These last two weeks have left the cycling community grieving. The loss of a veteran fellow cyclist on the poorly maintained Pheasant Branch Road is tragic. Personally, revisiting the carnage on PBR from March of 2026 whereby Z, Hawkeye and Twinkle Toes were injured has left me angry and, admittedly, not at my best.

The purpose of this blog is to convey, to the best of my knowledge, a summary of what I know now, and what I didn’t know then. It is my way of righting any wrong information that was unintentionally conveyed in the previous blog.

Pheasant Branch Road north of Whittlesey Road is maintained by the Town of Springfield. The land north of there, including Redtail Ridge subdivision, has been annexed by the City of Middleton. This makes things complicated, as we have a road leading to part of the city not maintained by the city, as I understand it.

Since the accident on July 19, 2026, the City of Middleton has fixed the pothole. This is a direct quote from Council Member Mark Opitz, Alder for District 6:
 
“Given the circumstances and the concerns raised, City staff have been in contact with the Town of Springfield. As a neighboring community, we have offered to assist the Town this week with making a repair at the location in question. This is a specific, cooperative effort in response to the immediate situation and should not be interpreted as the City assuming responsibility for the maintenance or evaluation of roadways outside our jurisdiction.”

Council member Opitz contacted me by phone to say that he is in favor of improving Pheasant Branch Road. Read more here. Pedestrian, Bike, Transit Committee VP Kierstin Kloeckner also contacted me by phone. She indicated that in order for PBR to be improved, it needs to be put on the 5 year plan. She encouraged me, and those who are in favor of PBR improvement, to share our opinion with Hans Hilbert, President of the Friends of Pheasant Branch. It was her understanding that Mr. Hilbert and the Board were not in favor of improving PBR.

I have communicated with Hans via two emails. Hans and the Board are in favor of NOT paving the Pheasant Branch Conservancy, north of Century Ave. They are NOT opposed to improvements on PBR. Here is a direct quote from my email with Hans, “The Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy do not have a formal position on favoring High Road over Pheasant Branch Road, only that we do not support paving in the Conservancy north of Century Ave.We are not opposed to the widening or reconfiguration, but would certainly need to review and understand what that means in terms of Conservancy impacts and how they could be mitigated. We want these decisions to be driven by data and for the ecological impact to be part of the discussion from the beginning.”

I felt obligated to set that record straight in the blog.

I am stepping away from posting more PBR related information on the blog. I’m not an attorney, civil engineer, or part of the City Council. I feel a civic duty to keep the drafters and the cycling community at large as safe as possible, and therefore have posted all that I know know, and thought that I knew then. There is too much information for me understand, assimilate and convey accurately, effectively, and without emotion, due to what we have lost as a cycling community.

So, I’m getting back to riding bikes, sometimes stopping at Missouri Tavern for a PBR, and always drafting responsibly. I hope to see you all Monday in Cross Plains at Crossroads. And good luck to all riding the Dairyland Dare tomorrow!

Draft responsibly,

BricKO