Althouse: On the Seminole Mountain Bike Trail in Dane County.

October 26, 2014

On the Seminole Mountain Bike Trail in Dane County.

21 comments:

sane_voter said...: Why is there a Seminole trail in Wisconsin? Did some of the tribe resettle there?; 10/26/14, 7:38 PM
Richard Dolan said...: The last image presents a twisted take on the empire of light. What would Rene say?; 10/26/14, 7:41 PM
paminwi said...: Two things: how is it that it isn't racist to use Seminole as a bike trail name? Have the Seminoles approved that use of their name?

Looks like the NY Times is needing to support Obama the final week before the elections. Story for page 1 tomorrow: Obamacare is doing exactly what if was supposed to do! Everything is just peachy keen!

Vote for Democrats!,,,; 10/26/14, 7:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: As for the name Seminole, I think it's based on one neighborhood here in Madison where all the street names are Indian tribes. There's another neighborhood where all the street names are Presidents and another with the signers of the Declaration of Independence.

I do think "Seminole" with "Trial" is too evocative of the Trail of Tears. I don't know why something like that happens in politically correct Dane County.

Nevertheless, it's a fine mountain bike trail and many people have worked hard on it.; 10/26/14, 7:58 PM
pm317 said...: Obama is upset Christie is doing something decisive in NJ that Obama should have done nationally. The quarantined NJ nurse is considering suing Christie. Put two and two together, soon she will have the weight of Obama administration behind her against Christie and Cuomo is irrelevant.; 10/26/14, 8:03 PM
The Godfather said...: Some of the Seminoles of Florida were relocated to the Indian Territory after they were defeated in the Second (?) Seminole War. The culture shock of being moved from the Everglades to the dry plains of Oklahoma must have been unbearable. Those that remained in Florida now run casinos and hotels. The tribe, or at least the tribal leaders, seem to have a lot of money now. Maybe they summer in Wisconsin.; 10/26/14, 9:21 PM
Christopher said...: I must say that it is interesting watching lefties embrace their inner Jack Thompson.; 10/26/14, 9:27 PM
LYNNDH said...: Need to rename the Trail to something non Native American.

OOPS! See paminwi beat me to it.; 10/26/14, 9:31 PM
RecChief said...: huh, there is a Teacher's union strike in Chiacago. Canceling classes starting tomorrow(?). Average salary is $76,000 per year, not counting benefits, second only to NYC. They are striking for more. But they only care about the kids, remember that.; 10/26/14, 9:36 PM
RecChief said...: pm317 said...
Obama is upset Christie is doing something decisive in NJ that Obama should have done nationally. The quarantined NJ nurse is considering suing Christie.

Is he upset with Cuomo, Quinn, and the governor of Connecticut too?; 10/26/14, 9:37 PM
Mark said...: Is there obstacles, logs and the like, or is it just a non-gravel trail?

The Middleton one is more obstacle oriented, fun for me but problems for kid as she is small and being a short loop requires too much stopping to be fun.

As a kid we used to ride through the dirt trails of the arboretum. Would like to find the same for kiddo.; 10/26/14, 9:51 PM
gadfly said...: So Seminole Mountain Bike Trail is restricted to mountain bikes? Must be so, because I don't remember a mountain in Dane County.

The question before the house, related to all public trails that are cropping up everywhere and largely financed from gasoline taxes collected for highway maintenance is:

Why do non-users of the bicycle and walking trails have to pay for these sparsely used recreational byways?

If Dane County users can afford mountain bikes, they certainly can afford to pay the substantial users fees required to keep socialism peddling.

But then again, the government is printing money to keep political donors happy.; 10/26/14, 10:30 PM
Birkel said...: The city of Madison should change street names to appease me. My grandfather was born on the res. I demand reparations because I drove through Wisconsin once. Also, my ancestors were forced to live as communists who could not own real property.

Also, a check will be accepted in lieu of street name changes. Make checks out to "Joseph" you jerks.; 10/26/14, 11:00 PM
Meade said...: @Mark, it's 2 miles of singletrack designed for beginners and riders with intermediate level skills. it also a great flowing, twisting track for expert riders to get a few fun quick miles of technical riding. I think it will bring back many of your memories of riding through the woods when you were a kid. While working on it over that past few weeks, I've spoken to at least a dozen sets of families (mostly dads and daughters or dad's and sons) trying it out for the first time. Everyone I talk to who rides it seems to love it.

@gadfly, "So Seminole Mountain Bike Trail is restricted to mountain bikes?" No. Hikers, runners, and skiers are welcome and encouraged to use the trail too. No motorized vehicles and no horses.

I could be mistaken, but I don't think any taxpayers' dollars were used to build this particular trail — all done with private donations and volunteer labor.

Most trails I've been on in Wisconsin do charge user fees.; 10/26/14, 11:01 PM
Meade said...: Hereis a link to organization that designed, built, and maintains the trail. And hereis a map.; 10/26/14, 11:09 PM
pm317 said...: Haha.. Cuomo already caved in ..Obama and his WH will make the NJ/NY mandatory quarantine Christie vs. Obama, and 'look at those big bad republicans..'; 10/26/14, 11:24 PM
Mark said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/27/14, 6:24 AM
Mark said...: Thanks Meade. Sounds like what we are looking for, though it looks like the nice biking weather is on its way out.; 10/27/14, 6:27 AM
Clyde said...: St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras, 22, and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo, died in a car wreck yesterday in the Dominican Republic. Taveras was a talented young player and one of baseball's top prospects.

It just goes to show the fragility of life, and the role that circumstance often plays in people's fates. Often a split second can be the difference between a narrow escape and becoming a statistic. Recently, my brother's girlfriend's car was totaled when she was out driving and an old metal pole blew over and landed on the hood of her car, just missing the windshield. She wasn't seriously hurt, fortunately, but it was a close thing. Had she driven past that spot a second earlier or later and her car wouldn't have been hit at all. A split second later and it might have landed on the windshield or squarely on the roof, which would have been much worse.

In Oscar Taveras' case, it's not difficult to imagine circumstances where he would have been far away from the Dominican yesterday: Had the Cardinals won the NLCS rather than the Giants, Taveras would have been in St. Louis last night for Game 5 of the World Series, assuming the Series went five games, of course; but even if it had been a four-game sweep, he likely would have still been in St. Louis on Sunday, cleaning out his locker, etc. While the Giants won the NLCS in five games, in an alternative universe, it could easily have gone another way. In that alternative universe, Taveras might have had a long and productive major league career and lived a long life. Sadly, in this universe, he and his girlfriend are dead at tragically young ages.; 10/27/14, 6:54 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Fisheye is going to look dated pretty soon. I don't like fisheye view at all. It might surge in popularity like sepia tone years from now, out of nostalgia.

GoPro is much worse. The Red Bull + GoPro marriage looks like a 70s sitcom in the making, reputation-wise.; 10/27/14, 8:39 AM
Ann Althouse said...: I'm completely proud of my fisheye work, which began here, in Brooklyn on February 12, 2008. There's a big array of stuff under that tag, including the day I married Meade.; 10/27/14, 9:01 AM