September 9, 2004, continued.
This is state highway 35, maybe 3 miles north of DeSoto, Wisconsin (on the upper left of the map below). I would have taken highway 35 south to Prairie du Chien, but I think I was scared off by some of the discussions about highway 35 that had taken place on the Phred bicycle touring e-mail list. What I saw of the road was great for riding, but I had gotten the idea that there might be sections with no paved shoulders and lots of traffic.
I decided to take a more “inland” route, instead — state highway 27. Part of it is shown on the map below. It’s from the Wisconsin bicycling maps that can be found at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation web.
I didn’t have the Wisconsin bicycling maps with me on that September 2004 ride. I had heard they had been updated and improved since my last ride here, in 1996 (when they weren’t particularly good) but hadn’t been able to find a place that sold them. Myra had been on the lookout for them, too, and had made repeated inquiries on my behalf. But we had had no luck. So I was using maps that didn’t distinguish paved from unpaved roads.
The next day I got a chance to look at one of the legendary, elusive Wisconsin maps. I was allowed to touch it, even — at a visitor center in Prairie du Chien. But there weren’t any to give out or purchase. They were only available in bike shops, I was told, because of the way they had been funded. And that meant I wouldn’t be getting one at Prairie du Chien, I don’t recall why. (No bike shop, perhaps?) So I planned that day’s ride while I was at the visitor center.
It was true that the maps had been greatly improved since 1996. They weren’t quite as good as the Illinois ones I had used, but still, they were better than what most states have.
Now that I look more closely at the ones online, it seems they have been improved since 2004, too. I don’t recall quite as many categories of bicycling suitability as the one I saw in 2004. On the map below, the green roads are the best, and blue ones are good, too. Paved shoulders are indicated by black outlines. I’m not so sure I’d still say that the Illinois maps are better than the Illinois ones.
From looking at this map, it appears that I would have been better off taking highway 35. There are some sections of highway 27 that are shown in red. I do remember the part north of Mount Sterling. I had been riding along on a nice quiet road, and then realized that the traffic had somehow picked up considerably. I wondered where it had come from. But even the red sections along highway 27 weren’t bad that day. I wouldn’t hesitate to ride there again.
On my 2004 ride, I also took a lot of paved roads that are unrated — shown in grey. There is a lot of good riding on those, too. Thinking about it makes me want to go back for more.
