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SAGBRAW™ History
Started in 1978, SAAGBRAW™ (Sentinel's Active Americans Great Bike Ride Across Wisconsin) was the first cross-state bicycle tour established in Wisconsin. The first year of the tour, the ride was co-sponsored by the Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper and the League of Wisconsin Wheelmen, LWW. The idea was first brought about by Gerhardt Steinke, a member of the LWW, after he learned about a bicycle tour in Iowa named RAGBRAI® (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa) that had been established in 1973 and was growing in popularity.
The idea for The Milwaukee Sentinel to co-sponsor the event came about during a time when the paper had a summertime promotion called "Active Americans Week". This event was intended to generate advertising revenue. The “Active Americans Week” consisted of a series of outdoor events and activities in Wisconsin. Activities included golf tournaments, tennis matches, baseball games, track meets, running races, and more. The paper had articles about the sports events in a special section of the newspaper.
The very first SAAGBRAW™ had a route that went from LaCrosse to Milwaukee. This first SAAGBRAW had approximately 300 riders on it. Some members of that first tour were as young as ten years old. The route went from LaCrosse on to Wonewoc, then to Baraboo, New Glarus, Milton, Eagle (Old World Wisconsin), Greenfield Park and finally to the State Fair Park in Milwaukee. Part of the tour followed the Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail between Sparta and Kendall. In 1979, a second route was added on to SAAGBRAW™. From 1979 to 1990, bicyclists could see anywhere between one and three routes each year. However, in 1991, the American Lung Association reduced the number of tours throughout the state to just one.
In 1989, the Milwaukee Sentinel discontinued their sponsorship of SAAGBRAW™ due to an unfortunate death of a rider. At that time, the American Lung Association took over the tour in 1990 and 1991. In 1991, the tour went back to the route it had followed in its inaugural year in 1978, starting in LaCrosse and ending in Milwaukee. Unfortunately, the American Lung Association sponsorship was short lived, and in 1992, Wheel & Sprocket, a large bicycle retailer in Milwaukee, took over the tour. At that point, even though the ride had retained the name SAAGBRAW™, the name was changed slightly to SAGBRAW™, “Sprocket’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Wisconsin”. Wheel & Sprocket put on one tour with alternating routes every summer until 1997.
SAGBRAW™ changed hands once again in 1998 when Wheel & Sprocket handed over the reins to Bill Hauda. Bill was a columnist for Silent Sports and was hired by Wheel & Sprocket to be the Ride Director in 1998. Wheel & Sprocket didn’t step out of the picture entirely though, they stayed on as mechanical support for the ride. However it was Bill’s company, Bike Wisconsin, that took charge of the ride. In previous years, the rider numbers were in the 400’s. But soon, by 1999, the rider numbers doubled to 1,000.
After 8 successful years as tour director, Bill decided that 2006 was going to be his last year to run the tour. He looked long and hard for a company or person who would protect the integrity and meaning of the SAGBRAW™ tour. In October of 2006, the tour once again changed hands. Kathy and Eric Schramm, owners of Two Bicycles and a Map, Ltd. purchased the rights of SAGBRAW™ and made it their own. Kathy and Eric ran the Bike Northwoods Tour for 8 years previously to taking over SAGBRAW™, as well as numerous France bike tours. Eric and Kathy were excited to expand their company and had numerous ideas on what they wanted to do to improve the tour and make it better for everyone. The first thing they did was change the name slightly to reflect a new era for the ride. Today, SAGBRAW™ is known as “Schramm’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Wisconsin”.
Hope you can join us, and make some history of your own!
