I Do Solemnly Swear

At the end of January, the Wisconsin Cycling Association asked me to serve as its President for 2024. I gratefully agreed. It will be an honor to lead our statewide, USA Cycling-sanctioned governing body for road, track, and cyclocross racing. (Mountain bike racing still falls under the governance of TREK’s Wisconsin Off-Road Series.) In recent years—and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic—the role of the WCA has been greatly diminished. Its once-thriving road series has dwindled to a handful of unrelated events, mostly criteriums that are little more than tune-ups for the Tour of America’s Dairyland. In 2024, the WCA plans to reintroduce its criterium series not just as a collection of training races, but as a competitive series in its own right.

The Tour of America’s Dairyland has changed road racing in Wisconsin, mostly for the better but very much to the detriment of the WCA’s Wisconsin Cup. And in my opinion, it would be silly to deny and oppose the changes when we might benefit from them. My objective is to make the Wisconsin Cup a prestigious, “can’t  miss” series that crowns its champions before ToAD begins on June 13. Then, between the end of ToAD on June 23 and the start of the Intelligentsia Cup in northern Illinois on July 19, I want to see a Wisconsin state championship criterium as a standalone event.

So, right now there’s a big emphasis on crits, because there’s so little time to arrange something. But crits are only part of an overall road racing season. I am already working on plans for the state time trial championships and, with luck, there may be some open road racing. I think both of those are best suited for the weeks after the various criterium series. Summertime TTs should attract not only pure roadies, but also triathlon/duathlon competitors, especially as Ironman Wisconsin approaches (September 8). Open road racing is probably the biggest challenge, as it comes with so many logistical considerations that other forms of racing avoid. WiSport continues to hold most of the open road races in Wisconsin, but they are in remote locations with little automobile traffic. My best idea for the state road race championship is to hold it on the auto racing course of Road America. That venue has been used for cycling in the past, so maybe it would be right for the WCA.

Track and cyclocross are in good hands thanks to dedicated and capable volunteers. I don’t have much work to do there … maybe none! And that would be OK. I’m going to be busy. But if you have ideas for bike racing in Wisconsin, then I have time for you.