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Team TIAA-CREF - 2005
Team Journal Entry - April 15, 2005, by Bryan Smith
A tribute to the father of Wisport
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I suppose I could tell you all about my recent injury, or racing at the Tour of Normandy, but I don't want to. How about something just a bit more important than what I am doing?
I must pay tribute to the loss of a true patron in the sport of cycling. Dar Vollrath of Greenwood, Wisconsin was the central figure in the "Wisport" racing series. Most of you don't have any idea what Wisport is, so let me explain. Put simply, Wisport is a racing series in Wisconsin for citizen racers...or bike racers who really don't care to hold a US racing license. The motto is something like, "racing for the normally obsessed". People race for the challenge, the fun, and it doesn't matter if you're racing in the third group each week, you're still racing.
This brings me back to Dar. Dar was the long-time director of Wisport. Unfortunately, we lost him not long ago while on a cycling trip to Italy. There are many people who knew him better than I did, but that didn't matter with a guy like Dar. Anyone could walk up to him and get the same smile, the same respect.
I happened to spend the night at his home before my first bike race ever. We arrived late on a Friday, and the next morning woke up...had breakfast in his kitchen...I didn't even know Dar or his family. Perhaps that was my first experience with the world of bike racing. It happens all the time. Racers show up, crash on the floor...and sometimes meet people for the first time while destroying their kitchen at breakfast.
Of course Dar Vollrath turned out to be much more than just a host. He was the figure that organized a great racing series every year. I guess 'grass-roots' is cliché, but that's exactly what Wisport is. It is racing for every man, woman, and child. Seriously...there's one start for every rider...often 500 strong.
Do many people even know about Wisport? Maybe not. And what happened to my tribute to Dar? I think that Wisport is it...Wisport is his tribute. Of course he is also a husband and father. Wisport will continue, and each bike racer is going to have a memory of Dar, and from now on they'll race just that much harder every Saturday in his honour. Dar would want it that way.
