Wisconsin's nationally acclaimed "rails to trails" biking network offers smooth riding and scenic views while off-road trails around the state offer even more of a challenge.
The Wisconsin Department of Tourism (www.travelwisconsin.com) has a bike guide (2008 - Seventh Edition pdf) of cool bike trails in Wisconsin. Some examples are the 32-mile Elroy-Sparta trail which winds through three century-old railroad tunnels, wooded valleys, and small towns and the paved 83.4-mile Mountain Bay State Trail which stretches from Green Bay to Wausau winding through Amish settlements, the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation, woodlands, marshes, and farmland. In fact, there are over 850 miles of biking trails that criss-cross the state.
The guide is a good reference to have in order to appreciate biking in Wisconsin. This guide provides a detailed map and difficulty rating for each trail in Wisconsin, including off-road mountain bike trails, designated bike trails, and on-road loop tours. In addition, there is also information about nearby tourist attractions, trail amenities, parks, and accommodations. Many of the tour and trail descriptions also include a small graph depicting the changes in elevation over the length of the route.The City of Madison Traffic Engineering web site offers a bike map pdf that shows the bike routes around the city.
The maps have routes marked according to their appropriateness for cycling (level & speed of auto traffic, presence of shoulders or bike lanes, etc.). The maps also have the state trails that do not allow motorized vehicles in non-winter months. New features of the 2005 edition include locations of all Wisconsin bike shops, designation of local dirt roads, paved shoulder information for state highways, and interchange and non-interchange crossing locations for freeways. The maps are ideal for long-distance touring bicyclists as well as casual recreational riders or transportation bicyclists.
WisDOT also has downloadable bike maps for each of Wisconsin's 72 counties. These county maps come from the Wisconsin State Bike Map. Each county map highlights the most favorable bicycling conditions while presenting the full continuum of roadways - from narrow town roads to US Highways. This approach enables cyclists of all abilities to select their own routes to meet their individual transportation and recreational needs.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has compiled a list of Wisconsin local bicycle map and route information from various counties and cities. Some maps are hosted for download by DOT and only available here.


A number of privately produced maps and books focus on particular bike routes and/or trail systems for tour and mountain biking. They are available at many general bookstores, as well as businesses that sell or rent bicycles. Also, check out the Wisconsin Department of Tourism's or the Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycling Association's (WORBA) web pages for more information.