ScenicCurvesHome / Routes / Wisconsin / Coon Valley Ridge Runner
Coon Valley Ridge Runner
Coon Valley Ridge Runner is 53.6 miles of loop riding through La Crosse and Vernon Counties in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 73 minutes; allow 105 with stops — a half day. It is scored CS-3, Spirited: 83 corners, 137° of turning per mile, 2,230 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.
- Curviness
- CS-3Spirited · 1.55/mi
- Distance
- 53.6 mi73 min riding
- Corners
- 8341% sharp · Mixed
- Climbing
- 2,230 ft42 ft/mi · Hilly
- Shape
- LoopHalf day
- Roads
- Mixed roads32% county & local
- Traffic
- 4,900vehicles a day, median
- Speed limit
- 55 mphtypically 55
How it rides
83 corners over 53.6 miles — 1.55 a mile, and 137° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-3, Spirited on the five-point curviness scale. 41% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as mixed.
What it climbs
The road climbs 2,230 feet in total, 42 feet per mile, between 637 and 1,275 feet — 638 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 540 feet over 3.0 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 10.4%. By Driftless standards that is hilly.
Surface, speed and traffic
98.2% paved; the odd short stretch is gravel or seal coat. 32% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 68% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 61% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 40% of the miles — the median is 4,900 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 46.6 with 37,100.
- Loop
Worth knowing
- Busy stretch near mile 47 (37,100 vehicles a day)
Turn-by-turn directions and the spoken notes along the way are in the app. Every figure on this page is measured from the route itself — corner counts and gradients from the road geometry, elevation from the national elevation dataset, traffic from the state transport departments where counts exist.