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Elroy–Sparta Ridge Loop
Elroy–Sparta Ridge Loop is 61.6 miles of loop riding through Monroe County in Wisconsin — the Coulee Region, the coulees, ridge tops and river bluffs of south-west Wisconsin. Moving time is about 76 minutes; allow 110 with stops — a half day. It is scored CS-2, Easy: 70 corners, 102° of turning per mile, 2,590 feet of climbing. The roads it uses, in the order you ride them, are in the app.
- Curviness
- CS-2Easy · 1.14/mi
- Distance
- 61.6 mi76 min riding
- Corners
- 7043% sharp · Mixed
- Climbing
- 2,590 ft42 ft/mi · Hilly
- Shape
- LoopHalf day
- Roads
- Backroads43% county & local
- Traffic
- 1,700vehicles a day, median
- Speed limit
- 55 mphtypically 55
How it rides
70 corners over 61.6 miles — 1.14 a mile, and 102° of turning for every mile ridden. That scores CS-2, Easy on the five-point curviness scale. 43% of those corners are sharp ones, and the road reads as mixed.
What it climbs
The road climbs 2,590 feet in total, 42 feet per mile, between 776 and 1,448 feet — 672 feet of relief. The longest single climb is 388 feet over 3.0 miles, and the steepest grade on it is 14.6%. By Driftless standards that is hilly.
Surface, speed and traffic
98.8% paved; the odd short stretch is gravel or seal coat. 43% of it is back road rather than highway, the other 57% state or US route. Posted speeds run to 55 mph, typically 55, measured across 65% of the route. Where traffic counts exist — 32% of the miles — the median is 1,700 vehicles a day, busiest at mile 58.3 with 18,600.
- Loop
Worth knowing
- Amish buggies — slow on blind crests
- Grades to 15% — low gear on the descents
- Busy stretch near mile 58 (18,600 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.