Illustration by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Every year during the last week of July, the Milwaukee Riverwest neighborhood, an eclectic enclave of artists, musicians, families, and working folks, hosts the Riverwest 24, a twenty-four-hour bicycle race that runs along the neighborhood streets. According to the Riverwest 24 website, the event came about because of efforts by various neighborhood block watch groups to create solidarity and is also designed to encourage safe city biking and enhance community camaraderie.
The RW24 is not only a bike race, but also an event which features community involvement and participation. While it is indeed a point-based race counting laps over a 4.6-mile course, entrants are free to ride as far and fast or as leisurely or as casually as they would like. Contestants can compete in teams, by themselves, in convoys (herds), in tandem, in elder or in perfect stranger classes (in which contestants are randomly paired with one other rider).
I happen to live on one of the bike routes, so each year I’m treated to watching bikers cycle through the course from the comfort of my porch (with a nice glass of Gruner Veltliner or another patio pounder in hand). This year, we saw a team in pirate garb, Waldo (of Where’s Waldo fame), a team with a device that left a trail of bubbles behind them, angels, butterflies, and another team dressed head to toe in gold lame and sporting YAY signs. It is beyond entertaining. We saw a variety of vehicles—dirt bikes, mountain bikes, racers, cargo bikes, recumbent bikes, and even a team of unicycles.
A couple of years ago, I was invited to a neighbor’s house on the RW24 route. He had his set up his band, The Tritonics, on the porch and they played all night long. We pulled out our lawn chairs, enjoyed the show, had a few gin and tonics and watched the world go by. Then a group of Hula Hoopers with glow in the dark hoops began performing with the band. Absolutely trippy.
A number of other bands performed at iconic Riverwest venues like Falcon Bowl and The Art bar.
I’ve known for years that the course stretches nearly five miles and that various checkpoints and stops existed along it, but this was the first year that I really discovered the scope of the event. My neighbors have been involved in the race for a couple of years, doing three-hour shifts on their team. I had known the race was point-based, that riders got a certain number of credits for reaching every checkpoint, but I hadn’t heard anything about the bonus points until this year.
Apparently, contestants can earn extra points by performing various tasks like stopping at a local brewery, building a catapult with popsicle sticks and other accessories, and then launching a marshmallow through a ring of fire, and then getting a Smore. And points. Bonus points could also be earned by participating in a Slip ‘n’ Slide, getting a “temporary” RW24 tattoo, doing work in the community garden, painting a park bench, and doing drive-by art. In years past, one of the options “A Little Off the Top” involved getting part of the head shaved.
I also learned that other traditions have sprung up over the years including Twizzler Alley, a narrow run in which spectators hold out Twizzlers to participants, one house that serves bacon on the morning of the event, and another which—near the end—provides adult liquid refreshment.
Besides the formal checkpoints, there are various rest stops for riders to stop, refresh or relieve themselves, socialize, and catch their breath. After all, the point of the event is not to win, although that is there, but to strengthen community bonds and demonstrate what a very cool and caring community Riverwest is.
Our neighborhood is one of the most diverse in Milwaukee. We boast Escuela Fratney, a bilingual public school. Our neighborhood was also the site of some of the city’s open housing market marches in the 1960s, and the home of ESHAC, original site of the Outpost co-op, headquarters to Colectivo Café and Roastery, countless restaurants, the unique Art Bar, the Florentine Opera, Kellner’s Greenhouse, Woodland Pattern Bookstore, and many other small businesses.
We are home to families, many of whom have lived here for generations, students, and young professionals. The Friends Quaker Meeting House is one of the gateways to a beautiful, wooded pathway that runs along the Milwaukee River. While Riverwest residents have endured crime, traffic, construction, and other encumbrances of city life, our commitment to each other is unsurpassed. My own block has an annual Block watch Pancake Breakfast in September. Dozens of other groups in the area do block. The RW24 is an organic extension of everything that makes this liittle urban utopia special.
The race began at 7:00 on Friday, July 26th. We set up lawn chairs on our driveway (like the old farts we are) and watched as everyone cycled through. I brought out the speakers and started blaring The B-52s, April March, Luscious Jackson, Katzenjammer, and Noga Erez–good riding music. We saw the regulars, the riders in bumblebee costumes and the pirate team and others, whiz by. Of course, there were the serious racers dodging in and out among those just trying to have fun. It seemed to me that there were a lot more young children riding this year, Some were barely past training wheels. I thought it was a great experience for them to first of all experience urban riding and second of all, to get out in the neighborhood. Our neighbors were on one of the teams and during a break informed us that two thousand riders were participating.
When we awoke this morning, their ranks had thinned, but the racers were still at it, and I can only hope they will be for years to come.