Pedaling for a pint

Thanks to mutual attraction, craft breweries are popping up along bike trails.

What pairs best with beer? These days, a bicycle.

Beer always has tasted best when you sweat for it. You can still drink a so-called lawnmower beer, but after a bike ride, most people want something flavorful — ambers, blondes, pale ales.

Craft beer and bicycles seem to go hand in handlebar. Some beers even are named for bikes, such as Fixed Gear IPA from Lakefront in Milwaukee. That city's Fat Tire beer crawl was started long before New Belgium Brewing, inspired by a bike tour through Europe, launched its Fat Tire amber ale and Tour de Fat cycle series.

Now craft breweries can be found right on bike trails, so cyclists don't have to wait long for their reward. Here are 10 places to combine a ride with a great beer.

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Best bets for the weekend

Spot lots of roadside distractions in the colorful countryside.

The sun is slated to come out and stay for a while — better dash out for a fall hike or drive.

If you're an art crawler as well as leaf-peeper, you'll want to hit the road for a studio tour along the Minnesota River Valley, Lake Michigan, North Shore or in three parts of northern Wisconsin. In southwest Wisconsin, see art installations, roadside culture stands and pasture performers (pictured) along the 50-mile Farm/Art DTour south of Reedsburg.

For leaf-peeping by foot, there are lots of guided fall-color hikes in Minnesota and Wisconsin parks. Or head for the Ice Age National Scenic Trail and go on the Greatest Hits hike closest to you.

There are corn mazes everywhere, plus an apple-tree maze in Harvard, Ill. Near Lake Michigan, between Ludington and Muskegon, there's a lavender labyrinth.

If you want to hoist a stein or watch dachshunds dash, this is a big weekend for Oktoberfests: They're in Amana, Galena, Oshkosh, La Crosse, Naperville and downtown Milwaukee.

If you prefer cocktails and prime rib to bratwurst and beer, find a scenic drive with a supper club. For a Supper Club Showdown contest, Wisconsin lists 20 more, from Racine to Rice Lake.

If you're late planning a fall-color weekend trip, try a low-profile but still colorful spot, such as the Brainerd Lakes area of Minnesota and the Wisconsin Dells, which are downright serene in fall. Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula is a good place to evade crowds in any season; see it on the Copper Country Trail National Byway.

After you locate fall colors, it'll be time to visit haunted houses — as well as trains, boats and forts — around the region. And if you want to investigate your own 1827 crime scene, sign up for CSI: Fort Snelling in the Twin Cities.

Next weekend

Win prizes for peeling apples, eating pies and wearing lederhosen.

Apple Festival in Bayfield, Wis. This Lake Superior festival features orchard tours, history walks, an apple-peeling contest, live music and a big parade at 2 p.m. Sunday. Oct. 7-9.

Pumpkin Festival in Highwood, Ill. Every year, this Chicago suburb tries to break the record for most lighted jack-o-lanterns. In addition to all-you-can-carve stations, there will be costume, pie-eating and carving contests and a parade at noon Sunday. Oct. 7-9.

Harvest Fest in Stillwater, Minn. There will be a pumpkin pie-eating contest, a pumpkin regatta on the St. Croix River, a microbrew tasting and a pedal tractor pull. Oct. 8-9.

Oktoberfest in Cedarburg, Wis. This festival features music and food plus goofy contests: best lederhosen and dirndl, sauerkraut-eating, a German spelling bee and a live Glockenspiel show. Oct. 8-9.

For more events, see our Events Calendar.

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