Let me tell you about the Grafton race. There's a similar race in the neighboring town, Cedarburg, and they each vie for top race. Not for any prize, but of course town pride. Grafton grooms its streets, fastidiously patching any would-be problems on the course and probably sweeping it by hand- it's that nice. They've also added a festival with a live band on the inside of the loop, making it more of an event.
Speaking of events, I think that's what some of the townspeople love the most about this bike race. That it's an Event, and Events mean breaking out the brews, having people over and blasting some music. Case in point: last year the race day started later than the previous one, and there were a few people out in their lawn chairs with a full bar's worth of booze spread between several coolers at 9:30. They asked me, "When's this thing getting started?"
This year put those guys to shame. The Pegasus camp (in the driveway) got rid of 36 hamburgers, 18 brats and 8 hotdogs. Maybe that doesn't sound like a lot, but it was an undertaking. There was also a steady stream of beer flowing in and out of the cooler. The house next door to us (a teammate's in-laws) put on a party, and that thing was... woo. Let me tell you. You can see for yourself below:
Video from Andrew.
That noise? That's a hand cranked WWII air raid siren and a couple of truck horns rigged up to a light switch (one of the Pegasi is a talented electrician). You'd think one would get tired of it after 10 hours, but strangely, it was still making me giggle at the end of the day. They were just having so much fun with it. Toward the end of the race day, the guys got a little liberal with both, to the point that they'd blow the truck horns the whole time the peloton was passing.
After the race, a lot of the racers stopped by for a beer and thanked the noise crew for the cheering. It was the hip-happenin' place to be.
Racing it fun, but hanging out the rest of the time is where it's at.
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