2008 Thanksgiving Day Ride
The Annual Thanksgiving Day Ride has long been recognized as North America's premier cycling event. As recently as 2005, La Gazzetta dello Sport ranked it as the world's third most prestigious event, behind only the Tour de France and Paris-Roubaix, and just ahead of the Giro d'Italia and the Annual New Year's Day Ride. Cycling luminaries have joined the Southeastern Wisconsin peloton for a pre-feast celebratory rollout through some of cycling most mystical stretches of tarmac.
Sadly, the cycling world has fallen on hard times in recent years. Many promoters were forced to seek new sources of funding, including the directors of the Stay Free Maxi Pad Tour de France, and the L'Occitane Skin Care Products La Flèche Wallonne. Other major events, like the Thanksgiving Day Ride to Chicago have folded completely.
Always mindful of current trends in the cycling and financial worlds, the Annual Thanksgiving Day Ride's Board of Directors took bold steps last year to insure the long term longevity of the ride. Chief among those actions was the brilliant investment decision to place all of its endowment funds in highly leveraged collateralized mortgage securities offered selectively by Lehman Brothers. In retrospect, this move was probably ill advised. Already, one of the biggest names in cycling, Ruud van Dijk has left the ride after a 12 year streak of continuous appearances, having been drawn back to Europe by a large unnamed industrial consortium.
Your Board of Directors aggressively pursued every conceivable option to maintain the event's honor and prestige. It is therefore with great disappointment but admirable resolve that we have taken the monumental but unavoidable step of selling the naming rights to the ride. As of this point in time, the ride shall be known as "The Annual Thanksgiving Day Ride, presented by www.WIBikeLaw.com."
With this bold move, the Board has assured that each and every one of the key event features will remain intact. Namely:
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It will be a bike ride.
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It will be on Thanksgiving Day.
Several other features will remain as well, including the fact that no one will receive a single thing of value, there will be no ride support, all riders will be responsible for their own safety and well being, and absolutely no liability whatsoever will be assumed in any way, shape or form by the sponsor. We are extremely proud that we have been able to maintain the high standards for which this ride has always been known, and which has enabled it to receive its richly deserved reputation for excellence.
To accommodate the massive peloton anticipated, the ride will start at 10:00 a.m. at Atwater Park in Shorewood and stay on Lake Drive north to Green Tree, then head out along the traditional route through River Hills and Thiensville. Depending on weather and personal meal consumption issues, we will likely head east on Bridge in Grafton, then roll south through the wildly cheering tifosi lining Lake Drive. The pace will at times be fast enough to keep your bicycle upright, bearing in mild the ceremonial nature of the procession and its historical significance in the annals of cycling lore and tradition.
Please forward this to anyone interested in joining the ride. I have asked Pat Perry, Official Keeper of the Who's Who List of Cycling, and Tim (Koby) Kobussen to circulate this message to their elite e-mail groups. I apologize to those of you who are so well connected that you receive multiple copies of this message. Please forward your extra messages to some down trodden homeless cyclist who needs a career defining ride to restore their dignity.
The Annual Thanksgiving Day Ride, presented by www.WIBikeLaw.com
Thursday, November 28, 2008
Atwater Park, 10:00 a.m.
Video replays on OLN/Versus in December. Check your local TV guide for details.