Tour da Goose Returns June 25th!

Registration is now open for the Jon Fisch Memorial Tour da Goose (TDG) bike ride on June 25, 2022! This popular fundraising event for Rock River Community Clinics (RRCC) offers a variety of routes with distances for everyone to enjoy at their own pace – from families to century riders – and is supported with rest stops and SAG assistance. You’ll definitely want to add this experience to your summer ride schedule! 

All Tour da Goose routes begin and end at Riverside Park in Watertown. Riders make their way on well-marked streets out to the Jefferson County countryside to enjoy light traffic and safe, quiet roads dotted with farms and fields. Previous participants will notice some changes this year, including routes extending into Whitewater and Fort Atkinson where RRCC clinics are located.

Rest stops are fun and known not only for the scenic beauty we enjoy so much in Wisconsin, but also great homemade treats, cold pickles, watermelon, cheese curds, and refills for water bottles. Along the way, riders may experience:

• Jelli’s Market on Farmington Rd in Helenville – a lovely farm market with fruits and vegetables on a quiet road for the 42, 62 and 100 milers. 
• The Jefferson County Fairgrounds – a new rest stop for the 62 & 100 mile routes. 
• The 2 Rivers Bicycle shop in Fort Atkinson – back again for the 62 & 100 mile routes and convenient for anything riders might need for their bikes.
• The Ceasar Road stop – located on the front lawn of a friend of TDG nestled among trees for shade. 
• Stops at city parks, like Lincoln Park – for the 12-mile route geared toward families. 

Riders returning to Riverside Park will enjoy live music by Charles Barber, beer served by Hubbelton Brewery, and food trucks. 

For more information, registration and questions, visit tourdagoose.com. Then mark your calendar to look forward to a quintessential Wisconsin riding experience this summer! 

History of Tour da Goose and Rock River Community Clinics

The Tour da Goose bike ride was founded in 2013 by Rita Brafford and Jon Fisch, a couple who lived in the community of Watertown and enjoyed bike riding together. Knowing that they enjoyed outdoor sports, the Watertown Area Cares Clinic (WACC) asked Rita and Jon to develop a fundraiser for the organization, and the idea of a bike ride began to take shape. 

Jon came up with the name Tour da Goose to show homage to Watertown’s mascot, the goose. Unfortunately, Jon Fisch passed away from cancer within the first year of the bike ride’s development, but he had encouraged everyone to keep going with the development of the ride.

Today, Rita continues happily as the ride director, and the WACC has since joined with other free health care clinics in the Fort Atkinson, Whitewater and Jefferson communities to form the Rock River Community Clinics. RRCC will receive 100% of registration fees to provide medical and dental care for the underserved, low income population in Jefferson, Dodge and parts of Walworth Counties. For more information on RRCC, please visit rockrivercommunityclinic.org.

March 2022