Famous Celebrity to Crush Vince in Trike Race!

Caricature of Vince racing the trike at Downer

Last year our owner Vince Hanoski crushed everyone at the Downer Classic Trike race, then "allowed" someone else to win. 


This year, we made sure to invite a famous celebrity who will likely turn the tables on Vince. 

We won't reveal the celebrity's name, but will give you clues all week. The first person to correctly identify the celebrity on our Facebook page will win a free wristband to the party! 

The trike races begins around 6:30 at the ISCorp Downer Classic. The women's race begins at 5, and the men's race begins at 7. Ben's Super Prime party starts around noon and goes until around nine p.m. Wristbands are for sale at the party for $25, which includes a t-shirt and all you can eat and drink. 

Monday's clue: What is Vince's favorite sport? 

Are You Ready for the Super Prime Party???

Just six more days. 




That's all you have to get ready for the IS Corp Downer Classic, or better known as the race for the Ben's Super Prime! 

Ben's Cycle hosts a giant party Saturday, June 28 from roughly noon to around 9 p.m. at the corner of Hackett and Park Street on Milwaukee's East Side. It is one of the biggest cycling parties in the country. 

And you are invited to join thousands of your closest new friends at the Downer race. 



The pro women's race is at 5 p.m., the famous trike race with local bike shop owners, including our own Vince Hanoski, and other celebrities is around 6:30, and the pro men's race at 7. 



For $25, you get a wristband that allows you to eat and drink your fill. And the $25 goes directly to funding the Ben's Super Prime for both the men's and women's pro races. 

This year, Ben's has committed to significantly increasing the women's prime from $1,000 to as much as we can raise from the party. 

The wristbands are available at the party at any time. 


In a criterium bike race, which goes around a closed course on city streets, racers who win certain laps are awarded prizes, often cash from sponsors. At the Downer race, the Ben's Super Prime is awarded on a secret lap. Only Vince and Brett know the lap number. And as previous winners have said, the size of the prime changes the race tactics.

So come join the fun and support pro men's and women's cycling at its best. Saturday, June 28, from around noon to around nine p.m. Racing starts with junior events at 10 a.m.

Ben's Increases Size of Women's Prime at Downer Avenue Crit

     Ben’s Cycle announced it is significantly increasing the size of the prime for the women’s race at the Downer Avenue Criterium June 28 in Milwaukee.

Women's field at ToAD 2013.
Photo by Tom Held, Active Pursuit

     In previous years, Ben’s has given $1,000  to the pro women in a Ben’s Cycle Prime at the Downer Avenue race, part of the Tour of America’s Dairyland.

     Vince Hanoski, owner of Ben’s Cycle in Milwaukee, said he wanted to grow his support of women’s cycling.

     “We’re significantly increasing the size of the women’s prime this year,” he said. “The final amount will depend on the size of the women’s field and how much we raise at the Ben’s Super Prime party.”

Samantha Schneider (TIBCO) moves off the front.
Photo by Tom Held, Active Pursuit

     A prime is a prize awarded to the winner of a particular lap in a criterium, a bicycle race of a specified number of laps on a closed course over public roads.  The Tour of America’s Dairyland is an 11-day series of races around southeastern Wisconsin.

     Hanoski acknowledged that funding women’s fields on an equal basis on the men’s can be challenging. Bigger fields bring in bigger prizes, and small fields make it hard to justify more funding, he said.

     “It’s a chicken and egg thing,” he said. “So we decided to increase the amount of our women’s prime to see if we can bring more women to the event. Women’s cycling is at a critical place in terms of support and ridership. We want to do what we can. ”

     To locally increase that support, Ben’s also recently began sponsoring a women’s cycling club in Milwaukee known as the Bella Donnas.

     “We want to see more women involved in cycling,” Hanoski said. “With our support, we hope to do a small part in growing women’s cycling.”

Before the Grafton race at ToAD 2013.
Photo by Tom Held, Active Pursuit

     Ben’s will continue to fund the Super Prime for the men’s race.  Every year, the shop hosts the Downer Super Prime Party at the corner of Park and Hackett on Milwaukee’s East Side.  The money raised at the party funds the Super Primes.

     The Super Primes are typically held sometime in the last 10 laps of the men’s and women’s race. This year the primes will be awarded at the Ben’s party site.

     Tickets for the Super Prime party are $25 and include a t-shirt as well as all you can eat and drink. It is located at the corner of Park and Hackett in Milwaukee and begins around noon. You can buy wristbands at the party. 

     See you there!

Tetrick Did the Downer Double at Last Year's Women's Race

Only once in the history of the Downer Avenue bike race, one of the biggest events at the Tour of America's Dairyland, has the rider who goes for the Ben's Super Prime won the race. 

Tetrick celebrates her win at Downer with chocolate
milk. Milwaukee's Samantha Schneider took second.

Typically, the race to the last corner of the annual criterium on Milwaukee's East Side is for the prime, and it is too much for a rider's body to recover in time for the final sprint to win the race. 

