Ask not what motorists can do for you

So far this year, nine people riding bicycles have died as a result of a crash with a motor vehicle.  According to the Journal Sentinel’s review of the police crash reports, motorists were at fault in five of the crashes and bicyclists were at fault in four.  Those numbers are so small that we can’t draw too many conclusions from them by themselves, but they align reasonably well with the historic trends in bicycle crashes in Wisconsin.  In a review of all bicycle crashes with motor vehicles from 1999-2004 done by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles, motorists were at fault 57% of the time and bicyclists 43%.

Tom Held reported last week Friday in his “Off the Couch” blog that five of the people who were killed while riding bicycles were hit from behind by an overtaking motor vehicle. Those types of crashes are very rare, often result in the death of the person riding the bicycle and are almost impossible to avoid.  Tom noted that in the remaining four fatal crashes, the people on the bicycles were at fault for riding into the path of the motor vehicles.

Click on the image to open a larger file for easier viewing

My point in bringing this up is not to point fingers, but to point out that we as a community have the power to dramatically improve our own safety.  We don’t have to wait for people driving motor vehicles to respect us, stop speeding, give us three feet when passing, or anything else.  We don’t have to wait at all.  All we have to do to reduce the number of people killed while riding bicycles by almost 50% is to obey the laws and learn how to avoid the most likely crashes.

I touched on this idea in a recent post titled “We can be the change we want to see.” In that post I suggested that since most people who ride bicycles also drive cars, before we blame “motorists,” we can start with our own behavior behind the wheel and always drive the speed limit, stop for pedestrians and rather than talking on mobile phones, eating oatmeal or combing our hair, we should give our full attention to the task of driving. Since 49% of Wisconsin residents 16 and older ride bicycles, our community could have a huge positive impact on traffic safety if we all drive our cars like we expect others to do when we are riding bicycles or walking.

After discussing this year’s fatal bicycle crashes with Tom, it became clear that the cycling community can do even more to make Wisconsin the safest place to ride a bicycle in the country.  Certainly people are human and they make mistakes behind the wheel. Unintentional violations of the law can be considered accidents, but most crashes are not accidents. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration put it this way:

• “Changing the way we think about events, and the words we use to describe them, affects the way we behave. Motor vehicle crashes and injuries are predictable, preventable events. Continued use of the word “accident” promotes the concept that these events are outside of human influence or control. In fact, they are predictable results of specific actions.”

While we cannot eliminate human error, we can dramatically reduce the number of people killed while riding bicycles if we all do a better job of obeying the laws and learn where crashes are likely to happen.  Let’s start with the 5 basics of bicycle safety:

1. Ride your bicycle in the same direction as traffic
2. Stop at red lights and stop signs
3. Ride in a predictable manner
4. Stay 3 feet from parked cars to avoid the door zone
5. Look both ways before riding out into traffic

As far as learning to recognize where crashes are likely to happen, you don’t have to read the entire 84 page detailed crash typing study done by WisDOT, but the Major Findings section summarizes results that are significant and worth noting.

“…there were far more urban crashes than rural crashes (94% compared 6%), the majority of crashes occurred at intersections (66% compared to 34%), there was a high frequency of sidewalk/crosswalk-type crashes (28% of all crashes), and there were lower crash rates on wider roadways for both local roads and state highways. While urban streets had a much higher crash rate, rural highways had a much higher rate of fatalities (fatal crashes as a percent of all bike – vehicle crashes). Four of the top five crash types (and 7 of the top 10) indicated that the motorist made the critical error that contributed to the crash.”

Our takeaway from that is crashes are most likely to happen at intersections. People on bikes should beware of the “left cross” and the “right hook.”  When approaching an intersection, bicyclists should move closer to the center of their lane to indicate their intention to continue straight to the drivers in both oncoming vehicles and overtaking vehicles. By moving away from the curb and “taking the lane” the driver behind the bicycle knows not to try to hurry past and turn right. Approaching motorists who want to turn left will also know they have to wait before turning.

The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin will continue to work for tougher enforcement of laws that protect people on bicycles.  In fact, we are drafting legislation now, that if passed, will improve the protections of the most vulnerable users of the road. So while we cannot ignore the fact that five of the nine people who died in bicycle crashes were killed through no fault of their own, neither can we ignore that four people might have avoided a crash if they had been following the rules of the road.  And so my fellow bicyclists, as a beginning, let us ask not what motorists can do to improve our safety – ask instead what we can do for ourselves.

