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Eccnomic Impact & Community Involvement

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Winston Churchill

Each year GRABAAWR® SAGBRAW® and the Bike Northwoods tour have an economic impact of between 3.9 and 6.1 million dollars. And for the entire life of of all the tours between 87 and 146 million dollars of economic impact into Wisconsin has been spent. This includes transportation, advertising, printing, entertainment, supplies, donations to communities, monies spent by riders getting to the tour and during the tours. The tours have hosted over 74,000 riders during the lifetime of the tours. The cyclists have enjoyed a true Wisconsin experience comprised of friendly people, home grown products, local businesses and great scenery.

We at Two Bicycles and a Map, Ltd. are committed to community involvement in Wisconsin.  We live here, our employees live here, our business is located here, and we love this state!  Therefore, part of our mission is to promote Wisconsin and its communities, local businesses, tourist attractions, and above all – its great biking.  Some of the ways we do this during our tours include:

• Working directly with the local Chamber of Commerce of each overnight town to figure out ways that the community can be involved and benefit from our presence.
• Inviting local community groups in each town along the route to set up rest stops to sell food and drink to our riders and raise funds for their group.
• Incorporating our Rider Services to benefit both the cyclist and local group by donating to the local group in exchange for their assistance with the optional services the rider elects to receive.

We have many volunteers who assist us each year during the tours.  One of the largest groups of volunteers is the HAM radio operators.  HAM radio operators potentially save lives as part of their involvement in an emergency response.  We feel so strongly about this facet of amateur radio that we bought a communications bus with the hope that it will ultimately serve the HAM community as a hands-on role model to promote amateur radio in the communities we visit along our tour routes. We hope to grow the interest in HAM radio by making it accessible during the tours, because we want to inspire kids and adults residing along our routes to get involved.  

When not on tour, we have a history of supporting many events and organizations around Wisconsin, including the Bombay Bicycling Club Wright Stuff Century, WI AIDS Ride, and our local Madison WI Bike to Work Week.

We have also supported the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, a statewide bicycle advocacy organization, over the years by donating over $33,000 to assist them in their mission of making Wisconsin a better place to bicycle.  Co-owner Eric is a past member of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin’s Board of Directors, and co-owner Kathy served on the Platinum Biking City Planning Committee and is a board member of the National Bike Tour Directors Association.

Going Green
A central feature of our tours is the natural beauty of Wisconsin.  Our riders spend many hours biking in the varied scenery of our state: centuries old farmsteads, national and state parks, the hardwood forests of the north, the mighty Great Lakes and their beaches, and the rolling hills of the glacial region.  To continue to appreciate this natural beauty, we strive to become more environmentally conscious.

Our goal through our bike tours is to turn people on to the joys of biking and to demonstrate that traveling and vacationing by bicycle is both FUN and conservational.  We bring 1000’s of people into Wisconsin towns with only a few company vehicles – our way of vacationing is low impact for the towns and the environment.

We also encourage our employees to ride their bikes to work or use mass transit.  We have located our new office/warehouse space near a bike path and a bus route.  We provide indoor parking for bicycles and shower facilities. 

Currently, we are exploring ways to make our rides more ecologically sustainable such as reducing waste, using biodegradable goodie bags, and offering plenty of on-tour recycling.  We indicate to our tour participants any Travel Green Wisconsin certified businesses located at the host community or along the routes.