The town supervisor for Dell Prairie, Wisconsin, recently pulled a NIMBY when he told the organizers of the yet-to-be-held Wisconsin Dells Marathon that he wouldn’t allow the event to take place on town roads. He didn’t see that his community would benefit.
Knowing such sentiments exist, I wondered how the residents of Elk Grove Village, Illinois, felt about the fifth annual Tour of Elk Grove road bike race held over the weekend of July 31.
Elk Grove Village is a Chicago suburb of 35,000 people immediately west of the O’Hare airport. For the two and a half days of the Tour of Elk Grove, various sections of the village’s residential streets were effectively shut down for closed circuit road bike races. I would imagine a few tax dollars were spent to put the bikes on the streets and keep the cars off.
A total of 15 races were held. In addition to the men’s pro series, there were men’s and women’s CAT 1-5 races, master’s races and a charity time trial. Over 1,000 riders participated, 20 percent more than a year ago.
I got a small taste of the impact of the event during my commute. I work in Elk Grove and have to cut across town on my way home. Illinois, like a lot of Midwestern states, has two seasons: winter and construction. Construction season is now in full swing and one of the major east-west arteries is torn up. So on Friday night as I took an alternate route home, I found that, too, was closed. Closed for the Stage 1 time trial. Traffic was backed up and I played a game of hunt-and-peck through unfamiliar streets to get home.
Street racing in Illinois is nothing new. Last year my daughter Amy and I attended one of the Superweek bike races in downtown Evanston. The Evanston race was a one-day affair in a business district, however. The Tour of Elk Grove consumes a weekend and quite a few miles of residential streets. Nobody in Evanston was denied access to their driveway.
As we had in Evanston, Amy and I decided to watch some of the Sunday races in Elk Grove as we walked the 1.4-mile criterium course.
My informal and unscientific poll of the locals suggested that while the races were an inconvenience, they were worth it. One elderly resident, who was sitting in a lounge chair in a driveway, seemed to sum it up best, “It’s a little inconvenient, but it’s a fun event and it’s only once a year.”
Nearly everyone I talked to liked the event, but agreed the event made getting around town a little dicey. “Each day has a different course,” explained one traffic-control volunteer. “A street that was open on Friday might be closed on Saturday, but we get them rerouted.” The Friday’s Stage 1 races were on a 4.5-mile time trial course. Saturday’s Stage 2 races were on a 9.5-mile road race course. And Sunday’s Stage 3 races were on a 1.4-mile criterium course.
Most of the natives seemed to be enjoying the events. Several houses along the route were in full party mode with grills and picnic tables set up in driveways. A few houses displayed banners welcoming the racers. I didn’t notice any protesters, but they may have left town for the weekend.
Not everyone in town was a supporter, mind you. The Daily Herald newspaper covered the races, which gave readers opportunities to comment. But rather than rip the event, several readers seemed more interested in slinging mud at Elk Grove Mayor Craig Johnson for his support of it.
That didn’t stop Johnson from handing out hardware to the winners of the races. He had hoped to participate in one of the citizen races before he broke several bones and separated a collarbone in a training accident. Consequently, he stood near the podium with his right arm in a sling.
The races
We arrived in time for the start of the men’s CAT 1 and 2 80K race. Just over 90 cyclists lined up to race 50 laps in the heat. The race was won by Eric Young riding for team NUVO Cultural Trail. Young, who will be a senior at Indiana University, was also a member of the Cutters racing team that won this year’s Little 500 bike race at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana. The Little 500 bike race was immortalized in the 1979 Oscar-winning film “Breaking Away.”
The Stage 3 criterium of the Pro Men’s series concluded the tour. Competition was intense due to the large purse. According to USA Cycling’s website, the $150,000 in prize money was the largest in the series this year. All four previous men’s overall champions returned, in addition to Chris Horner, who finished 10th in this year’s Tour de France.
The 115K final stage came down to a sprint finish, with Australian Jonathan Cantwell edging out Canadian David Veilleux. Cantwell, riding for Fly V Australia, also beat Veilleux of Kelly Benefits Strategy for the overall crown. The team competition title went to Bissell, who cleaned the clocks of the other nine pro teams.
Municipal and advertising budgets rise and fall with the economic tide. Tax funding shortfalls caused the move of the USA Cycling National Criterium Championship from Downers Gove, which had hosted the event since the early 1990s. I hope that the event’s chief sponsors, the village of Elk Grove and Alexian Brothers Medical, find room in next year’s budget to host the sixth Tour of Elk Grove.
Maybe by then more motorists will take Elk Grove’s cue: If you can’t honk at road bikers, you might as well enjoy them.
Mark Ollinger is chief financial officer for a financial company in Chicago’s western suburbs. He lives in Barrington, Illinois.
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