This week, the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation informs us that the great state of Wisconsin has dropped to sixth place in the League of American Bicyclists’ 5th annual rating of the bicycle friendly states. "Sixth out of fifty" sounds none too shabby, but we were third in 2011 and second (totally not kidding) in 2010.

So why are we so quickly slipping? A significant lack in state bicycling funding was cited as the biggest reason. This is extremely disappointing, but as the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation points out, not surprising. In case you’ve been preoccupied by monitoring your belly button’s lint threshold or perhaps watching NFL superstars winning nationally televised ballroom dancing competitions ... pretty much everyone’s getting greatly reduced state funding nowadays. And Wisconsin cut about $3 million dollars from its state bicycling budget.

You can read much more in-depth information about the national rankings and the numbers behind our drop to sixth place on the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation’s blog.