New horse in the stable – Vintage Schwinn Deux Chavaux

I like the black tires as they match the seats and grips, but the bike should have gum walls. What do you think?

My daughter and I took the Twinn out for a Gelato run. I guess I eat faster than she does.

I picked up a pretty nice new ride off Craigslist, check it out.  Nathan had to sell it because he was heading off to law school.  The bike is a 1980 Schwinn De Luxe Twinn 5 with the Atom drum brake in the rear.  This five speed is the perfect bike for me to ride with my daughter to see a movie at either of our neighborhood cinemas (The Times and the Rosebud) or get Gelato.

Nathan wrenched in a bike shop over the summer, so he put the vintage ride in fine rolling condition.  He replaced the rear tire, greased all the bearings, adjusted the brakes and the shifting. On close inspection, the tandem is not mint, but it is very clean.  The chrome gleams and the raspberry red paint looks nice. I would rate it 8 of 10. That is fine with me because I’m not a collector; I’m a rider.  I like my bikes to look nice, but they don’t have to be perfect.

I have a few friends in my Washington Heights neighborhood who also have Schwinn Twinns, which got me thinking that it might be fun to organize a tandem date night. Couples could ride their tandems and rendezvous somewhere for a little get together. Any of you West Siders interested?

I thought it was a good buy at $250.  It rides like a dream, as you would expect from a Chicago-made icon.  For you Schwinn freaks out there, the serial number is AR8J1939, and I have included a photo of the 1980 Schwinn catalog that features this bike.

COG Eurotour 8mm film

Milwaukee super hero Peter DiAntoni sent me this fun advance short of COG Magazine‘s recent trip to Europe for the 2011 Cycle Messenger World Championships in Warsau. Shot on Tri-X film stock, this is film is so fresh you can smell the D76 and stop bath while you watch it.  I can’t wait for the sequel. Thanks for sharing Pete, Eric and Kevin!

COG Euro Tour 01 from COG Magazine on Vimeo.

Fun Friday Photos

We get into a lot of heavy stuff on this blog, from dealing with fatal crashes to serious political debates, and it seemed like we need a bit of levity once a week. So last week Friday I posted a couple nice photos just for fun and asked readers to submit photos of their own for this week. I hope if people continue to submit photographs we can keep this going.  Eventually I hope to have a good system, perhaps a Flickr group, where people can submit pictures with caption information to save me the work of collating all that information.  That will also allow people to browse through all the submitted images, which we just don’t have space to post on the blog.

If you have photographs you would like us to consider for next week’s Friday Photos, email them to dave (dot) schlabowske @ bfw.org. Include your name and caption information. Below are a few of the images I got for this week.  Please don’t be mad if I did not publish your photo. It has nothing to do with quality, but I got many more images than I have time or space to post here.

Home grown, a Milwaukee Bicycle Company frame. Photo by Ben Halpin

Where did I park the car? Oh yeah, under my bike. Photo by Eric Melger

Extacycle chic by Peter DiAntoni

Fresh tracks on the new trail in Brown Deer. Photo by Michael Healy

What you can do with a “bike” if you try - the Hexacycle at “Sundale” Gold Coast Australia. Photo by IC

Weekend ride from Lake Michigan to the the Mississippi. Photo by Ronsta

This is a self pic of me taken by the Springwater Volunteer Covered Bridge on 24th Lane over the Pine River near Saxeville in Waushara County on August 19, 2011. This bridge is on the Waushara County Route 5 Wild Rose-Saxeville Covered Bridge bike route http://www.1waushara.com/Parks/bikeroute5.htm) , which is a bike route of 30.3 miles. The Wild Rose-Saxeville-Covered Bridge route leads the biker through some of the most scenic areas of Waushara County. There are many lake views and stream crossings. Side trips to Big Hills Lake and Kusel Lake County Parks are possibilities. The Springwater Volunteer Covered Bridge on 24th Lane would make this trip worthwhile all by itself. Robert's Park facilities in Wild Rose include: shelter, restrooms, drinking water, picnic tables and parking areas. For more information about the history of this bridge, see this link: http://theding.com/bridgebu.htm Gregg Warning Gregg Michael Photography www.greggmichaelphotography.com

Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29er

Readers may remember that in my recent post about my family’s vacation Up North, I mentioned that I borrowed a pretty root-beer-colored Milwaukee Bicycle Company 29er mountain bike to ride. The Milwaukee Bicycle Company is the house brand for Ben’s Cycle on Milwaukee’s south side, down there where da streetcars useta turn da corner round. Drew designs all the Milwaukee frames.  Some are built at Waterford Precision Cycle and some are built overseas.

