Anyone who’s spent time in Madison, Wisconsin knows bikes are a core part of its identity and history. For this story, I was able to dive into that past, speaking to biking (and skating) legends like Eric Heiden, Beth Heiden Reid, Andy Hampsten and others who made up the nascent road cycling scene in the 1970s that gave birth to the Madison we know today.

I also talked to “Bike Farmer” Andy Quandt about his winding path through Madison’s cycling world to becoming a bike repair influencer on his popular YouTube channel, with videos like “Your Bike Sucks!” and “Why Are Bike Mechanics Such Assholes?” 

If you want the back story, the bike farmer back story, you can find that here: How Lake Mills’ “BikeFarmer” Built a Breakout YouTube Following: Andy Quandt pairs bike mechanic know-how with honest, unfiltered takes on what’s broken in today’s bike culture.

All around, the story was a blast to report. And it was fun to work for the magazine I wrote for often while I was living in town. Here’s the intro:

Tracing Madison’s bike culture back to the 1970s: The city has long been mad for bikes. See how the advent of affordable, lightweight ten-speeds, an elite racing scene and local shops built the foundation for being bike friendly:

In the summer of 1978, 16-year-old Andy Hampsten and a friend drove from North Dakota to Madison for the summer. The city was known as a Midwest cycling hub, with weekly distance races out at Truax Field and shorter, high-intensity criteriums (short races on public roads) around Capitol Square.  

Hampsten would go on to make his mark as one of the greatest cyclists in U.S. history. But that summer, the teenager was just one of many elite athletes in Madison’s cycling scene. During his second training race at Truax Field, he was hanging with the lead pack when they made a move.  

“I got in a breakaway with four people,” he remembers. “They were these huge guys with giant thighs, and I was this skinny kid trying not to freak out. Some of their thighs were bigger than my waist.” 

As they raced ahead, Hampsten noticed the cyclist in front of him was riding a top-of-the-line Peugeot bike. Then he heard someone cheer, “Go Eric!” 

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, I am sitting on Eric Heiden’s wheel!’ ” he says. 

Read the rest of the story here.