Dean Donnelly of Milwaukee waits for a friend on the Oak Leaf Tail to commute to work in the Third Ward. Credit: Kyle Grillot

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Melanie Ariens, 44, cycles five miles on the Oak Leaf Trail from her home in Whitefish Bay to her art studio in downtown Milwaukee. She rides a 1986 Cannondale mountain bicycle, and she's fashioned a watertight basket from Tidy Cat containers decorated with tape and stickers.

"It looks pretty funny, but man is it functional and cheap," Ariens said.

She isn't the only one in this city thinking about convenience and cost - plus health and fun.

"Milwaukee is one of the most frugal markets in the entire country," said Chris Kegel, owner of bike emporium Wheel & Sprocket. "If you fill your gas tank up three or four times, the savings can be used to buy a bike that will last for three or four years."

To the frugal, Milwaukee offers a cycling smorgasbord: With its bicycling trails, lanes, shops, groups, races and racks, the city brings riders to the plate every year. And once city government completes its master bike plan, it promises to bring even more.

Milwaukee may not be Madison, where 6% of commuters travel to work by bike, but according to the League of American Bicyclists, 1,723 Milwaukeeans commuted by bike last year, more than double the number traversing the city in 2000. Bicycle advocates say the percentage - 0.7% of commuters - doesn't do Milwaukee's bike scene justice. It certainly doesn't account for utilitarian or recreational cyclists. Bikers who ride for their enjoyment generate most of the in-store business at Wheel & Sprocket, whose brick-and-mortar business has increased more than 50% in the last decade.

Representing the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, Dave Schlabowske praised Milwaukee for its "depth of cycling culture that is unique to a city of (its) size." He believes his hometown is one of the easiest and safest places to ride a bike for transport - even if its bicycle infrastructure is a work in progress.

It's only a matter of time, high school teacher and cyclist Jeremy Prach said, until bikes stake their full claim to Milwaukee's streets.

Saving money

What's drawing more Milwaukeeans to the bike saddle?

Steep gasoline prices are one incentive, Prach said.

When gas prices spike, bike sales surge, explained The Bikesmiths co-owner Scott Noll. When the sales of new and used bikes plateau, it's the sale of parts and the number of repairs that rise.

"Everyone says, 'We've hit $4 a gallon, and that's crazy, so let's start looking at the bike again,' " Noll said.

At the Urban Ecology Center, employees get a $1 bonus for every day they get to and from work without driving their cars.

Since 2004, the staff has sought out environmentally sound behavior that won't pollute the air. Employees mark on a calendar all the days they commute by bike, foot or bus. At the end of the month, the "EcoBucks" they've earned pad their paychecks.

"What's it done for me? I don't own a car anymore," said Executive Director Ken Leinbach, who considers the EcoBucks program a success.

Leinbach bikes every day. So do the downtown workers who keep their wheels at the Vulture Space bike collective. Employees at We Energies, Extend-a-Care, Potbellies and the Milwaukee Courier Co. all convene at the collective on Plankinton Ave. for the valet-style bicycle parking - free and indoors - that it offers. And there are more perks: Vulture Space's founder, Evan Pack, checks all the bikes himself for adjustments they might need, and patrons receive passes to shower at the nearby YMCA.

Pack also sells donated bikes at a cheap price. He promises bike shop owners he's "not trying to take a piece of the pie. I'm trying to make the pie that much bigger."

The Wisconsin Bike Challenge, organized by the not-for-profit Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, seeks to measure the growth of that pie. Challenge participants log online the miles they've ridden, a total of 1.2 million from May to August last year. This year the federation's executive director, Kevin Hardman, announced participants are on track to bike 2.1 million miles. The federation says it can quantify, with these numbers, the positive impact the bicycling community has on state and local communities.

In Milwaukee, the cycling community and the city government have intersected for more than 20 years. In fact, 10 years before the Bicycle Federation opened its Milwaukee office in 2001, the city started a mayoral-appointed bicycle task force to increase commuter and recreational biking in Milwaukee.

"They've provided some great direction to the city," city engineer and commuting cyclist Jeffrey Polenske said. "The city has been very, and continues to be very, aggressive in looking for grant opportunities," like that provided by the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, to upgrade bike facilities.

Overseen since 2005 by the Department of Public Works' bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, those upgrades include:

More than 2,000 bike racks on sidewalks around the city.

56 miles of bike lanes.

Bike racks on city buses.

Repairs to bike trails.

A bridge for bicyclists and pedestrians under Holton St.

A raised bike lane in Bay View.

The city prints a map, "Milwaukee by Bike," that shows the existing network of bicycle lanes and trails, including the popular Oak Leaf and Hank Aaron state trails. It printed 15,000 copies this year.

Driver education

Despite all that, Milwaukee as a cycling mecca still has a long way to go.

"There isn't a magical recipe for the right way to do bicycle infrastructure," said Ald. Nik Kovac, a cycling enthusiast. "The safest thing for cyclists (is) to have more cyclists out there."

Erin Broskowski, a nonprofit tutor who used to live and bike in Chicago, said drivers there are more accustomed to cyclists. In Milwaukee, she finds that "it's getting better and better, but sometimes (drivers are) not willing to accept that bikers are allowed a full lane. They would prefer bikers on the sidewalk" - even though it's illegal for adult cyclists to ride on Milwaukee sidewalks.

"The big challenge is trying to get drivers educated so they're not cutting you off, so they're showing more respect to bikes," said Michael Brady, a city employee who's been cycling downtown since 1977.

In Kegel's opinion, you can ride safely on the city streets of Milwaukee - you should just plan your trips to avoid busy streets and the morning rush hour.

Hardman and the Bicycle Federation are educating children to ride safely and legally through the Safe Routes to School program. In addition, they're pushing for a state law that would create tougher penalties for motorists committing traffic violations that injure or kill vulnerable roadway users, including bicyclists.

The city will continue applying for federal and state grants to accomplish the goals it set in its 2010 Bicycle Master Plan: increase bicycle use so that 5% of all trips are made by bike, create a network of bicycle facilities within a quarter-mile of all city residents and reduce bike crashes by 50%.

Coming soon are 38 miles of new bike lanes, 38 miles of shared lanes for bikes and cars, a south side bike trail and a bike-sharing program organized by nonprofit leadership at Midwest Bikeshare Inc.

That means more space for Ariens to take her 7-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter biking, and - if the bike advocates have their way - more neighbors at her children's annual free bike wash next year.