^^ I hope so.
I met a gentleman yesterday who's on the Wisconsin milk marketing board and when I said "I'm looking forward to next year" he said "we're not going to be a part of it next year". He didn't sound negative just matter of fact. Hopefully ToAD doesn't have any issues finding a major sponsor for the series. With the connections the organizers seemed to have I doubt it will be a problem.

Well, that's too bad. I wonder why. (they prob. needed better photos)

I guess that's the end of ToAD then. Maybe it will be the Circuit of Wisconsin.

Yeah, he didn't elaborate except for saying he wanted more races in or closer to Madison. Kinda weird.

Looking forward to CoW next year.

We should be careful, this is how rumors get started.

Don't forget that the series was established this year (as the Midwest Cycling Series) before a title sponsor was found. I wouldn't worry too much yet.

In Blue Island, as the women lined up for their first race, Superweek announced that they just landed a title sponsor for woman's series. But, then again, SW always runs just a little behind schedule with everything.

Nothing wrong with two series, assuming they don't kill each-other. I'd love to see one or the other (or both) go NRC. Superweek makes sense because of the Chicago Crit at the end of the schedule. TOAD could follow Nature Valley.

Alas, just one man's crazy dream . . .

Vote for your favorite pic !

Took me forever to get a decent poll posted, but it seems to work.

Most of the photos I chose were from ToAD, so that's why I put this announcement here.

Please vote!!

I could care less about superweek. Only reason I did some of the races is because the team paid for it.

I might not even go next year.

Number 4 hurts just looking at it.

Fixed that for ya.

Why so down on Superweek? Locations? Promoter? Level of competition? Bad experience?

It's a free country. Maybe Pacholski will show.

Hey?

I'm putting this one in for the "year in review" poll. It's not quite done yet.

Holy shizznit. #4 is definitely a pic how much bike racing can hurt.

And half of them sprinting on their hoods!

Thanks.

Superweek didn't fix anything this year except a few of the courses. Most of them were still crappy: bad neighborhoods, industrial, TERRIBLE roads...

They had a couple good road races, and a couple good crits. That's great for a one-day race, but this is a 16-day stage race. If you can't get good locations for most/all of them, then don't hold them. Simple as that.

It was expensive to race. Pre-registration was ridiculous and I wouldn't even think about registering the day-of. With some of the park entrance fees, it wasn't surprising to hit $50-$55 for a single road race.

They cut payouts. This is the biggest one that pissed me off..and I was debating for a long time whether to open a lawsuit or not. If you advertise that a certain amount will be paid to the riders, YOU HAVE TO PAY IT. There were NO clauses on the website or their race flier (for cat 3) stating that payouts will be cut if less than a certain number of people showed. Want to cut payouts? Fine. Tell us beforehand, offer us a refund, or at least offer us the difference in entrance fee. Uh, bait and switch.

They cut race distances, AGAIN. Rarely did we do a race that was the proper time/distance. If you advertise xx miles, do it. If not, give us a refund for the amount you didn't allow us to ride. Cut our race by 20%? Cut our entrance fee by 20%. Try to get away with advertising like that outside of cycling. Bait and switch, again.

Last year they bounced checks. This year the beginning checks were faulty and had to be cashed at their bank. In Milwaukee. That's not an easy drive. I actually talked to the teller and he said, "Yeah, I have heard a lot of bad things about this company." WHOA! Even the bank teller is saying stuff like that!

This was all here last year, which is why the level of competition was crap. I'd be very surprised if they make it after next year. ToAD will have a lot more business, and many fewer people will be racing the lower categories.

No comment on the actual promoters...you can guess how I feel about them with the above points.

This is actually the first I've read about all this. It seemed to me that when Superweek ended, everybody just disappeared. Burn out? Fed Up? I dunno. It's been a long season seeming peaking for ToAD.

My first magazine cover. Buy a copy!

ToAD - Fond du Lac

I do agree with James on a lot of the stuff above, but I also think you have to acknowledge that most races this year were run mostly on time. I never showed up to an hour delayed start time, courses were safer, it just seemed like it was run better.

We haven't disappeared, man. You have! Chicago, Glencoe, Elk Grove all had big fields. As it looks like Downer's will. It's not our fault that you cheeseheads like to start your racing when it's snowing and quit by the time the weather gets good!

Touche' !

I guess that "I" was the one that needed a break after Superweek. It was tough! Will pace myself better next year. Looking forward to Downers Grove, but just queuing up on the Pro men and women. doing the full schedule in Neenah Saturday, and dragging a couple other old farts along Sunday. Guess they think I know where I'm going down there. Ha ! Finally figured out that toll system: start off with a $5 and that will get you all the way to Indiana. On the way back ... just pretend you have an I-Pass!

Were you at superweek? Sure doesn't seem like it...

I did 4 races. Both lakefronts, humboldt park, and whitefish bay. I think the lakefront long course was the most delayed and it was maybe 15 minutes. I guess I'm just seeing improvement over last year in waukesha waiting 3 hours in the rain. The pavement was kind of ****ty for some races, but they're "historic" and not in an industrial park and I guess it wasn't a big deal to me. I was kind of pissed getting a check to see 6th place crossed out and 4th written in.

I guess what I'm saying is I think that ToAD scared the Garrison's into running a tighter ship. Still not perfect, but there was definite improvement in my eyes. And the pay outs are still better, even after getting cut.

While I applaud and appreciate your approach to the Illinois tollway (which was to be removed in the 70's, I believe), it's not going to end well for you. Grab me some time and I can fill you in on the nasty details.

Vandevelde will be at Downers again. I'm assuming Landis will, too. Other than the Tour of Cali earlier this year, this is going to maybe be the second time they've raced together since Floyd won... er, last competed in the tour? Maybe if you're lucky you'll be able to hear them chit-chatting at the back of the pack as I'm sure neither has any intention of mixing it up.

Landis will be at the Tour of Utah.

Yeah, so what's up with Landis? Hip is good as new (his hip, not our Hip). He was clean of doping (right?). So, wassup?

There was an article about that exact topic in the last Velonews. I was so interested in why Floyd wasn't riding well that I didn't read it.