Cheese Country Trail by Gravel Bike

Hey all,

I'm posting a quick write-up of my adventure on the big gravel loop starting and ending in Madison with special focus on the Cheese Country Trail segment from Monroe, WI to Mineral Point, WI. I haven't seen many posts about it, and think I could help some people make an informed decision on whether or not to ride this segment.

Background: I'm a serious rider, I do approximately 70% of my riding on gravel, and last year I clocked just over 3500 miles according to Strava. I'm a proficient mountain biker, roadie, and gravel rider. I did this ride on a Carbonda CFR696 with 29x2.0 tires at 38psi rear/35 psi front under my 260 pound rider weight on 25mm internal Bontrager carbon rims. I was riding an 11-42 shimano cassette with a 40t oval chainring up front.

The route: I did a 134.6 mile loop starting in Madison, heading south to Monroe on the Badger State Trail. I went on this ride with a friend, and we averaged 17.7mph on the BST to Monroe. The BST is well groomed, hard packed, and fast. The Stewart Tunnel is still closed, so the detour climb on Tunnel Road is still required.

Once we hit Monroe, we did the small jog through town on paved streets to find the Cheese Country trailhead. The initial gravel sector looked new, and wasn't packed down much. Gravel was marble sized and loose on both ascents and descents. The trail is generally downhill from Monroe to South Wayne, and we stopped at a gas station in South Wayne to refill water and grab a snack while remarking "this isn't so bad." 

The second sector, from South Wayne to Darlington, was a different story. Incredibly rugged gravel, with large sections washed out, large puddle holes/divots, and 300m+ sections of washboarded surface made the going slow, arduous, and frustrating. My buddy, who is about 100 pounds lighter than I am, tried to ride in the ATV tire tracks as much as possible, which exposed him to the washboards at full force. I tried to find the looser segments of gravel near the edges of the trail, which sapped my speed but kept me from ramming into my seat and tiring my arms on the washboard sections. At one point, I described the trail as a "physical beating." A full suspension mountain bike would have been appropriate on this part of the trail -- really, in some sections, if felt and looked more like a Jeep track than a trail. Some sections were perfectly smooth and fast, but those were interrupted by washboarding before and after every bridge, and these bad sections were frequent enough to prevent developing any sort of rhythm. It was hard and not very enjoyable.

A note about trail users: we rode on a Friday to cut down on traffic, and we saw probably two dozen or so ATV/UTV riders. Every single driver/rider was courteous, followed the speed limit, passed with plenty of room, waved, and said hello or asked how we were doing. I rode with a tail light for visibility and one ATV rider said he really appreciated that.

The Darlington to Mineral Point section follows the Pecatonica river more closely, and includes a lot of bridge crossings. This section, especially as one gets closer to Mineral Point, gets smoother and allows you to develop a rhythm. Puddle holes are easier to avoid, and the gravel was graded relatively recently, which cut down on washboard sections. Once you reach mineral point, the trail stops fairly abruptly, and you have two choices to climb into town -- a back street (more of an alley, really) behind buildings, or climbing Highway 23. We opted for the smoother highway route after the boneshaking we'd experienced for 47 miles, but the grade on HWY 23 hovers around 8% -- not exactly a welcome grade after the trail.

Riding a paved (but very overgrown) bike path along Highway 151 takes you to Dodgeville, where we connected with the Military Ridge State Trail. The Military Ridge is in very good shape this year, all the way from Dodgeville to the terminus in Madison. Some loose sections and animal holes around Mount Horeb need to be dodged, but overall, after the Cheese Country, this trail felt like a drag strip and our average speed climbed back over 17mph. I did climb Blue Mound from Mounds Park Road as an additional challenge, and spirits lifted on the descent from Blue Mound all the way to the end of the day in Madison. Total ride time was 9 hours and 5 minutes, for an overall average speed of 14.8 mph.

If you're thinking about riding the Cheese Country, be prepared. There are plenty of places to hop off the trail and grab food and water, and many campground/park areas with bathrooms. You're not going to run out of opportunities for supplies on this trail, but you may well run out of patience.

Even on massive gravel tires, a compliant carbon frame and wheels, training all summer, and a knowledge of what I was getting myself into, this trail was tough. It's only 47 miles, but you have to earn every single one of them.

I hope this write-up gives some perspective on the trail conditions and what to expect on the Cheese Country Trail as of July, 2021. If there's information you need that I didn't include, feel free to leave a post below and I'll respond/update as needed!