Poovey Farms Racing

Hey , heads up before you plan your 2027 ride.

On Tuesday the county votes on making 15 mph an ordinance across the entire Oak Leaf.

Run the math on that. A fundraising ride where a share of your field is in violation the moment they roll, on a permit that can be pulled for exactly that, with your name on the insurance.

You're not the only one. You're just the one the county happens to list on its own events page as a fundraising bike ride along the Oak Leaf Trail.

If you organize an event ride that uses any part of the Oak Leaf, pull up your permit language before Tuesday.

Committee votes Sept 29. Full Board Oct 1.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Email your own county supervisor.
3. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 eComments open. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

Anyone else hear the crickets on this one? We sure did.

hasn't said a word about Tuesday's vote. Not in their newsletters. Not on their socials. Not to us when we asked them directly, twice.

Five days out from the biggest change to Milwaukee County's trails in years, and silence from the organization that's supposed to speak for us.

That's not ok, and it shouldn't be ok with you either.

Go ask them where they stand. Contact them at https://wisconsinbikefed.org/contact-us/ Their DMs are open. Their comments are right there. If enough of us ask, they have to answer.

Five days is plenty of time to take a position.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Message the bike fed!!!
3. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee.
4. Share and repost this!

Say no to 15.

That photo isn't ours. It's from Milwaukee County's own presentation for the 15 mph speed limit.

E-motos tearing up a dirt trail, used to justify a speed limit on the paved Oak Leaf. Different surface, different problem, same slide deck.

We raced cx for years. So when the county starts using dirt damage to justify pavement rules, yeah, we wonder what happens to cx courses in 2027.

Here's the part that should bother everyone: e-motos are already illegal on these trails. Already banned, right now, today. This ordinance does nothing to change that. It just adds a 15 mph cap on every legal rider on 135 miles of paved trail.

So when the e-motos are still out there next spring, because a speed limit was never going to stop someone already breaking the law, what gets restricted next?

Committee votes Sept 29. Full Board Oct 1.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Email your own county supervisor.
3. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

Yeah, we said it. Loser.

If Milwaukee County passes this, every mile of the Oak Leaf gets a 15 mph limit. Not just e-bikes. Every bike.

Your speed: 15 max, all 135 miles, sign or no sign.

Your fast commute: that class 1 e-bike you bought at Wheel & Sprocket assists to 20. The county wants you riding it at 15.

Your training: tempo efforts, intervals, the group ride. All over the limit on flat ground.

Your coverage: the limit applies everywhere, even where nothing's posted. Get hit at a crossing and your own ride file says you were breaking a county ordinance. In Wisconsin, that can cut or wipe out what you recover.

And the illegal e-motos this was supposedly about? Already banned. This doesn't touch them or change the current enforcement.

Committee votes Sept 29. Full Board Oct 1.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Email your own county supervisor.
3. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

“They’ll never enforce it” is not the same as “it doesn’t matter.”

If this ordinance passes, 15 mph becomes the legal ceiling on the Oak Leaf Trail, with Parks also authorized to set lower limits. The ordinance separately says enforcement would occur where signs are posted.

That matters after a crash.

Wisconsin uses comparative negligence. Fault can be divided between the people involved, and a person’s recovery can be reduced according to the percentage of negligence attributed to them. If a claimant’s negligence is greater than the person they are seeking recovery from, recovery can be barred.

That does not mean riding 16 mph automatically makes you responsible for a crash or automatically causes an insurance denial. Fault still depends on the facts of the incident. But a legal speed limit creates another fact that lawyers, insurers, and courts may argue about after something goes wrong.

So when somebody says:

“Who cares? Nobody’s going to enforce 15.”

The better question is:

Do you want to find out whether it mattered after you’re already on the ground?

BAD DOG.
BAD ORDINANCE.
BANKRUPT.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee. 3. Email your own county supervisor.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

Yes, this is satire. But the logic being parodied comes directly from Milwaukee County’s own proposal.

County Parks spends multiple pages describing “The E-moto problem” and explains that e-motos can resemble legal e-bikes, making them difficult to distinguish and enforce against. Parks also acknowledges that its enforcement resources are limited.

Its proposed “simple solution” is a 15 mph speed limit that applies broadly to bicycles and other non-motorized vehicles on the Oak Leaf Trail, while the out-of-class e-motos at the center of the problem statement remain prohibited from the trail.

The proposed ordinance also allows Parks to set limits below 15 mph, while enforcement would occur only where signs are posted.

And the fiscal note says the proposal has no direct county fiscal impact, with existing staff time required.

So no, Milwaukee County is not actually banning squirrels because of an off-leash dog.

That would be ridiculous.

That’s the point.

Four things you should do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee. 3. Email your own county supervisor.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

The opening slide in this post is not ours. It comes directly from Milwaukee County Parks’ presentation for File 26-628, where the issue is explicitly framed as “The E-moto problem.”

The county’s own report distinguishes e-motos from legal e-bikes and describes them as out-of-class electric vehicles that may exceed legal speed and power limits. It also says those e-motos will REMAIN prohibited from the Oak Leaf Trail.

But the proposed ordinance does not stop with e-motos. It establishes a 15 mph speed limit on the Oak Leaf Trail and other designated paths where posted, and Parks COULD SET LOWER posted limits in some areas.

That is the contradiction this post is pointing at: the problem statement focuses heavily on e-motos, while the proposed speed restriction reaches ordinary bicycles too.

Four things you could do:
1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.
2. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee. 3. Email your own county supervisor.
4. Share and repost this!

Say No To 15!

The ticket you'll never get is the least of it.

Every cyclist I've talked to about the proposed 15 mph Oak Leaf limit has the same reaction. Nobody's running radar on the trail. It's unenforceable. Ignore it.

You're probably right about the ticket. You're wrong that it doesn't matter.

47.11(4) makes 15 mph the legal limit across the entire Oak Leaf system. 47.11(6) limits enforcement to places where it's posted. Those are two different things. A cop can only cite you where there's a sign. The violation exists everywhere.

So picture the day something goes wrong. A dog on a long leash, a kid cutting across, a car at a crossing. You go down hard, and it wasn't your fault. Your speed is sitting on your bike computer, your phone, your watch and your camera, and at the moment of impact you were breaking a county ordinance.

Wisconsin is a comparative negligence state. Whatever share of fault gets assigned to you comes out of what you recover. Past a certain point there's nothing left to recover at all.

You don't need a cop on the trail for this to cost you. You need a lawyer on the other side, and they will have your ride file.

This hasn't happened to anyone yet. The ordinance doesn't exist yet. Committee votes Sept 29, full County Board Oct 1.

Four things you could do:

1. Ride like you share it, because you do. Slow at blind corners, crossings and anywhere there's foot traffic. Call your pass and give real room.

2. Submit a comment through the county's eComment system once the Sept 29 agenda posts. You have to be logged into an account or it may not reach the committee.

3. Email your own county supervisor.

4. Share and repost this!

I'm not a lawyer. If this matters to you, ask one, then go read 47.11(4) and (6) yourself.