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Bash on a bike trail

Kick up your wheels at small-town fall festivals.

Soon, summer will be over, temperatures will cool down and everyone will start thinking the same thing: Time to plan a weekend bike trip.

Autumn is a great time to try out a new bike trail, not only because of fall colors and invigorating weather but because so many small towns throw harvest festivals in September and October.

Food always is the main draw, and there's nothing bicycle tourists like more than food. Grape harvests result in wine festivals and Oktoberfests in a river of beer; that goes over pretty well, too.

So why not pair a bike ride with a fun little festival? Here are some ideas.

Elroy-Sparta Trail: Sept. 12-13, Ben Biken BBQ Bash in Sparta (that's Ben pictured), the northern trailhead of this 32-mile, three-tunnel trail in southwest Wisconsin. Add three other trails for a 101-mile system.

Paul Bunyan State Trail: Sept. 13, Arts and Crafts Fair/A Taste of Pequot in Pequot Lakes. Sept. 13, Ethnic Fest in Walker. Sept. 20, Nisswa Festival and Smokin' Hot BBQ. Sept. 26-28, Chainsaw Sculpting Invitational in Hackensack.

The Minnesota lakes country through which this trail cuts is unjustly forsaken when summer ends; in many places, the fall color is as good or better than the display on the North Shore. It's 71 miles from Brainerd/Baxter to Walker; see Bicycling the Bunyan.

Old Abe State Trail: Aug. 29-Sept. 1, Lion's Sturgeon Festival in Jim Falls, and Sept. 6, Pork N' The Park in Cornell.

Follow western Wisconsin's Chippewa River on this 19½-mile trail between Chippewa Falls and Cornell, named for a ferocious Civil War mascot; see A trail for Old Abe.

Sugar River State Trail: Aug. 29-31, Wilhelm Tell Festival in New Glarus. Sept. 26-28, Octoberfest in New Glarus. Sept. 27, Autumn Fest and Sugar River Tour, Brodhead. Oct. 4, Fall Festival in Albany.

Since this 23-mile trail goes through  Wisconsin cheese country, food is bountiful and heritage strong; see Swiss at heart.

Badger State Trail: Sept. 19-21, Green County Cheese Days; Sept. 20-21, Berghoff and Blues Festival; Oct. 4, Falling Leaves Family Festival. They're all in Monroe, which in fall is party central on this this 32-mile trail from Madison's exurbs to the Illinois border. It intersects with the Sugar River at Monticello; see A slice of cheese country.

Interurban Trail: Sept. 19-20, Paramount Blues Festival, Grafton. Sept. 20-21, Wine & Harvest Festival in Cedarburg. Sept. 27, Mequon-Thiensville Historical Days. Oct. 10-12, Studio Tours/Arts Weekend in Cedarburg.

This paved 30-mile trail follows an old trolley line from the northern suburbs of Milwaukee to the tourist towns of Cedarburg and Port Washington on Lake Michigan; see Bicycling eastern Wisconsin.

Root River and Harmony-Preston Valley state trails: Sept. 27, Fall Fest in Preston. Oct. 3-5, Fall Foliage Days in Harmony. Oct. 4, Fall Fest in Lanesboro. Oct. 4, Harvest Moon Festival in Houston.

Southeast Minnesota and its bike trails, the 42-mile Root River and 18-mile Harmony-Preston Valley, are favorite destinations in fall; see  Bicycling in bluff country.

Willard Munger State Trail: Sept. 6, Smokin' Rib Fest in the eastern Minnesota town of Hinckley.

Hinckley is the southern trailhead of the Munger, one of the longest paved trails in the nation. It starts in Hinckley near the green-frame Fire Museum and continues to Willow River along a rail corridor that was the scene of a dramatic rescue in 1894. From Barnum, the trail follows Minnesota 61 into Carlton.

The next 14½ miles, through gorgeous Jay Cooke State Park, may be the most scenic stretch of trail in the state. For tourism information, call Hinckley at 800-996-4566.

Last updated on October 18, 2008