Madison commuters are throwing aside their car keys in the morning before work and hopping on the two-wheeled hog, powered exclusive with all natural quad and hamstring energy (which burns clean). In fact, bicycle commuting is becoming more popular in the cities throughout Wisconsin. According to the League of American Bicyclists, Wisconsin has increased commuter ridership by 188% since 2000. Says the League:

Bicycle commuting is on the rise in cities across Wisconsin and the country. Milwaukee made modest gains of 16% over last year, but is up 107% since the 2000 Census. Madison has increased more than 188% since 2000. As a reference point, the city with the highest percentage of bicycle commuters is Davis, CA at 22%.

Madison has been making it rain when it comes to funding bike trails lately. Since the first bicycle transportation plans in 1975, Madison has generously offered its citizens with a safe alternative transportation. The city has become the 7th friendliest biking city in the nation as reported in Bicycling magazine.

After a little research of my own, I discovered that the commute to work cost workers a big chunk of time each year. Madison has an average commute time of 18.7 minutes (so multiply that by 7, then by 52 and divide that by 60) ... 113.4 hours each year! Our neighbors in Minneapolis are at 21.9 minutes and poor Chicago commuters are at 30.7 minutes. Biking can chop off ten minutes of that daily commute easily.

Think about those numbers next times you're stuck in rush hour and perhaps that two-wheeler, powered exclusively with all natural quad and hamstring energy doesn't look so bad after-all.