A unique feature about the Milwaukee frames is that they arrive at Ben’s naked (no paint or powder coat). This gives you the freedom to personalize your frame.  Want extra braze-ons?  No problem.  Wanna run a derailleur?  No problem.  Want your bike to be fuchsia and yellow?  Well, Drew may try to talk you out of that one, but they actually do have a few glow in the dark powder coat options. There are also a number of cool stainless head badge and Milwaukee logo options that Ben’s can braze onto your frame before you pick a color.

The sliding dropouts make adjusting the chain tension on a single speed super easy and keep the brakes in alignment while doing it.

My frame was built with Reynolds 853, one of the new super steels.  I didn’t weigh the Milwaukee, but if felt as light or lighter than my 24lb aluminum geared mountain bike and lighter than my lugged steel single speed mtb. My frame was built overseas, but the weld quality looked spot on (and I used to tig weld at Waterford).  I appreciated the extra gussets on the down tube/head tube joint.  If I had my druthers, I would buy the locally built frame, but if you are on a budget, the price difference is real.  Even with shipping, the foreign built frames are at least 30% cheaper than those made down HWY 36 by Richard Schwinn’s minions.

One of the features I really like about the frame are the slider dropouts.  These make adjusting chain tension a breeze compared to eccentric bottom brackets. They also keep the disc brakes in perfect alignment as well.

I don’t own a 29er myself, so I was looking forward to comparing how the big wheels roll.  I typically ride a 17 or 18 inch 26 inch wheeled mtb.  I assumed I would ride a smaller 29er frame, but Drew said most people feel comfortable on the same size 29er as their 26 inch mountain bike.  He was right and I took a 17 inch Milwaukee.  I think this is because of the steeper seat tube angle and the dramatically sloping top tube.

The bike I tested came set up as a single speed with Sun Ringle Charger tubeless wheels and a Manitou Minute fork.  The brakes were hydraulic Avid Elixors.  I swapped out the seat post and saddle for my personal favorite, the Selle An-Atomica Titanico.

The bike was super comfortable right off the bat.  I enjoyed the more upright geometry of the 29er compared to my old-school time trial position on my mountain bike. The 71.5 degree head tube angle was about a half a degree to a full degree more relaxed than what I am used to, but the bike did not feel at all sluggish in the corners.

I rode the Milwaukee on the paved trails as well as in the dirt. With the tires pumped up hard, the 74 degree seat tube angle and big wheels helped the bike pedal a lot like a road bike on the blacktop.  Once I got to the trails I let some air out for increased traction in the dirt.  The bike handled quite well on the mountain bike trails.  The big wheels and the Manitou shock evened out the terrain.  The bike felt stiff climbing out of the saddle, but had the comfortable ride of a steel frame.  It kind of reminded me of my old Gunnar cyclocross bike.

Choices, choices...

Manitou Minute 29″er Fork: Manitou forks are part of the Hayes Bicycle Group, which is a Mequon-based company.  The fork was stiff in the corners and my 80mm travel version offered a super plush ride, and at a hair under 4 lbs, there was little weight penalty.  The stroke seemed even, but I did notice a bit of dive-in when I hit the brakes or dropped off a ledge. I never messed with the air pressure or other adjustments with the exception of using the lockout on pavement, so perhaps I  could have fixed this minor problem if I tried.   It was not enough of an issue for me to worry about it on my weekend of riding.

The Sun/Ringle’ Charger 29″er Wheel set: are also part of Hayes Bicycle Group.  I wonder if my wheels were laced up by Russell when he was still twisting nipples for Hayes at their wheel building factory on Milwaukee’s north side. The wheels seemed solid and spun light.  The wheels came from the factory set up with the “Stan’s No Tubes system“. The Stan’s system uses a rubber rim strip and sealant to convert standard rims to tubeless. Tubeless tires are supposed to be pretty resistant to flats, but I never had to deal that thank goodness. I did bring along a 29er tube just in case.

