ibexbiker

I'll be biking from Waupun to Devil's Lake State Park/Baraboo the last Monday of June. I Googled the route(59.6 miles) and it's got me on Hwy 33 for 13 miles. How is 33 for biking? Does it have a shoulder? Are there better routes? I plan to camp Monday and Tuesday at Devil's Lake and return Wednesday to Waupun. Thanks.

skijor

State highways are generally not zesty for biking. If you don't already own a set, I highly recommend the set of [4] Wisconsin Bicycle Maps. They're color-coded to indicate how friendly or unfriendly (to bikes) the roads are. I just checked my map and the only section of Hwy 33 that is somewhat ok for bikes is between Fox Lake and Marcellon. The rest is red (i.e. - bad for bicycles). The section I referred to is color coded blue, which means is may not have a shoulder but is low traffic...or is moderate traffic but with a good shoulder. That said, I see plenty of alternative roads to avoid 33. It may add miles, but not a ton.

The Devils Lake/Baraboo region is beautiful and challenging on a bike. Enjoy

treebound 

+1 on trying to avoid cycling on hwy-33, the only exception I'd make is when it goes through a town or across a river. I've motorcycled hwy-33 from Lake Michigan to Sauk City and most of it is freeway speeds with no shoulder and a hard edge transition between the pavement and the shoulder gravel with usually a small rainwash ditch-like area making any smooth transition from pavement to gravel and back to pavement again nearly impossible without significant bunnyhop skills, there are also usually a fair number of semitrucks/trailers, RV's towing trailers, recreational boaters towing a boat behind their truck trying to pass on the right or left any other vehicle not already exceeding the speedlimit, and a whole slew of other types of vehicles and obstacles.

I googlemapped directions with my phone browser and it gave me an 11 mile section of hwy-33 through Portage and crossing the river and the Interstate, that section might be okay with 4+ lanes and paved shoulders, but I don't recall how it was since it has been a number of years since I've been through there. That area is also close to The Dells which is a major magnet for bad drivers and overloaded vehicles.