road just south of the Greentree intersection, south of GoodHope Road. Some of the guys in there can probably connect you with local team training rides as that store tends to have a more high-end roadbike focus (I recently started working part time there to get reconnected with cycling somewhat). But they will be moving soon as their block is scheduled to be torn down and replaced with a Mega-grocery store complex. Not sure where their new bike shop location is going to be, but is supposed to be within a short ride from their current location.

Rainbow Jersey is down between Hampton and Capitol Drive and west of the riverside park just east of I-43 (I can't remember the name of the road they're on). That is supposed to be another good place to link up with training rides. There is also another bike shop just south of the UW campus with more roadies working there, and one good track/velodrome rider who does a yearly order for track supplies for local cyclists. The other good bike shops in the area also have good info on local training rides.

I know this doesn't give you any exact answers, but hopefully it will help some. The hills around here don't compare with the "hills" out in Washington state and California where I used to ride, but there are routes sufficient to get some training on. Just depends on how comfortable you are with traffic and what day and time of the week it is.

Mike.

Thanks for the advice. I guess i should go down to some of the shops and bug the locals. I need to find a job anyway, worked at a shop in LaCrosse for 3 years. Anyway, i guess the best way to learn good routes would be to ridde with others. Its just that one of the things I love about rideing is the non social aspect. Yea, I like to ride alone, I jsut have more fun. Not dissin group rides here, just not my thing.

So I guess I posted this so that I could skip the middle man, get a route and hammer away.
I have looked at maps but its hard to know what is safe to ride or not.

And being from bluff country I doubt there is a hill here that can keep me down, but I would love to find something.

Again thanks, anyone else have thoughts.

Your best bet is to probably just go ride and see what you find. River Hills is okay with a few rollers if you don't get too far west. Staying close to Lake Michigan will give some elevation meanderings as the lakefront bluffs rise and fall along the way. Port Washington has a few hills, but not long by any real stretch. If you head north of Mequon and then ride around the farm/county roads between I-43 and I-45 and north of Friestadt road and south of hwy 33 you'll find traffic speeds between 35-65mph on two lane blacktop with little to no shoulders and some minor rollers and a few short kickers. Getting west of I-45 will put you onto some decent hills until you get to hwy-83. The whole region is sort of undulating, but is also frequented by drivers and motorcycles riders of varying degrees of skills and temperance towards cyclists. You can take some of the roads west of Appleton road and north of Mequon road and south of Holy Hill road to find some decent hills and lighter traffic since many of the squddley bike riders and sportscar drivers will bypass this region and head for the Holy Hill area.

I'm not familiar enough though with your immediate area to know the routes closer to the city. After a few laps in the area you'll learn which routes to avoid and which parallel routes are much more cycling friendly.

Mike.

Thanks again for the info, I will be sure to check it all out.

Exploring is what I will have to do, and I am sure I will have fun.

Hey thedude65 -

The riding scene on the east side of Milwaukee is pretty good. Group rides leave from Atwater Park in Shorewood (intersection of Lake Drive and Capital Drive) at 9 a.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, though attendance might be lower now that the race season has started. This ride is generally about 50 miles with some level of intensity. Other group rides leave from Atwater Park at 5:30 on Tuesday nights, and 4:00 on Wednesday nights. The rides from Atwater Park head north, and for a little variation, northwest, often going through Thiensville.

You did say that you enjoy riding solo, but hooking up with these group rides may give you ideas for the better roads to ride to get you started.

Additionally, the roads north of Port Washington are great. Not a ton of hills, but very few cars use these roads which is really refreshing.

I would recommend buying cycling specific maps of the state. I can't remember at this point who makes them, but I believe they can be purchased at Rainbow Jersey (mentioned by treebound).

good luck, and let me know if you have additional questions.

fmbp

by the way, the park whose name treebound couldn't remember is Estabrook Park. I commute through there a few times per week.

i'm not from milwaukee, but i see you guys talking about mequon. i am just getting into road rising and will be doing my first charity in may up that way. a metric century for diabetes. you might wanna look into doing that just to get an idea of routes up that way. granted you need to do some fundraising, but it could be a good intro. plus, you could network and get more ride ideas or even cue sheets.

all that and the satisfaction of giving back to the people.

http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR?pg=personal&fr_id=1653&px=1739169

hey, you guys have any advice? most i've done in one sitting is 48 miles. right now i can get 20 road miles done in about 70 minutes, but i only do that weekend mornings. weekdays i can get a good 17 miles on crushed limestone after work. on days i dont ride i usually do 3-6 miles jogging. i know jogging and cycling are different, but i need to change up a bit. so, what should i be doing to get ready?

hey, you guys have any advice? most i've done in one sitting is 48 miles. right now i can get 20 road miles done in about 70 minutes, but i only do that weekend mornings. weekdays i can get a good 17 miles on crushed limestone after work. on days i dont ride i usually do 3-6 miles jogging. i know jogging and cycling are different, but i need to change up a bit. so, what should i be doing to get ready?
Get a second opinion on this, but consider that the ride will have regular aid stations, and your own weekend rides do not. If you can go ride around 50 miles solo and unsupported then you should be fine for a group supported charity ride pace. The starting point at the north MATC campus is fairly flat and rolling with decent roads and usually narrow shoulders. I don't know what routes they plan to use.

You've got just over 30 days or four weeks to build up for this, so I'd suggest heading out this weekend and see how you do for 60 miles. Just try to maintain around a solo 15mph average. Stop before you kill yourself though. If you can do the 60 miles right now at 15mph average then you are just fine. Keep working on a gradual buildup and figuring out what kind of intake your body needs to keep going. Work out the details now before you get to the event, you'll be fine.

If you like to ride the hills and are near the east side, the best ride is the lake front. There are about 6 or 8 hills you can do, and if you do each a few times, you'll have yourself quite a ride (from a Milwaukee perspective).

I like to leave my home in Whitefish Bay and head south on Lake Drive/Lincoln Memorial Drive to the Art Museum. Then head north again and then ride Lafayette Hill, the Watertower Hill, the hill through Lake Park, and the hill up Lincoln Memorial. None of these are long, but do two or three repeats, and that's not a bad work out. If you want more, head north and ride the hills at Big Bay Park and Klode Park, do Beach Drive and then the path down to Doctor's Park.

If you've got the time to get out of the city, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin publishes an excellent map of the southeastern part of the state (though its useless if you're riding in the city).

One of my favorite rides is out to Holly Hill. I take Mill Road west to Lilly Road north, and then Good Hope west. In my estimation, that is the nicest way to get west. There are several great roads out there with some real rollers. One of my favorites is Hillside. Ride Planeview, Hillside and Pleasant Valley. These are all great roads and lightly travelled even on the weekends.

No hills on this one, but I also like to ride south to Grant Park. That's about a 40 mile ride and I stay close to the lake the whole way.

Finally, while the lake front hills are probably the best near by, you can find some pretty good hills in Miller Valley. I don't ride there much, but it might be worth exploring.