Detour de Madison

I've never thought of myself as a cyclodetourist, but one morning on my commute I became one. This is not the kind of bicycle tour I had in mind.


I had hoped they were just kidding with the whole "BIKE PATH CLOSED AHEAD" sign, so I went around it. Sure enough, there was a big backhoe in the way, and plastic fencing that not even my plastic brushguard could plough through. A sign advised me to "CONSIDER ALT ROUTE."


All for the sake of a little hole in the street.


Sand, gravel and backhoes, oh my.


So I skipped off onto a side street and over to the entrance to Camp Randall.


The granite generals were, as always, happy to see me. They even stood at attention.


Then down past the Shell and behind the big (really, really big) Home of the Badgers scoreboard...


...and out through the Secret Agent exit to Greek Sports Fan Alley...


Down the street, past the Bunny Droppings sculpture, and back onto my usual bike path (the Southwest.) Whew.


Then an elective trip down the gravel service drive behind the golf course, just to offset the trauma of the not-so-elective detour. Sparkling dew, twittering of birds, aroma of pesticides and all that.


Better, I suppose, than visiting violence on the detour sign, as it would appear happened here.