By Jason McDowell Creative Director Published Jun 17, 2021 at 10:01 AM

The Tour of America's Dairyland (ToAD) is here, and it provides a unique opportunity for racers from all around the continent – and, in more regular times, often from around the globe – to hone their racing skills over a nearly-non-stop 12-day period.

For the non-racers, the announcement of the initial ToAD schedule was a significant milestone in the timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic, being the first major signal towards a hopeful return to some kind of normalcy where large social gathering was welcomed.

But some things have changed between now and then. A new Brady Street race was pushed until 2022. The long running Downer Classics race was cancelled, but then reinstated on a weekday, and many venues took advantage of the open schedule and added a second day. In the meantime Janesville pulled together a massive $50,000 in primes (pronounced preems), which are like mid-race sprint competitions that should guarantee all kinds of crazy break-aways, antics and all-out drag races.

Racers bomb a Waukesha hill at the Tour of America's DairylandX

During each race day, riders will earn points towards the overall series based on their position across the line. There are 10 different races scheduled for each day, which means there will be at least 10 series winners at the end of the duration.

The four-day handcycling series begins on Thursday, June 24 at the Downer Classics.

Every race day is organized by business districts, and will be accompanied by block parties and other entertainment, often accompanied by family-friendly youth races for 8-and-under, local events including the first unicycle race and many adorable dogs.

The final schedule follows:

1Wed, June 16Junior Prologue at the Milwaukee MileWest Allis 2Thurs, June 17Janesville Town Square Gran Prix - Day 1Janesville 3Fri, June 18Janesville Town Square Gran Prix - Day 2Janesville 4Sat, June 19Giro d'GraftonGrafton 5Sun, June 20Rest Day--- 6Mon, June 21Manitowoc Maritime Bay Classic Day 1Manitowoc 7Tue, June 22Manitowoc Maritime Bay Classic Day 2Manitowoc 8Wed, June 23Tour of HartlandHartland 9Thurs, June 24Otto Wenz Cafe Hollander Downer ClassicMilwaukee 10Fri, June 25Shorewood Criterium Cycling ClassicShorewood 11Sat, June 26Highlands CriteriumWauwatosa 12Sun, June 27Cafe Hollander Tosa Village ClassicWauwatosa

Start times vary throughout the week, but racing generally happens between 10 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. More details can be found on the Tour of America's Dairyland website.

Jason McDowell Creative Director

Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.

In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.

Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.