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Citizen-run fun WiSport celebrates 20 years of bicycle racing by William Johnson
The WiSport Cycling Series began 20 years ago as one man's vision and has steadily grown into the longest-running citizen bicycle racing series in the country. In the late 1980s, Midwest bike racing was pretty much limited to U.s. Cycling Federation-sanctioned events centered around metropolitan areas like Madison, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, St. Paul and maybe Duluth. But Stevens Point, a central Wisconsin college town, had a bike shop or two and a growing bicycling community starting to pay attention to the racing exploits of Greg LeMond. More importantly, the city had a young lawyer and cyclist named Jim Menzel. Menzel had been putting in the miles, riding faster and longer all the time, and getting in on discussions of racing. It sounded like fun. Menzel's starting point was as a citizen racer in a nearby race. Serious Category 3 and 4 riders warmed up on the course during the citizens' race and pulled along lapped riders. After Menzel won his race, he found out no awards were offered to citizens. The race director did finally find him a trophy. Dug out of a box in
It was an indication that what the USCF offered - Fortunately, the late '80s were seeing a lot of small rural Wisconsin towns organizing bike races in conjunction with community events. Grandview, Maple, Marshfield, Ashland, Frederic - the list grew every year. The rules were simple: Helmets were required and tri-bars were discouraged. The races were 30- to 50-miles long. Awards were given in age groups, and sometimes your entry included food and a chance at door prizes. At such venues, you stood a chance to have some fun. In fact, the Marshfield race started with a neutral roll-out down Main Street lined with a thousand people waiting for a parade and screaming their heads off like it was the Tour de France. Fun had arrived. With a few phone calls in 1989, Menzel convinced the directors of several races to take part in what he called Wisconsin Citizen's Bicycling Series. Age group results would be compiled from the races, and at the end of the year, awards would be made. Word spread within the bike community. Jim and Sharon Menzel had their work cut out for them. Each year WiSport added new races, new categories and upgraded scoring procedures. All this was guided by the membership members who wanted to maximize the fun and minimize the rules and structure of the series.
Most races were in Wisconsin, but WiSport events have been held in Minnesota and Michigan, too. The Michigan race around Lake Gogebic had the distinction of crossing time zones. After the 1994 season, Jim and Sharon Menzel stepped aside from administering WiSport, and Milwaukee resident Jay Hofkamp served as director for one year. With membership and events continuing to grow, Hofkamp wasn' able to devote the time and energy needed so he stepped aside. That year was the first year of membership for Greenwood, Wisconsin, resident Dar Vollrath, who was getting into a more physically active lifestyle for health reasons, and had started riding with other bikers in Greenwood. Vollrath, unhappy with the
Vollrath had a flexible schedule that allowed him the time to attend events, work with sponsors, compile results, publish an event guide, advise race directors and manage the operation. In the capacity of executive director, Vollrath took WiSport to the next level. He increased the membership to over 350, encouraged young riders to join, created new categories - as well as yellow, green, white and polka dot jersey awards in keeping with European tradition - until there were 30 events in the series. He created a separate series of time trial races, too. Then in early April 2005, while riding in Italy, Vollrath suffered a fatal heart attack. And another season of WiSport racing was just about to begin back home. As is always the case, the best organizations are more than the person who directs them at any given time. Gale "Butch" Dushack, Gwen Torkelson and Ken Thomson, all of whom had taken over some of the administrative and scoring responsibilities in recent years, stepped in to direct WiSport in Vollrath's absence. With members living near the various race venues pitching in, too, the 2005 and 2006 seasons were completed successfully. In 2007 Ken Thomson of Madison took over as executive director. For more information on the WiSport Cycling Series, the tentative 2008 schedule, the 2007 season in review, video clips and interviews, and 2008 membership information, visit www.wisport.org. William F. Johnson IV lives in Frederic, Wisconsin, and serves on the WiSport board of directors. | |||||||||||
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