Mineral Point to Dodgeville Bike Trail Surface
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Mineral Point to Dodgeville Bike Trail Surface
Hi, all, part of our upcoming bike tour will be ridden on the Mineral Point to Dodgeville bike trail.
We plan to connect with the Military Ridge trail in Dodgeville and ride it to the end in Verona.
My question:
Are the two trail surfaces suitable for road bikes? Some in our tour group have cf road bikes with very narrow tires.
We plan to connect with the Military Ridge trail in Dodgeville and ride it to the end in Verona.
My question:
Are the two trail surfaces suitable for road bikes? Some in our tour group have cf road bikes with very narrow tires.
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I take this trail regularly, you can find more information about it on my blog, specifically the Military Ridge page. https://bartsbiking.com/?page_id=59
The trail is a smooth limestone surface, i ride on it with 700x32 tires, but you shouldnt have any issues with road tires unless your going extremely narrow. You can find a ton of pictures of the Military Ridge trail on my blog to get an idea of the surface.
The trail is a smooth limestone surface, i ride on it with 700x32 tires, but you shouldnt have any issues with road tires unless your going extremely narrow. You can find a ton of pictures of the Military Ridge trail on my blog to get an idea of the surface.
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I have ridden many of the bike trails in Wisconsin. Most are crushed limestone trails and are well groomed and in good shape. That being said, a 700x23 tire on a typical road bike will not make the ride enjoyable IMO. It can be done, and I have done it for short lengths. Last time on my road bike I bailed after 6 miles on the crushed limestone path because I was more focused with staying upright and finding a clean line than I was enjoying the ride.
28 tires may be the minimum for an enjoyable ride. Also reduce the tire pressure.
28 tires may be the minimum for an enjoyable ride. Also reduce the tire pressure.
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I have ridden most of the MR trail on a road bike with 23 mm tires, in out and back stretches of 50 miles. I have heard the far western stretch is less desirable. From Blue Mounds to the east it is generally decent, especially if you got a little rain 2-3 days earlier to make it like concrete. If you want to go 20 mph, it is not the path for you, but a person on a road bike can generally maintain 14-15 mph without worry. I would agree that 28 mm would be more comfortable, but if the majority of your trip involves roads, I wouldn't swap out a wheel for that purpose. There are also some road workarounds that run fairly parallel to the trail that you can use (Klevenville-Riley Rd comes to mind, for one), however they may be hilly (K-R is not). Alternate routes that are nearby that are suitable are Cty S and Cty P. Also, running west to east is generally downhill. (Cty S and Cty P are not particularly hilly)