Summerfest, on Milwaukee’s lakefront, bills itself as the World’s Largest Music Festival. Running from June 26 to July 6 this year, it has multiple stages booked with music from noon to midnight daily. It also has a long history of providing free parking for bicyclists right in front of the Mid-Gate entrance to the grounds.

This year Summerfest is going green and part of the greening effort is to encourage more ticket holders to bike to the festival. Bikeverywhere teamed up with Summerfest to create a map of bike routes to the Summerfest grounds from three directions (Sorry, no bike routes across Lake Michigan.). The routes start 5-6 miles from the Summerfest grounds and follow bike friendly roads and bike paths to the Chicago Avenue bike parking lot. The map is a distilled version of the Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin Bike Map created by bikeverywhere.

You can download a free copy of the map from the Summerfest website, or right here. Bikeverywhere has also supplied free paper maps to Milwaukee area bike shops.

The goal of this promotion is two fold. The obvious goal is to encourage more cyclists to ride their bikes to big, fun events like Summerfest. We believe that a cyclist only has to avoid parking hassles and slip past traffic once to appreciate the value of the bike when attending a large event like Summerfest. The bigger-picture goal is to show other events, both large and small, that providing basic necessities, like free parking and good route maps, will encourage cyclists, therefore reducing the event’s needs for ever bigger parking lots and traffic control expenses.

For bikeverywhere, the goal is very simple. We want more people to live the bikeverywhere motto. So give it a try. Download the free Bike-to-Summerfest Map. Pick out a route and ride to this incredible music event. And if you want to start further out, consider purchasing a Milwaukee and SE Wisconsin Bike Map. You could plan a route from as far away as Lake Geneva or Kenosha. Now wouldn’t that be fun?

For the record: Bike parking is fenced and a guard is stationed at the lot during festival hours. You will still have to bring a lock for your bike. The fencing and the guard are extra security measures provided by Summerfest.

Do It Green, an organization dedicated to educating and motivating Minnesotans to live more sustainably, will host a Commuter Buddy Program on Saturday, June 7. Experienced bicycle commuters will pair up with new commuters to plan a commuter route and set a date to practice and time the route. I’ll be there to help create a custom bike route to work for new participants. Commuter Buddy Program

In a previous post, I mentioned a new route planning program through the Met Council. The program, called Bike2Benefits, asks bike commuters to commit to riding at least once a week for eight weeks before December 31. Riders receive a personalized route map, a booklet on bicycle commuting, information on safe and lawful bicycling and a reflective leg strap. Riders who complete the program get entered in a year-end prize drawing.

The program has launched and, according to program coordinator John Svigeland, it has exceeded expectations by 10-15 times. The program is going through growing pains. As of last posting, over 100 requests were waiting for custom bike routes.

The program is looking for more bike route planners. If you are an experienced bike commuter and feel comfortable laying out bike routes for new riders, please contact John Svigeland for more information. Bike route planners get paid for their work and get to choose the number of routes they wish to do from a list of route requests.

Roads around the I-35W/Hwy 62 interchange have been in constant flux as the new highway alignment continues. The good news, for now, is that Minnehaha Parkway has re-opened. It was closed during construction of the support pillars that will take I-35W over Minnehaha Creek. Nicollett Ave under Hwy 62 is slightly more open again because pillar work in that area has been completed. I checked out the new Diamond Lake Rd bridge. It isn’t any worse than the old bridge, but it isn’t better, either. The approach lanes on both sides of the bridge are wide enough for shoulder/bike lane striping, but no paint had been added on my last visit. Shoulder stiping is still visible on the old “unimporved” part of Diamond Lake Rd to the east of the bridge. the 58th street bike bridge ws removed and still hasn’t been rebuilt.

Minnehaha Park has gone through a multi-year renovation to become one of the premier parks in Minneapolis. The latest improvements include new picnic shelters near the Veterans Home and bike paths that connect the Veterans Bridge to the road down to Lock and Dam #1. A spur trail also connects the upgraded picnic area to the trail near the falls. The trails were paved within the last week and are ready for your enjoyment.

It didn’t take long for alert readers to notice that I forgot to include the finished part of the Badger State Trail between Belleville and Purcell Rd. No excuses for that oversight. In the process of converting the map into GIS format I overlooked the missing trail. My apologies. Click here for a free pdf file showing the proper location of the trail on the map. Badger State Trail

Minneapolis bicyclists looking for a bike route across Minnehaha Creek no longer have the option to cross on the Bryant Ave. Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge was closed a couple of days ago for safety reasons.

After reports that the bridge swayed as much as 12 inches when people crossed it, Minneapolis Parks & Rec inspected the bridge and closed it immediately after the inspection report.

At this point there is no information available about when, or even if, the bridge will open again. The parks and Rec does not have engineers on staff, so a consultant has to be hired to evaluate whether the bridge can be repaired or has to be replaced. Hiring a consultant requires a bid process that could take several months.

If the bridge can be repaired, Parks & Rec may do the work themselves. If it has to be replaced, a contractor will be hired, requiring another bid process. Reconstruction could take even longer if Minneapolis parks & Rec has to find additional funds in its budget.

Local residents reported that kids intentionally rocked the bridge back and forth for entertainment prior to the bridge closing.

Cyclists can cross Minnehaha Creek at Lyndale Ave or Pleasant Ave downstream or on the creek level bike bridge upstream.

This is a fund raiser for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin presented by Trek Bicycle Stores of Madison. The evening starts with a bike ride from the Trek Bicycle Store East to the Eastgate Cinema to see Klunkerz, a movie about the rise of mountain biking from its Marin County roots. Fischer bike founder Gary Fischer will be in attendance and will ride with the group to the cinema. Considering the size of Mr. Fischer’s ego, and his relentless efforts to establish himself as THE founder of mountain biking, expect the movie to feature him prominently.

After the movie, a drawing will be held for a Gary Fischer Monona bike. All proceeds go to the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin.

One On One Bikes continues its unique blend of bikes, coffee and art gallery with a new show starting Saturday night, April 5. ARTCRANK, a poster party for bike people, will feature bike related posters from 34 artists, music by Keston Westdal, Beer by Rush River Brewing Company and a photo booth by Scott Haraldson. One on One always puts on a good party and it’s readily accessible by bike. The show runs through May 3.

The Metro Council will offer an expanded Bike-2-Benefits program this year to cyclists interested in trying bike commuting. The program, still in the planning stages, will include custom route planning between your home and job, a copy of the 2005 Twin Cities Bike Map and incentives for cyclists who commit to ride at least 8 times during the 2008 season. In 2007, the 494 Corridor Services offered a similar program to employees who worked along the I-494 corridor. Doug Shidell, of Bikeverywhere, did the custom route planning. This year he will teach bike route planners throughout the Twin Cities how to plan a custom bike route for Bike-2-Benefits participants.

Bobmbay Bicycle Club will be offering more rides east and south of Madison this year in addition to their full complement of rides in the gorgeous, but hilly western part of Dane County. The club is also offering a Leisure Ride series for the casual rider. the new initiatives are designe dto broaden the appeal of the club beyond its core of extremely fit and hill loving riders.