Wisconsin Bicycling Hall Of Fame Wheels Into View

The Wisconsin Bicycling Hall of Fame will be dedicated Friday night at a ceremony in Milwaukee.

The idea for the hall of fame came from David Schlabowske of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, or Bike Fed.

Schlabowske said Bike Fed wants to honor cycling “icons” in the state — one each per year from the biking industry, the sport of bicycling and a biking advocate.

The advocate being inducted is Phil Van Valkenberg, who started a mountain biking festival in northern Wisconsin. In 1974, Van Valkenberg created the state’s first guides to biking routes, Schlabowske said.

“Long before anybody had you know, thought of bicycle tourism, Phil was promoting it. Phil’s guidebook, the Department of Tourism just issued another version of that, that’s still being printed,” Schlabowske said Thursday at the Wisconsin Bike Summit.

The other first year inductees are former bicycle shop owner Chris Kegel and Otto Wenz, who started the multi-day bike racing event called “Superweek.” Both men are deceased.

Schlabowske said the three inductees were also well known nationally and internationally in the biking industry.

“It’s hard to over-emphasize how much they’ve done,” Schlabowske said.

He said he hopes creating the hall of fame also inspires more people to be leaders in bicycling.

The Wisconsin Bicycling Hall of Fame will be located inside a soon-to-open coffee shop next to Bike Fed offices in Milwaukee. Nominations are being accepted for next year’s inductees. A committee organized by the Wisconsin Bike Federation will review the entries.