Laura McNurlen’s legs burned with every push of the pedal as she climbed the steep hill on her cherry red bike. Her breath came in ragged gasps, each sharper than the crisp morning air, but she pressed on.
Between each inhale and exhale, she belted her spirited rendition of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Beside her in the passenger seat, her daughter, Rosie, thirteen at the time,who has , happily sang along.
“When Rosie is on the bike, she’s almost a different person,” said McNurlen. “We always play her favorite song on the bike, and she sings so loudly. When people walk on the sidewalk, they see her, and everybody smiles in awe.”
Over the past three years, these tandem rides with Rosie and Laura’s trusted Bluetooth speaker have become a cherished daily routine for the McNurlen family. After trying numerous bikes that would work to allow Rosie to see the world, the McNurlens found a solution that would turn into a life-long gift.
They received their two-seat trike in 2020 from Tim Statton, the former owner of Cargo Bike Shop, a beloved local store that closed its doors during the pandemic.
Rosie, now 16, enjoys listening to songs like “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley and “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé during her rides with either her mother or her father, Brian. But even though Rosie’s musical tastes have changed, one element remains the same: The family’s positive feelings associated with biking in Madison.
Brian and Laura represent two of the many bikers in Madison, which is ranked in the 91st percentile of bike-friendly cities in the U.S.. While other Big Ten cities such as Ann Arbor, Bloomington and State College, Pa. are well-known for their cycling cultures, Madison’s biking landscape consistently ranks higher.
Madison scored a 2024 People for Bikes city rating of 60, a noticeable increase from its 50-point rating in 2020. Each city’s score stems from its safe speeds, protected bike lanes, intersection treatments, network connections and reallocated space for bikes.
The average score in the United States is a 28.
According to Ben Vurick, a biking infrastructure advocate and the Dane County high school education manager for Wisconsin Bike Fed, the city deserves its well-above average ranking. In fact, Madison currently contains over 200 miles of bike paths, trails and lanes, making it easier for residents such as the McNurlens to choose biking over driving.
“The whole city is accessible by bike,” Vurick said. “That access to opportunities improves people’s quality of life and makes a city more livable and makes a community stronger.”
The McNurlens rely primarily on biking for the environmental, physical and overall mental benefits biking brings their family. Their wide, Dutch-made red trike bike allows two family members to pedal side-by-side, turning everyday rides after meals into shared family adventures.
The McNurlen’s younger son, Sam, would also occasionally join his parents on their traditional tandem for a softer — but equally powerful — ride.
“Sam is very quiet and lives in his head,” Brian McNurlen said. “When we would get on that bike, we would talk about philosophy. It’s almost like when his muscles were engaged, it allowed his brain to work differently.”
Pedaling Change for Children
The McNurlens’ love for cycling has inspired them to give back. The family volunteers weekly at Bikes for Madison, a community organization that provides bikes to people who otherwise wouldn’t have access due to high prices. At the organization’s warehouse, they help sort bikes based on size and purpose, working closely with Kristie Goforth, the nonprofit’s executive director.
According to Goforth, thanks to volunteers like the McNurlens, the nonprofit has given away 12,609 bikes to members of the Madison community since its establishment in 2017, focusing on first-generation bicycle owners.
“Bicycles are considered vehicles, and they become costly,” Goforth said. “But these are vehicles of economic mobility, and they open the doors to opportunity for people, so we must do this work.”
Goforth has made it her mission to ensure that all children in Madison have access to bicycles, as biking provides exercise and is often the primary method of transportation for many families in Madison.
“I think of all the kids that ride to community centers in the summer. If they didn’t have a bicycle, they would not be able to access those places,” Goforth said. “I often joke that you can’t ride your football to work, you can’t ride your football to school, but it’s true. Biking is more than a sport and can become a lifestyle as you get older.”
Many children who receive bikes may not know how to ride them at first, so Goforth takes the process one step further, providing riding lessons to children and adults who may have never ridden a bike.
“I can get a five-year-old going on a bike in five minutes,” Goforth said. “I have a formula.”
Goforth’s task is simple: eliminate the rider’s fear of falling. Her formula begins with gently lowering the seat of the bicycle just enough for the child to to feel their feet touch the ground. This adjustment allows the child to practice putting their feet on the pedals, gradually gaining confidence.
As the child begins pedaling, Goforth releases her hold, first grasping the back of the seat, and then the child’s shirt. When Goforth finally lets go entirely, the magic happens — she watches the child’s confidence grow with each pedal on their own.
“We have to create this mindshift for what bicycles can do,” Goforth said. “I truly believe they can save the world.”
Riding the Road to Recovery
Goforth’s belief in bicycles’ transformative power isn’t just theoretical — it’s echoed by the countless individuals who’ve found a fresh start on two wheels, such as Ryan Rogher, a 51-year-old Madison resident who turned to cycling after a decade of mental health decline.
When Rogher was 35, he became addicted to opioid painkillers as a result of several major spinal surgeries. Once the doctors cracked down on his prescription due to the opioid epidemic, Rogher turned to alcohol as a substitute for his painkillers, causing him to gain weight at a rapid rate.
“I was constantly in pain, more so than just my health issues,” Rogher said. “My weight was causing additional pain, mental anguish and things of that nature.”
Eight years later, in 2018, Rogher’s father passed away of heart failure. Although his father wasn’t overweight or consistently drinking alcohol, Rogher said he didn’t engage in cardio-related exercise, causing Rogher to reflect on his own life.
“I woke up the morning of May 20, 2020, and, for whatever reason, decided I'm never going to drink again,” Rogher said. “After I quit alcohol, I started processing that loss in a more mature way. I remember thinking, Why did he die of heart failure? Was it genetic? Is there anything I can do? I realized that I needed to reverse my family’s history to make sure I have a strong heart.”
It was around this time when Rogher viewed a social media post of his friend biking 50 miles through Arizona.
“Cycling has always been something that piqued my curiosity, and I’ve always watched road cycling, but I never really got into it myself,” Rogher said. “But then I saw my friend’s post and thought, Wow, 50 miles. I wonder if I could do that. I had an idea that if I lost 85 pounds, I would start cycling.”
After initially being inspired by his friend’s success, Rogher began regularly running with the goal that he would eventually transition to biking. When Rogher hit his weight goal two years later, in 2022, he grabbed his old mountain bike and never looked back.
“I started small and took it one day at a time — kind of the same thing with everything else in my life,” Rogher said. “This small, incremental change in my life was exactly what I needed.”
Two years and a loss of over 175 pounds later, Rogher said biking is a part of his daily routine.
“Maybe I do have somewhat of an addictive personality, but now this addiction is through having this routine where you are determined to do something towards better health,” Rogher said. “For me, that’s through cycling.”
Now, Rogher’s main cycling-related goal revolves around cycling activism and awareness.
“Cycling gave me a newfound passion, and this passion gave me a purpose. I want cycling to be available and inclusive for everybody, to shed off this negative stereotype of cycling,” Rogher said. “It’s something that should be available for everybody. I would love for more people to understand how beneficial biking is, not only for their own health, but for the environment, for the community — for everything.”
