Milwaukee's best bike race RW24

What is the RW24? I’ve got no simple, brief concise answer for this question, but perhaps that is the most accurate thing you can say about it. It’s so many things! And so many different things to so many different people!

Last year I’d joined a team of women I mostly had never met, and it was fun, but this year, I wanted to form my own team, and do things a little differently. I had ideas. I also planned to be fairly casual about it. Do these things go well together?? probably not…

I’d had several friends ask about it, and I’d decided, (perhaps against the practical voice in my head…), to put together a team. (I retired officially from organizing and event planning about two years ago, and try to avoid it as a general rule. God bless those who do, it’s quite a talent. #respect.) I know a lot of artists and I know a lot of cyclists, so an art team was an appealing choice for me. Some of these friends didn’t even know what the race was really, they just had heard about it and were curious. It is a little tough to describe. It’s a race, but most people don’t care much about winning. It’s more about community and fun. And bonus Checkpoints! more on this later.

I’d heard about the event for a few years, it looked amazing, complex, a little bit subversive and irresistibly fascinating.

Last weekend I rode in my second Riverwest 24 hour bike race. It was a day like none other.

We’d registered back in May, getting in line at 5:00am to try and assure ourselves a spot. I’d sent a bunch of emails and called art friends asking if they’d like to join my team. We finally got a list of willing atists together, and did the paperwork and signed up! we didn’t communicate a whole lot after that, but I started a FB group for us and tried to post pertinent information. Mostly, I found that a few people had no idea what they’d signed up for! You’d think this would be a bad thing, but to me, it just added to the jolly chaos. I sent them links and rambling descriptions of my experience last year and hoped they’d pick up what they needed to know partially on their own and partially through me.

I had, over the past few weeks, assured my team mates over and over that it wasn’t about speed or winning, in fact, if we’d wanted to win, we’d have had to have started training months ago! possibly years ago really. (There are a few teams who actually do try, and they’re super strong racers and would be very tough to beat and I wasn’t personally interested in working that hard,) I just wanted to have fun, and connect up some of my favorite people. People connecting is a little bit of a hobby of mine, so things like this work out GREAT!

I was still a little nervous about bringing together this group of people who didn’t all know each other. It can be a little risky, mixing friends, you never know how it’s going to go. At first it was a little awkward, some people were rather quiet, some drifted off to say hello to other friends they knew who were on other teams or volunteering, or hanging out at more lively spots along the course. (shots at checkpoint two anyone?! DJ, booty shaking and huge public swings at chekcpoint 3! Awesome!)

Eventually we all started to gel, and the conversations and connections spilled forth like I’d hoped they would. The middle of the night is a special time, and it worked its magic as we drank beer and talked, pedalled and sweated, and then regretted drinking beer. We mused about what the best way would be to get the most out of laps and checkpoints. Does a bonus check point really help much if you stand in the damned line for 45 mins instead of just continuing to ride? Does it matter if it’s super fun and you connect with new people in line? We plotted ideas for next year. Costumes, chalk drawings on the pavement, pranks, etc. Maybe I’ll let them shave my head next year, I’ve always wanted to Sinéad it…. I’ve never seen my whole scalp! I should really try it! I wonder if it’s lumpy or nice and round? I wonder if I have little scars up there from head zits? ha ha. middle of the night thoughts…. We even bonded over the male and female troubles of sweaty crotch. Padded shorts will do that to anyone. The guys complained of ball sweat, and said: “you gals don’t really have that issue do you?” To which I answered, “yes, actually, we call it “clammy shammy,” or we say, “I gotta get this clammy out of the chamois!” Clammy chamois might just be next year's team name…. other topics included, should we do longer or shorter shifts next year? or each do one lap then switch? or two laps then switch? It was nice to have a schedule, and know when your turn was coming, (we each rode two, 2-hour shifts this year) but it might also mean more fun with everyone sticking closer to home base and better ride time if we switched off every couple of laps…

Next year is going to be rad, needless to say.

Positivity and fun were the true champions that day, stronger riders and those who knew the event and the neighborhood helped those who were less fit and/or “not from around here” and nervous about the course. We rode together, we rode separately, we rode in the sun and we rode in the dark, weaving through the cool summer night with lights blinking away front and rear. The weather was absolutely perfect. Thank you universe for that blessing. We stopped and had our manifests punched and ate twizzlers at one stop and bacon at another! We stopped at the local coffee shop where they were giving out free espresso shots to anyone, all night long in celebration of this much loved annual event. You’d think alternating shots of whiskey with shots of Espresso would be a bad idea, but it worked out great! Whiskey, tequila, espresso, twizzlers and bacon, along with cheers from the sidelines inspired us to pedal fast and hard, and get those laps in with smiles on our faces. We stopped and got bonus points for tattoos and terrible haircuts. We had conversations about what is and is not art, we talked about our lives and experiences in the wee hours of the morning. We made some jewelry, we ate each others food, and shared some wonderful tequila. We took funny pictures and yes, we took some selfies too, tho they usually became group shots.


In the end, I couldn’t have asked for a better team. Everyone brought something special to the ride, and after an intense 24 hours, and getting matching tattoos together, you can’t help but be friends. And the love has continued as we’re still posting pics we took days after the race, and continuing conversations that we started in the haze of sleep deprivation.

It’s taken me 3 days to recover, but it was completely worth it, and I can’t wait to do it again.