Closed Highways or Abandoned parking lots for Riding practice (Madison: schools, legal)

[stlocal]

Hello MAdsion community,

I'm looking for a place to practice my motorcycle. Ideally closed roads or unused driveways or empty parking lots etc will be ideal.

Please suggest if you know any. I'm willing to travel for 15 miles radius around Madison.


Thanks
Zaf

[7G9C4J2]

Nothing like that (that I'm aware of) on public property in the area. You'd be likelier to find that kind of thing in an economically depressed area where a lot of companies have gone out of business and the population is dwindling. Neither is the case in Madison. There are a few parking lots where there's likely to be fewer cars on the weekend, but those are generally patrolled by security, so not terribly good choices for biking.

[ranger17]

when we first taught our daughter to drive up there (the car had a manual trans), we used her HS parking lot on the weekend to get her some initial practice with the clutch before we hit the road. That worked well for us, and it may be an option for someone learning on a bike as well.
Just keep in mind the type of bike you are out there on. If you are learning on a "regular" bike you shouldnt attract much attention. If you are learning on a crotch rocket, that may be a different story (remember many schools are by residential areas). I'm not stereotyping any rider, but know plenty who do so just wanted to bring that part up. Even driving some of those bikes slow, they can sound like they are going faster then they are.....

Of course also watch to see if the lot is posted about use after school hours as well. If you do find a lot, take some of those cheap cones they use for soccer practice and set up little courses to meander thru. and good luck!

[Megan1967]

It is not legal to be on school grounds when you are not there for school business (at least in Madison) and I have a feeling that neighbors would complain about someone driving around on even a moderately noisy motorcycle for any extended period of time.

I would recommend finding a farmer who has some empty land and seeing if he/she would let you ride around there.

[ranger17]

when i took our daughter to her HS lot, that was in a 'burb and i wasnt really too worried if we would have been questioned on it. But i can see it being a concern esp in Madison.
If practice time is needed as this is a first time rider, then perhaps the OP could look into taking a course if still offered in the area (MATC at least used to offer them awhile back, i'd see riders out in the old Tech Center lot by Oscar Mayer).

or just drive up and down the mall parking lot, "pretend" you're looking for the best parking spot you can find lol