Avid brakes kept me legal at all the red lights and stop signs when I got back to the big city.

The Avid Elixor disc brakes worked well, but did have a slightly annoying chatter or vibration that was transmitted to the lever.  I took this to be from the slots in the discs.  I don’t run disc brakes on any of my other bikes, but my friends who do said this was pretty common with the Avids.  I would have preferred locally spec’d Hayes brakes on the bike, but the SRAM owned Avids are designed just south of the Cheddar Curtain and certainly did their job. I quickly forgot about the vibration as I got into my rides on the trails.

After test riding the 29er on the rolling trails of the north woods and the tight single track along the Menomonee River trails, I was pretty pleased with the Milwaukee.  The bike is light and stiff, but retains that famous “all-day” steel ride quality I love.  The big wheels gave a noticeably smoother ride than my smaller 26 inch mountain bikes, and I tested both on the same trails.  The 29er wheels do force the geometry to be pretty upright for a person my size.  I’m 5′ 10″ tall with a 32″ inseam, so the bar position is level with the saddle rather than below as most XC racers prefer.  I could have flopped the stem like Tinker Juarez  in the Cannondale headshock era, but for casual rides, I preferred the upright view of the world.  That said, I would like to try a 650b wheeled mtb and see if it might be the best of both worlds for a person my size.

The frame is well thought out from the gusseted head and down tube up front to the sliding dropouts in the rear.  When you add the ability to personalize your frame by choosing custom paint and braze-ons, the Milwaukee is a great buy for those who want a better than an off-the-rack mtb, but can’t afford to go the full be-spoke route with a custom frame builder.

Buster’s Bike Ride

Buster's last ride, at least it wasn't in a car.

My cat Buster has always hated riding in cars as much as my dogs love it.  Perhaps it’s because the only place he ever went in a car was from the barn where he was born to our apartment when we got him or to the vet.  I guess he never associated cars with anything good. Buster and I were on the same page as far as that goes.

Buster turned 21 years old this year, an old man by cat standards.  But other than having lost his hearing, you would never know it to look at him. Even though I scolded “Be quiet old man” when he yowled at the top of his lungs to wake us up every morning at 5am, he has always been Buster Kitty in my mind’s eye.

We first met Buster as a tiny kitten not many weeks after he was born in a Caledonia horse barn where my wife stabled a horse.  He was spunky, but loving, unlike most barn cats that remain more feral than friendly.  There were too many kittens in the barn and they all needed a trip to the vet, so the barn owner was only to happy to let Buster come home with us.

Flatbed looking sheepish for snuggling with Buster in our daughter's stroller back in the day.

At the time we had a big, gruff Maine Coon at home named Flatbed.  Flatbed has sent a couple of our house guests to the hospital after they did not heed our warnings. Even after we told her specifically to leave him alone, and “don’t pet him even if he rubs your leg,” one visitor leaned over and blew in Flatbed’s face.  Flatbed reacted with a flurry of claws Bruce Lee would be proud of and the woman’s cheeks were ginsu’d.  But even mean old Flatbed could not resist Buster’s charms. Flat continued to dislike most humans outside our immediate family, but he slept next to Buster every night.

Later after Flatbed died, I found a tiny black kitten out in the deep woods while mountain biking in the southern Kettle Moraine.  I brought the tiny ball of black fur and claws home, and despite never entirely losing her feral tendencies toward people, Mojo immediately fell under Buster’s spell. Even dog people who disliked cats would often find themselves petting Buster and say that he

Buster holding on to Mojo, not long after I brought her home from the southern kettles.

was more like a dog than a cat.  Buster took the insult like Buddha and kept purring as long as they would pet him.

Buster was the nicest cat I ever had, but he was still full of the devil when he was young.  A little bit of catnip in his yellow and red “Big Bopper” toy was all it took to get him charged. He would fold his ears back to try his best to look tough and sprint through our home with a grrrrr that didn’t fool anybody.  Although he loved most every person and animal he met, he did have a serious dislike for squirrels.

