Trempeleau no longer a secret, thanks to NYT
A New York Times reporter rode the Arcadia Memorial Tour, event No. 2 in the Tour de Trempeleau and wrote a lovely account published in today’s “Escapes” section of the nation’s leading newspaper.
Stephen Regenold writes, “Trempealeau has 382 miles of paved roads, according to the Trempealeau Chamber of Commerce, ribbons of dark asphalt and concrete laced over a wedge of bluffs, farm fields and tributary ravines in a county less than 20 miles wide. Go to Iowa or Indiana and you’ll find similar countryside, though the gravel roads in much of rural America are unaccommodating to the thin tires of a road bike.”
The Times paraphrases Loren Mooney, editor in chief of Bicycling Magazine in New York, acknowledging that “Wisconsin is known as a bike-friendly state, with good roads and trails, though Trempealeau is not on the national radar.”
Well, until now.
That’s fine, though, given the story’s wonderful description of Trempeleau’s terrain and information such as this:
“In 1999, in an effort to attract visitors, the Trempealeau County Tourism Council hired a consultant to promote road biking, which had been popular among local residents since the 1980s. The result was a booklet guide to riding that described 14 popular road loop routes. A stewardship program prompted 200 households to display blue signs on driveway posts, denoting volunteer assistance for bikers in need of mechanical repair, water or a bathroom break. ‘You just knock on the front door and ask,’ Mr. McKernan said.”
– Joel Patenaude