Bicycles will roll through the Milwaukee County Zoo on Sunday, September 20, when Ride on the Wild Side opens the grounds for the one day each year cyclists are allowed inside. The event runs from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m., with breakfast snacks and a family-friendly 1.5-mile loop alongside longer distance routes.
A Zoo Rule Bent Just Once a Year
Riding a bike through the Milwaukee County Zoo is otherwise against the rules — this is the single day visitors are permitted to do it, according to the Milwaukee County Zoo. The event, organized by the Zoological Society of Milwaukee, starts and ends at the zoo and offers a family-friendly 1.5-mile loop through the grounds alongside longer 13-mile, 20-mile, and 30-mile routes for more serious cyclists, according to reporting from Urban Milwaukee. The longer routes use local trails before returning to the zoo, per Milwaukee County.
The Kids Zone offers activities, and lunch is served during the event, per Urban Milwaukee's event listing. Registration includes a long-sleeved event T-shirt, breakfast snacks, lunch, Kids Zone activities, and zoo admission and parking for the day. Zoo Pass members pay $50 for adults 14 and older and $25 for children ages 3 to 13, while non-members pay $65 for adults and $35 for kids, with those discounted rates available through September 14.
New Animal Teams Mark a $22.6 Million Milestone
For the first time, 2026 riders can register for Team Rhino, Team Zebra, or Team Hippo — a new option tied directly to the completion of the zoo's Adventure Africa expansion. The animal teams celebrate the finished $22.6 million final phase of that project, the Ladish Co. Foundation Rhino Care Center and Robert Dohmen Hippo Indoor Haven, which officially opened in December 2025, according to Milwaukee County. Animal Team registration closed September 1 and cost $10 more than standard registration, but came with an exclusive performance shirt, a cooler bag, and event recognition.
The new rhino facility carries real conservation weight. Its completion allowed the zoo to bring back Eastern Black Rhinos — a critically endangered species with fewer than 1,000 left in the wild — for the first time since 2021, according to Urban Milwaukee. The zoo's Window to the Wild campaign was a $25 million effort, according to Blooloop.
A Fundraiser With Deep Community Roots
Nearly 700 cyclists took part in last year's 30th annual ride, according to FOX6 News Milwaukee, underscoring how the event has grown into one of the zoo's signature community fundraisers. Proceeds support the Zoological Society of Milwaukee.
The event fits into a broader pattern of public and philanthropic investment at the county-owned zoo. Hoodline has covered the zoo's 40th A La Carte event in prior coverage.
Riders and their families can reach the zoo at 10001 W. Bluemound Road in Milwaukee. Whether pedaling the 1.5-mile family loop or the 30-mile route, participants this year are riding through a zoo that just finished one of its biggest habitat investments in decades — and, for one Sunday morning, doing it on two wheels instead of on foot.