In our last house the squirrels would sit on the outside window ledges and tease Buster while he fumed at them from the inside.  Eventually Buster did get his revenge.  We were sitting in the back yard one hot early spring day and Buster was sunning himself in the our yet unplanted garden. While he was lying sphinx-like, a particularly clueless squirrel climbed down the side of our house and waltzed within inches of Buster.  In a split second Buster was up and both the cat and squirrel vanished in whirling dust storm.  It was like one of those cartoons, where every few seconds a squirrel’s head would pop out of the cloud of dust, only to be pulled back in by a white paw with drawn claws.  It was Buster’s proudest moment.

Buster on his last day, snuggled in his towel on the bench in the breakfast nook next to his sister Mojo.

Despite his youthful looks, for the last year or so Buster has been showing signs of his age. He seemed to be getting a little thinner with each passing month, even though he got lots of special treats and a morning saucer of milk along with his breakfast.  He stopped asking to go outside so he could chew grass and throw up (what is up with that anyway?). He seemed content to spend most of his time sleeping on the bench in the breakfast nook where his younger sister Mojo would join him when she was not busy.

I carried him rather than put him on the rear rack so he had the smoothest ride possible.

He also was no longer as fastidious at cleaning himself, but he didn’t seem to be ill in any way.  Up until recently, he still sat on Liz’s lap every morning while she read the paper. He would come to me and lay on my chest when I was on the couch and purred when I pet him.  Then the last few days he seemed to take a sudden turn for the worse and we knew his time had come. He stopped eating, and he even stopped yowling to wake us up at the crack of dawn.

Rest now old man, and know we love you. For 21 years you were the best cat a family could ask for.

Still he did not seem to be suffering and spent his days and nights on the bench waiting to snuggle with Mojo. We talked to the vet and kept our eye on him for signs that he was in pain as animals are so good at hiding their suffering. Then yesterday morning my wife found him on the floor below the breakfast nook bench.  She snuggled him in a towel and we both knew it was time to say goodbye to our old family member.  I called the Cat Doctor on Water Street where we had to have Buster put to sleep and they said I could come in with him at 10am.

I was able to spend a couple hours working from home with Buster on my lap, and a box of tissue close on my desk.  About 9:15 I gathered him up and slid him into his pet taxi.  He did not object.  We have a car, and I could have driven Buster the 6 or 7 miles from the west side to the Third Ward where the vet is, but after thinking about it, I decided to spare Buster the car ride he always hated.

We stopped to sit together by the flowers a couple times on the way to the vet.

Instead we went by bike and I carried him along with me while I pedaled him down the beautiful Hank Aaron State Trail. Whenever I looked down he seemed to be looking around and sniffing all the things we humans miss. We left early enough so we could stop at a couple of particularly pretty places and sit together a few more times.  It is hard to tell, but Buster seemed to enjoy his first bike ride.

Once in the waiting room at the vet, I laid buster out on his towel and he looked in my eyes and reached his paw out to me.  I moved my head closer and let him sniff in my ear, something he always liked for some unknown feline reason.  With my chin resting on the table close to his face I pet him gently while we stared into each other’s eyes for the last time. The injection took effect in seconds, and the vet told me he was gone.

Buster Kitty and his Big Bopper the first week we had him home, 21 years ago..

All for one and one for all

Busy trails in Boulder Junction

More than 2.5 million people ride bicycles every year in Wisconsin, so why is it that I have to say this? It is a fact, investments in bicycling are good for you, good for your community and good for the state. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about a trail in Vilas County, a bridge in Ozaukee County, a race in Madison or a charity ride in Kenosha, it’s all good for all of us. Bicycle improvements have such a high return on investment and are so inexpensive compared to the cost of highways, why do people ask “how much does it cost?”

With the economy down, it seems that even many self-described “bicyclists” have begun to question whether or not it is wise to invest in bicycling.  After the extension to the Hank Aaron State Trail opened last year, I fielded a number of calls from people asking if it was open, how to get on it, did it connect to the Casino, how to get to the lakefront, etc.  After I happily answered the questions, quite a few callers thanked me, told me they looked forward to riding on the trail, and then felt compelled to say that given the current economy, that money would have been better spent elsewhere.

Interurban Trail Bridge over Interstate 43.

