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Fat Bike Sweepstakes

With picturesque flat lands and demanding hills, Southwestern Wisconsin, known to locals as the Driftless Region, offers a unique experience for bicyclists. Riders of every caliber can discover routes to relax or to challenge, or a mix of both. A new website, Bicycle La Crosse (bicyclelacrosse.com), aims to promote road riding in the region through a deft mix of technology and the guidance of local cyclists.

“Local riders all have their favorite routes,” says La Crosse Area Convention and Visitors Bureau spokesperson Jeremiah Burish, “but this site shares their knowledge with visitors. Even experienced locals might find a new ride.”

Bicycle La Crosse highlights many rider-tested routes through the bluffs and farmland surrounding La Crosse, with marked stops at area cafes and convenience stores. Local bike advocate Dan Novak has spent years fine-tuning, photographing and mapping the routes for riders unfamiliar with the area.

The named routes are available as digital maps (free to download to a phone or GPS device) and printable maps with “cue sheets,” or written directions. Route profiles detail the total elevation change over the course of a ride as well as the various route distances, which range from 20 to more than 100 miles. Numerous photographs illustrate each course. Many of these routes, with names like “Barista’s Epic Coffee Ride” and “Driftless Region’s Most Scenic Ride,” are popular features of Bicycle La Crosse’s annual celebration, the 5th annual La Crosse Area Bicycle Festival held over Labor Day weekend.

In celebration of Bicycle La Crosse, site visitors may sign up to win a Wyatt Driftless Fat Bike (1×10 drivetrain) with customized finish and frame size valued at $1,349.95. Wyatt Bicycle Company, wyattbikes.com, is a La Crosse-based company where they hand assemble, powder coat, and test each product. The sweepstakes winner will be drawn Aug. 1, 2015.

The Driftless Region is an area of the Upper Mississippi River Basin that was bypassed by the last continental glacier. That left the area with a diverse topography of rugged hills and valleys cut into limestone bedrock.

The website, bicyclelacrosse.com, is supported by the La Crosse Area Convention & Visitors Bureau with volunteer work from local cyclists.