Whenever I meet someone from either of the coasts who sniffes* about the flatness of flyover country, I invite them for a bike ride in western Dane County.

ESPN has picked up on the prime biking country out there. It is now apparently being seriously considered as the site for the Olympic Bicycle Road Race. That is, if the Olympics should go to Chicago.

Oh, and for you economic developers out there, take note that Madison’s fervent cycling community is proving to be as much of a draw for Olympic organizers as the terrain itself.

Um, Mr. Cooley? Are you taking notes? Mr. Cooley?

For everyone else, Cooley was the planner behind Madison’s Economic Development Plan (proposed) who derided Madison’s “character” in his presentation of the Economic Development Plan. It is a plan that repeats all the bromides that brought you economic miracles like, oh, Flint, Michigan and Rockford, IL.

This would be news to the technocrats like Cooley, but the culture, er, character of Madison is the only thing that sets it apart from the likes of Rockford, IL, all of 90 miles away from Madison. Do we really want to follow Money Magazine’s perennial dead last entrant in its Best Places to Live Sweepstakes? According to Brenda Konkel, it’s pretty much looking like we are still lacking an imaginative Econ Dev Plan (and here). Pitiful. But as usual, the “experts” expertly dismiss suggestions from Madison’s highly educated populace. Too much character, I guess.

*Yes, that would be sniffe with an ‘e’ as in to sniff not only with condescension, but maximum derision in between sips of a saccharine Napa Chardonnay.