Rio Grande/Vic's Prospect Criterium

About two months ago, I decided it would be a good idea to put on a bike race to help showcase our coffee shop and the town of Prospect. When I pitched the idea to my business partner and the Rio Grande Cycling Team everyone thought it was a great idea. Since it was my idea, the full responsibility of race promoter has fallen on my lap. No problem I thought, I’ve done it before. As I have started moving through the process I have realized that there is a big difference between this one and the last one. The first race I put on was a mountain bike race on a single piece of private property in northern Wisconsin. This race involves closing down roads in downtown Prospect while still maintaining access to all businesses and residences. The business association is excited and I am one step away from getting written permission from the town. There is only one issue left and it’s getting the ok to limit parking around the Rib House. The Rib House doesn’t necessarily cater to the cyclist type if you know what I mean. From what I’ve heard, they fought a similar race a few years ago and played a big part in it not happening. It doesn’t really bother me though; I have a back up plan that should take them out of the picture pretty fast if they decide they want to fight. I’m going to stop by tomorrow and show them where I plan on running the course and how it will affect them. Let’s hope they love the idea and want to give us a bunch of money to help out. If not...plan B will have to go into affect.