I heard similar penny wise and dollar foolish comments about the bridge over I-43 on the Ozaukee Interurban Trail, and lately during the discussions about including a bicycle path in the redecking project for the I-794 Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee. People completely ignore the $300 million dollar price tag for the bridge project, but balk at the idea of a $3 million path. People ask why bicyclists can’t just take the surface streets, but don’t ask why cars need a special bridge.  Before we even get into this obvious double standard, let’s take a look at the return on investment we get for bicycle facilities.

I am a pretty frugal guy. I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores.  I buy used bikes and even used bike parts at swap meets rather than pop for new. So if we were using our transportation dollars to fix what we have and patch pot holes rather than expanding freeways and highways across the state to the tune of billions of dollars, I might agree with these seemingly budget-conscious comments. But when nobody questions the $2 billion expansion of the Marquette Interchange, the automatic expansion of I-94, etc., etc., then I have to speak up and defend the less than 1% of our transportation budget that we spend on bicycle projects.

Family friendly trails like the Elroy Sparta attract vacationing families.

Wisconsin began investing in bicycling in 1967 when we built the country’s first rail trail from Elroy to Sparta under then (Republican) Governor Warren Knowles.  Since we built that first trail, we have continued to invest in bicycle facilities and as a result are consistently rated the second or third best state in the country to ride a bike. What did it cost us to get those high marks? If you count every penny invested in bicycle facilities in Wisconsin from 1967 until the present, it adds up to about $240 million.

Today bicycling pumps $1.5 billion dollars into our state’s economy annually.  Bicycling brings in as much money in tourism and recreation as deer hunting and snowmobiling. Between manufacturing and retail, bicycling employs more than 13,000 people in communities large and small across Wisconsin. Other than buying into Berkshire Hathaway for $35 a share in 1967, I think you would be hard pressed to find a stock on Wall Street with as high of a return on initial investment as that first bicycle trail or those we have built since. From an ROI standpoint, investing in bicycling is a no-brainer even if you don’t ride a bicycle.

Anything that adds more than a billion dollars to our economy and creates thousands of jobs is good for everyone, no matter where you live or why you ride. The trails in Vilas County benefit the residents of Kenosha and vice versa.  A new bike lane in La Crosse and a new trail in Green Lake both fill important gaps in the state network of bikeways, attract more tourists, create more jobs and make Wisconsin a better place to live and do business. Bicycling helps thousands of people save money at the pump while it pumps money into local economies and raises millions of dollars for charities. Trails get people active, reducing overall healthcare costs for everyone.

People ride bikes for lots of different reasons in many different locations. Of the 2.5 million people who get on bicycles each year in Wisconsin, some ride for transportation and others for recreation; some ride on roads while others stick to trails. People commute to work in cities, while others commune with nature in forests. Wisconsin has racing of all kinds: road, cyclocross, track, triathlons and mountain bike.  While this incredible diversity is one of the things that makes Wisconsin such a great place to ride a bicycle, it also creates a fractured community.  It is easy to get caught up in a personal training program, organizing a specific ride or building a local trail and forget that we are all part of the greater Wisconsin bicycling community.

People of all ages and abilities on every kind of bicycle, from recumbent to tag-along, got to see just how easy and enjoyable it was to ride over the Hoan Bridge during the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts.

If we want to move bicycling forward in Wisconsin, we need to stop questioning ourselves and work together.  Bicycling is a great investment, even in difficult economic times. If Boulder Junction sees value in extending their trail system north to Presque Isle, we should speak with one loud voice to support them rather than second guess their local decision-making process.  If an event organizer wants to put together a new charity ride or race, we should support it rather than criticize the route.  If people in Stevens Point feel a highway will create a barrier, and needs a bridge to provide local access, the state’s bicycling community should join with them and support the local request for a bridge. If thousands of Milwaukee residents sign a petition to add a bicycle path to the Hoan Bridge to connect their two most heavily used trails along the lakefront, cyclists across the rest of the state should stand with them.

The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin is a statewide organization with 3,500 members, but we represent the interests of 2.5 million people who enjoy bicycling every year in Wisconsin. We need to trust and support each other to make Wisconsin an even better place to ride a bicycle. On the count of three, let’s all say this together, bicycling is a good investment for Wisconsin.