THE WISPORT TOUR SERIES
The Tour Series is new this year, and consists of 10 non competitive one day tours and challenge rides. The events have various optional distances and amenities. They provide a good value to riders and raise significant funds for various good causes. You can find more information about the individual events in the Tour Series section of this book. Many of the tours also have websites. These events are not races, but we hope joining the Series will engender the same fun and camaraderie that the Wisport Race Series has become known for. Instead of special Wisport clothing items or awards, The Tour series will be based on giving back.
Part of your motivation for becoming a Wisport Tour Series member will be the enjoyment of riding with some of the same people at each event. But you will also have the opportunity for your miles to be added to the season long cumulative mileage (miles ridden by all Wisport members). At the end of the season, this mileage will be matched by charitable contributions at no additional cost to yourself.
There is no need to sign up your friends as pledge partners because Wisport sponsors will match your miles with financial contributions to the Haiti Medical Mission of Wisconsin (HMMW).
The Haiti Medical Mission of Wisconsin was founded in Wisconsin and is based in Baraboo. The HMMW organizes trips to Haiti by teams of volunteer medical professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others) who donate their own time, medical care skills and who travel at their own expense to Haiti to provide basic medical services. Haiti is one of the most severely impoverished countries in the entire world, and HMMW helps many people there who are faced with serious medical conditions, but would otherwise not have access to any source of professional care.
The concept of a serious medical condition has a different meaning in a place like Haiti, and often, just the simplest medical treatments can give these patients a chance in life they would not otherwise have. Funds contributed to HMMW are used to purchase basic medical items such as antibiotics and surgical supplies. It would be hard to find a way to do more good for people in serious need for so little money. The HMMW website is at http://www.haitimedicalmission.com.
The scoring system for the Tour Series is based entirely on participation. Mile credits are given to everyone finishing an event, without regard to their finishing times. The events are not races. The running total is maintained during the season for each member. For every mile completed by a Tour Series member, Wisport and each Tour Series Sponsor will contribute one cent to an overall charitable contribution. For example, if there are just 4 Tour Series Sponsors, a Tour member riding 62 miles would add $3.10 to the contribution. That is not much, but If this rider does ten 62 mile events, his or her contribution (paid by Wisport and the sponsors) becomes $31.00. Multiplied by many riders, and more sponsors, we can raise a significant amount for a worthy cause. You have to be a Wisport Tour series member for your mileage to count. Your membership and participation in our first season will help to show potential new sponsors that there is enough interest for them to become involved in 2009.
Camaraderie and FUN.
Friendly group participation at your own pace.
A chance to ride for a worthy cause without having to enlist your friends as pledge partners.
The opportunity to ride in some of the most beautiful, out of the way parts of Wisconsin on some of the best low traffic cycling routes in the country.
Your distance and climbing totals for each event you enter will be tracked weekly on the Wisport website. (You can choose to opt out of this part.)
Ten great events to ride for 2008. Get acquainted with others who are also doing multiple events in this series.
Membership Fees:
Tour Series: Individual, $15.00; Household (2 or more), $12.00 per person;
Tandem, $20.00; Recumbents, same as Individual.
Discount for Wisport Race Series members: $5 off per person.
Increase your contribution effort by getting together as a team.
Team entry fee: $25 per team. The top five individual distances
from each team are totaled for each event. These totals
are accumulated for the Team Challenge after each event. At the end
of the year, the winning team will earn a $100 cash award which will
be added to the overall charitable contribution in the name of the
winning team. The Team Challenge contribution will be in the form of
a check written by Wisport to HMMW.
Tandems: In the Tour Series, tandems are considered to be two entries. That is, a tandem completing 50 miles will earn 100 miles toward the goal. Persons wanting to ride a tandem in some tours, and single bikes in others should join as single entries.
Doubling up: If you race in multiple tour options (Say you complete a 100 mile ride, then go out and do the 25 mile option) you will earn credit for only the longer of the two options.
At an informal End of the Season Celebration at the Potosi
Brewery, we will acknowledge the checks from all the sponsors to the
recipient organization. The funds will pass directly from the
sponsors to the HMMW, rather than passing through Wisport, but we
will have a BIG CHECK covered with all the sponsor logos to hold up
for photos.
Approved helmets must be worn in all events.
Courses are open to traffic. All riders must obey all traffic laws including the centerline rule and stop signs.
You can join Wisport as a Tour Series Member, Race Series member, or both at any time during the season.
Benefits do not apply retroactively to events completed before becoming a member.
Application forms are available in this Handbook, as well as from the website. If your mailed application will reach Wisport after your first event, please email or call so you can be included in the mileage tabulation.
Some details concerning the tour events and the Tour Series may change after the printing of this Handbook. It is a good idea to consult the Wisport website prior to going to each event. Important changes will be prominently posted whenever possible.
Some more things to know about the Tour Series:
Sponsors agree to contribute a base minimum amount, and there is also a maximum amount for their contribution. These amounts vary from one sponsor to the next based on their contributions to the other part of Wisport, the Race Series, among other things.
Please feel free to introduce ideas in the Wisport Forum under the Tour Series topic.
It could happen that there is a consensus about making changes in these rules during the season. If it is clear that a change benefits all parties involved, and improves the probability of success of the Tour Series, then we will adapt the change, subject to Board approval. The Tour Series is new, and some evolution is inevitable.
At the time of printing of this Handbook, a number of Wisport sponsors have not yet been contacted about pledging to the Tour Series, and some have already been asked to supply certain benefits to the Race Series. As a result, the actual number of Tour sponsors, and the pledge amount your mileage will raise is unknown. At a minimum, the Series will raise $500 for the Medical Mission to Haiti, and we hope to make it a lot more. But, a good start this year will help us to enlist more sponsors in 2009!
Please help out! We need more Tour Series sponsors! If you are a cycling or fitness related company, and would like to be a sponsor at any level, please contact Ken Thomson at 608-273-4733 or kthomson23@charter.net. It is too late to place an ad in this printed Handbook, but prime space is available on www.wisport.org, and your logo would look great on the big “mock” check at the Season End ceremony.
Disclaimer: All claims and assertions made in this document are made on a best effort basis. Wisport is a small, volunteer run, membership based organization. Wisport will not make a direct financial benefit from the Tour Series beyond minimal operating expenses from contributions, or fees. Details of the Tour Series are subject to change. No refunds will be given.
If this series fits in with your summer plans, and sounds fun and worthwhile to you, please fill out the application below and join now!
Thank you!
Ken Thomson
2008 Director
Wisport Cycling Series, LLC