Although bike racing has cyclists traveling the world, to some spectacular spots, it is not always the famous mountain passes, the big cities or the tourist sites that are best enjoyed and remembered but the little towns and places they might never otherwise see, if it wasn’t for the bike race being staged there. Criterium racing in America, often brings the cyclists to the small communities, where local school kids come to cheer, where the shop owners on the main street decorate their windows to welcome the cyclists and draw in crowds, and where the neighborhoods are lined with spectators sitting on their front lawns, grilling food and drinking beer. The races become a reason to bring the community together and to celebrate the summer. Throughout the day, as the riders whirl around the city blocks, the town comes alive. Local children race the course on their supermarket bikes in the morning while the professionals on their aero race bikes speed through the corners as the sun sets.
Several of the US criteriums have run annually for decades, or more. Generations of families fold out their lawn chairs each year to watch the races. Veteran cyclists cheer on their kids in the same races they first rode. In many ways, the criterium circuit is the heart of US racing. The races introduce kids to cycling, spawn champions and draw interest in communities that might otherwise know nothing about the sport.
As we walked the course, watching the races in Milwaukee in June, two women sitting on lawn chairs at the roadside asked us who we were cheering for. We told them, and then chatted, explaining the tactics, and how the race would unfold. They said they had only just discovered bike racing by watching the newly released Netflix documentary series on the Tour de France. They immediately fell in love with the action, and upon discovering there were local bike races, they came out to watch, and told us they planned to be at every race in the ten day series. The races would bring them to another Wisconsin town or suburb, where perhaps they would discover a small town and make some new friends.
This lovely series of photos from races one to four at the Tour of America’s Dairyland 2023 was captured by Amanda Cherish and shows the ambiance at the races and the beauty of these small towns in Wisconsin. Some of the towns are thriving, while others, once booming with industry, struggle with the closing of a factory and the loss of jobs. But, all pf the towns were tight knit communities full of vibrant people celebrating summer.
