Cheese Country Trail (SW Wisconsin)

[paulie]

This past weekend, a couple friends and I decided to check out one of the many ATV trails that Wisconsin has to offer. This particular trail is named the Cheese Country ATV Trail. Aptly named, eh? :P  

Some quick history: There's a fair bit of politics revolving around off road trails and motorcycle/dirt bike use in Wisconsin. Many many miles of nice trails now have motorcycle restrictions. This is because most of the trails are groomed by the state(DNR) or local ATV/snowmobile clubs. These two demographics have state funded programs in place where registration monies go toward trail maintenance and upkeep, and they realized that motorcycles are not contributing to this. Typically resulting in the motorcycle restriction. So for us two wheeled riders in Wisconsin, our options seem to be shrinking. Many local ATV/Snowmobile clubs are open to motorcycle use provided that we pay for the permit. Personally, I'm perfectly happy to contribute a little cash to be able to use these trails. I think it's totally worth it. There is a growing contingent of two wheeled riders lobbying our state legislature to create some kind of program to get  motorcycles the same access as snowmobiles and ATVs. This will most likely involve some kind of Off Highway Vehicle designation where motorcycles can register. Time will tell.

Moving on:
We made the decision to check out this trail as part of a trial run, preparing for a yet-to-be-planned trip on the T.W.A.T.(Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail), which is an unofficial trail that runs from the southernmost border of Wisconsin all the way up to the shore of Lake SUperior using 99% off-pavement trails and roads. It was plotted and put together by Rokklym and Cannonshot on ADVRider. They did an awesome job. This trail is not part of the TWAT, but conditions are similar on this trail to most of the TWAT.

The Cheese Country Trail is fairly well groomed, and was mostly hard pack with some pretty loose gravel in some spots. Having seen some of the ride reports on here, this would be incredibly boring for some. But for me, who up until this point has had his Tiger 100% on pavement, it was quite the adventure and learning experience as to what this wonderful bike can accomplish. I realize I've only just scratched the surface here, and it really excites me. Can't wait for more.

As this was my first official foray into (pseudo) off roading, I was a bit apprehensive. It took me a while to relax and actually practice some of the dirt bike riding tips I'd  been reading. (Elbows up, knees in, don't jerk the handlebars if you want to turn, use mostly rear brake, etc...) Now I should also mention that my front tire was not the right one to use in this instance. Due to financial setbacks I could not buy a matching Tourance when I bought one for the rear. I was running a strictly street tire - a Michelin Pilot Road up front. You may think I'm crazy, and you're right. I did OK though. :)

Anyway. I'll stop babbling. On to the report. I will apologize in advance for the lack of pics. None of us were in a picture kind of mood, and besides, it was raining.

I met the guys at about 10:30 AM in Monroe, WI where the trailhead lives. Brad and Peter rode up from Chicago and met me there. Brad on his 1150GS and Peter on his F650GS.

If you're ever in Monroe, make a point to stop at Baumgartner's, as it's one of my favorite stops. Right downtown on the town square. Good coffee, and a plethora of Wisconsin-made meat and cheese sandwiches on offer. We met up and discussed our plan, and generally shot the breeze for a while before heading off.

Here we are just taking off from Baumgartner's


Peter had the trailhead plotted into his GPS so we were on our way. We got there and discovered that we could not buy our permits right at the trailhead as we expected. A detour to a local motorsports shop a few blocks away was needed. Permits in hand, we set off. In the rain.

As mentioned I was fairly nervous at first. It took me a while to get used to how the bike rides on real gravel. With the tire I have on the front, it was real sketchy at times. Couple close calls. I also kept it real slow, whereas Brad on his TKCs and Peter on his full set of Tourances were able to eat up the trail for the most part. I made a comment at one point that our ride was like an episode of Top Gear. Brad and Peter played the part of Jeremy and Richard, while I was Captain Slow. :)  Mainly just being overly cautious I suppose, but hey, I never dropped the bike!

So the trail was on an old railroad bed, so as such, it was pretty flat. There were a few hills, but nothing really worth mentioning. This also meant there were some pretty nice bridges to cross the streams.


While stopped on this bridge we were passed by some of the only ATVers out that day.







Local fire department doing something, not sure what. Draining the system perhaps?



Then we stopped for gas.



After getting gas, we couldn't find the trail again. The trail goes through a few small towns, and isn't marked very well. There is supposedly green arrow markers on the road showing where the trail is, but in this town it had faded some, and the wet pavement made it harder to see. While looking for the trail, we came across this.





I have no idea what the story here is, was just interesting.

We found the trail again right around this shark! No jumping of the shark ocurred.

We continued on.

So now by this time, we'd probably been riding this trail for a good two hours. It winds nicely through some farmland, some forest, and prairie.
Here's one from Brad's camera while taking a quick break:



Unfortunately I do not have any pics beyond this, as my camera's batteries took a crap, and I think Brad was just done with playing photographer from his cell phone.

I realized after riding about half of the trail that I didn't really have to be nervous. A majority of this trail was actually pretty easily navigable given my less than ideal tire setup. some of it was pretty sandy, but the rain made it nice and hard. A majority was good hardpack that I could have done even if it was dry. Though I will say that the parts where there was REAL GRAVEL and no hardpack were pucker worthy on occasion. The front end would wobble left and right like mad and I'd have to concentrate hard to keep a line. It was during these sections of the trail where I had a number of close calls. The front end would start sliding some on the gravel and start  to wash out, and if I didn't give it gas, I would have gone down. Riding behind Peter, he was in a similar predicament on his F650 in these stretches. I watched him almost go down a number of times as well. Short little tank-slappers, flick the throttle and the bike rights itself. Whew!

All told, the trail was nearly 50 miles of riding at about 20-25 MPH. The last few hundred yards of the trail were the most challenging as it was all pea gravel nearly ankle deep!  I almost dumped it three times in this short stretch. Bloody hell!

Once through that last little gauntlet, We were rewarded with a nice hot meal at the pub right near the end of the trail. We ended up riding on road back to Madison where I parted with the guys and they continued on back to Chicago. Good times.

I definitely caught the offroad bug, and realize what changes need to be made on the bike to make this easier.  (Bar risers, a full set of tourances, perhaps even TKCs?!)

Cheers, thanks for reading :)

All the best,
OffRoad N00b   :twisted:

[paulie]

Oh, some links.

The TWAT on ADV:
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343821

Good writeup on the Cheese Country Trail:
http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31629

Baumgartner's
http://www.baumgartnercheese.com/