2016 Olympic Cycling could be held near Madison

There has been a lot of talk lately about the 2016 Olympics and Chicago's chances of landing the bid.  We will find out next Friday, October 2nd, when the host city is announced.  More importantly for Cycling fans and the State of Wisconsin, the mountain and road cycling events would be held near Madison in Blue Mounds, WI.  The area is well known for it's hilly terrain and is host to the annual Horribly Hilly Hundred ride.

Here's a great ESPN article about choosing the location for the course.

Olympic bid could help bring high speed rail to Wisconsin

With the cycling events scheduled to be held about 160 miles from the host city of Chicago, transportation could be an issue for both the athletes as well as spectators.  Cars will not be allowed at the venue, so spectators would need to be shuttled to the race.  This would add yet another argument for Wisconsin to build a high speed rail from Chicago to Milwaukee to Madison by that time.  In addition to cycling events, the sheer volume of people attending the olympics would add tourism opportunities for both Madison and Milwaukee to host visitors with the dense population of Chicago.

Want to test out the course?

It may not be the mountains that cyclists climb through in the Tour de France, but this isn't a walk in the park!  The 22-mile loop ranges in elevations from 750 to 1,750 feet.  Here is the mapmyride.com route.  If you want to check out a race there, check out the Tour of America's Dairyland.

Map

Elevation

Check out the full blog entry here.