Also known as the Point Premium Root Beer International Cycling Classic, this 17-race series over 17 days is open to licensed amateur and professional cyclists. 2008 dates run from July 11-July 27. The series takes place primarily in the area surrounding Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The races are run in categories from category 5 entry level racers to seasoned pros and top amateurs. The races are all USA Cycling Sanctioned events. Pro/1/2/3 woman, cat. 3/4 woman, men 30+, men 40+, juniors U15, Juniors 15-18, Men's Cat 4/5. Men's cat. 3, PRO/1/2 men races are all run during the series. The event has been dubbed "SUPERWEEK PRO TOUR" by the race organization for the 17 race series that the PRO/1/2 men compete in. The series is known to racers as simply "SuperWeek."
The races consist primarily of criteriums. These are circuit races for the riders that usually take place on street courses 1-3 kilometers long. Riders race over a specified number of laps over a round distance such as 50 miles. Different categories or ability levels race different distances. Each category has their own race and distance. The last race of each event is usually the PRO/1/2 men. The race distance for this group is usually 100 kilometers. Prize money at SuperWeek is large compered to other comparable races for amateur bicycle racers. The payout at the International Cycling Classic for Pro/1/2 men is usually $2,800 for the first 25 finishers. However, sprint bonuses throughout the race, called preems are given out. Last year, at The Columbia St. Mary's Great Downer Avenue Bike Race presented by Saturn & Point Beer, a $4,000 preem was given out and won by Rahsaan Bahati Of the Rock Racing Team.
Famous quotes containing the words cycling and/or classic:
“If all feeling for grace and beauty were not extinguished in the mass of mankind at the actual moment, such a method of locomotion as cycling could never have found acceptance; no man or woman with the slightest aesthetic sense could assume the ludicrous position necessary for it.”
—Ouida [Marie Louise De La Ramée] (1839–1908)
“The great British Library—an immense collection of volumes of all ages and languages, many of which are now forgotten, and most of which are seldom read: one of these sequestered pools of obsolete literature to which modern authors repair, and draw buckets full of classic lore, or “pure English, undefiled” wherewith to swell their own scanty rills of thought.”
—Washington Irving (1783–1859)