Bacon, as is widely known, is nature's perfect food. When you combine bacon with biking the world is just a better place.
Well, you're in luck. Because on Thursday morning, May 15, there will be bacon on the bike path. That's right. During Bike to Work Week, running May 11-17, all kinds of fun and odd activities will be taking place around the state to celebrate all things biking, including the close ties between bicycles and things like bacon, brats and beer.
Activities are being held across the state, including plenty in the Madison area.
But here are my personal favorites:
- On Tuesday, we'll have a community ride. The east side ride will start on the Capital City Trail behind Olbrich Park and the west side ride will begin at the Southwest Commuter Path at Glenway Golf Course, both beginning at 7:30 a.m. We'll converge on the Capitol Square in front of Colectivo (and near the Isthmus offices!) for some coffee and other good stuff and there will be (very short) speeches. Feel free to ignore the speeches and enjoy the coffee.
- On Tuesday evening, a "bike bus" (just a group bike ride really) will leave from the Sequoya Library at 5:15 p.m. and wend its way east to Olin Park for a concert featuring a great local band: The Whiskey Farm.
- Wednesday is the day for bratcakes on the bike path, again at the downtown commuter station.
- Thursday features the aforementioned bacon on the bike path at the same downtown commuter station.
- Then there's an end-of-the-week party at Motorless Motion Bicycles, located at the intersection of West Wash, Regent and the Southwest Commuter Path. That starts at 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
What's it all about? Well, we have long, cold winters in Wisconsin. Maybe you’ve noticed. More and more of us are braving the cold and biking all year long, but most of us still store away the bike when the weather turns nasty.
Bike To Work Week is designed to give us all an excuse to pump up the tires, oil up the chain and get moving again. And if it takes bacon to get you out there, well, so much the better.
Dave Cieslewicz is the executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.