But in last year's women's race, Alison Tetrick, racing for the Twenty16 Pro Cycling Team, pulled off a rare double. 

"People have to think if they want to go for the prime or go for the win," she says. "It is very close to the finish so there is some gambling involved.  For those that go for the prime, they could easily be counter attacked and someone else could win."

So Tetrick, a time trial specialist, attacked on the prime lap, won the $1,000 and kept going to win the race. 

"As a time trialist, I knew I didn't want to sprint for the prime, but was able to take a solo flyer to snag it," she says.  "Our tactic was to save our sprinter, but for me to go for a late move.  It caught some of the other teams off guard because I kept riding after the prime, and then soloed in for the win!"

Tetrick, who said she will miss this year's event, won two stages of last year's ToAD: Downer and the Road America road race. This year she also won the prestigious Sea Otter Classic road race in April.

Growing women's racing is an important part of Tetrick's mission as a cyclist. The cycling community needs to add "sustainability and opportunity to the women's sport by providing equal prize money and media coverage."

This year on June 28 the best racers in the U.S. will again come to Wisconsin for ToAD. Will any of them be able to pull off the Downer Double? Or will Tetrick's feat stand forever? 

The Ben's Prime Party starts around noon at the corner of Park and Hackett. Come join us!

Ben's Super Prime at Downer Changes Race, Says Past Winner

When you come to the party put on by Ben's Cycles at the Downer Avenue bike race in June, it's easy to forget there is actual criterium race going on with some of the best cyclists in the world competing not only for the Prime, but for the race win.

The Ben's Super Prime is typically over $5,000, and money like that for traveling bike racers is a big deal.

Typically, in a criterium, teams send off riders in breakaways in an attempt to win the race in a small group. But often the race comes down to a field sprint with teams lining up in rows to protect their sprinter from the wind until the sprinter jumps out and sprints for the finish line.

But with the minimum $5,000 payday, one of the largest in the country, the usual race tactics change since the prime cannot be won in a breakaway.

Isaac Howe

Isaac Howe, who has won the prime in both 2011 and 2012, said the Ben's Super Prime entirely changes the tactics of the Downer Avenue race.

"No one knows exactly when the prime will be announced, so teams end up staying organized for a lead out for nearly the entire race," he said. "Once the bell is rung, you only have three minutes to get your sprinter into the winning position, and with the payout being so high, the peleton's stress levels are very high."

Howe, who now races for Champion Systems Stan's Notubes Pro Cycling Team, said winning the prime has been one of the highlights of his career.

"I'd have to say that the best part of winning the super prime twice was having the huge crowd cheering me on both times I got it," he said. "There's no way to describe how inspiring it is to have complete strangers rooting for me as I was going after it...There are few experiences I've ever had as a professional cyclist that compare to the energy and excitement of Downer."


The biggest technical challenge of the prime is that the racers have a long straightaway past the start/finish, then take a sharp right turn and then sprint 70-some yards to the Prime line. So the race is to the corner, and riders hit 40 mph coming out of the corner. 

Vince from Ben's giving Isaac Howe his prime check.

"All the fear and apprehension came before committing to the turn," he said. "Once I was there, I was just holding on for dear life. It takes a little bit of crazy and a lot of confidence to sprint at 40 mph into a blind turn, but it was well worth the risk both times."

Howe and the other racers say they love the energy and noise that comes from the people around the course who make the event into a neighborhood party. And the biggest party is at the corner of Hackett and Park Place, at the Ben's Super Prime party.

"Both times I won the prime I was in complete shock at the number of people who were partying away just past turn one," Howe said.

While you might imagine pro racers spend winnings like that on a car or new bike, the sprinter splits the winnings with his or her team. The money, Howe said, usually goes to pay bills.

"The bump that win gave to our confidence, and the feeling I got by pulling through for my teammates is something that they and I will never forget," he said.

Downer Party is Here Again!

It's that time again!

Ben's Cycle is hosting the annual Downer Classic party as the Tour of America's Dairyland comes to the East Side for the 45th edition of the Great Downer Bike Race.

The Ben's Super Prime has become legendary, as pro racers push their speed to the limit to win the lap prize that has been between $5-7,000!

Your ticket to the party, a bargain at $25, funds the prime. Plus, the party is a ridiculously good time. 

Watch an incredible race, support the Super Prime, eat and drink your fill!

Event Recap: Downer Classic 2012

Photo by Craig Daemmrich

We at Ben's always look forward to throwing the best party and give away the most money every year at the Downer Classic.  The weather was beautiful and the east side was buzzing with anticipation to see who was going home with the big check.

Photo by Karl Hendrikse

 The Active Pursuit is run by Tom Held and he's been covering the entire tour since day one.  Be sure to head over there and check it out.

Photo by Kar Kendrikse

Both the Men's and Women's pros had a chance at winning the Ben's Cycle Prime.  The proceeds we raised from selling tickets for the unlimited beer and food went to the giant checks.  Yes, even dogs were allowed to buy a wrist band and drink beer too!