Weekend Racing Report - September 17, 2005

What an incredible season it has been. Saturday, September 17th was the last Michigan road race of the season. It’s all gone by very quickly!

The last road race of 2005 was also the BIGGEST, the inaugural Tour De Leelanau.

In the run-up to this race there was a great deal of media coverage, I even did an interview with the Traverse City Visitors Bureau which they included in their press release:

Traverse City Visitors Bureau press release

Beefing up the teams presence, at the race we had an army of supporters, all wearing team jerseys. Our support vehicles, which drove from feed zone to feed zone, were PLASTERED with the team name.

The positive effect all these simple but effective ways to promote the team hit home to me in something my father told me. He was driving my Ford Windstar mini-van (see attached picture) all decorated with the team name. They were rushing to the first feed zone and drove through downtown Glen Arbor, a small but very upscale and affluent resort community. The village was hosting one of the SPRINT competitions and at least 500 excited spectators were lining the streets, they even had an announcer.

Well, my 17 year old niece was hanging out the window as they drove through, shouting WOOOHOOO, WOOHOOO and my father tells me the announcer said over the PA system “and here comes the Sunrise Sports Cycling Team support vehicle racing through to the feed zone” and the crowd erupted cheering!

Friday night before the race, the race sponsor, the Leelanau Sands Casino treated all racers and crews to a great spaghetti dinner at their conference center. It was quite a sight to see 200+ of the best bicycle road racers in Michigan all gathered in one place. Everyone had a blast talking about the season and comparing notes on the race course. The view from the conference center over West Traverse Bay was incredible and was made even more so when a full moon began to rise over the water. What a start to a great event!!!

At check in we picked up our packets, which included each teams numbers as well as CLIF Bars and Shots for the racers. THANK YOU CLIF!!!

The race started Saturday morning in the incredibly picturesque town of Leland, MI. Total racers competing numbered 140! It was going to be very interesting to see how such a large field would fit down the narrow back roads of Leelanau county.

Check HERE for the full start list!

The Sunrise Sports Cycling Team had their "A" Riders on the line.

Check out the teams full bios HERE

The announcer for the race was fantastic! Giving us great props, mentioning “Sunrise Sports” several times. He even gave Team Manager John Rigdon a call up. All this, as well as interviewing the State Senator Cheryl McManus, Leelanau Chamber President Bill Morrison and then pointing out all the Sunrise Sports team members.

From the start riders sprinted out of town, with everyone wanting to get to the front of the 140 rider pack. This first 5 miles were down the local thoroughfare, M-22. This was an EXTREMELY dangerous part of the race, with riders pulling all kinds of silly moves to get to the front. On the grass, across the yellow line, whatever.

However, the race started in earnest with the first hill, Schomberg Road Hill. This as a ¾ mile, twisting ascent, at an incline of about 9%. BAM! The leaders sprinted up the climb, which was packed with spectators, a gap formed and 70 riders were dropped!

All the Sunrise riders made the split!

Several rolling hills followed the first climb and riders were getting spat out the back in 1’s, 2’s and 3’s. Like a steam roller, the chase group started to form behind and quickly set to the task of picking up the refuse and chasing down the lead group of 70. They came tantalizingly close, only 20 seconds behind, before the first King Of the Mountain (KOM) climb wreaked havoc on the chase again. 1.2 miles at 12% busted the legs of the chasers. At this point, the leaders were gone!

Rolling through the villages of Glen Arbor, Burdickville, Kasson Center, Cedar, Lake Leelanau, and Suttons Bay, the race became one of attrition. No attacks were launched, the leaders just kept the pressure on over the repeated climbs and riders were dropped.

By the last climb up Swede Road, only 5 miles from the finish, the lead group was down to 40 riders. At this point Nick Reistad of the Advantage Benefits Endeavor pro cycling team launched the first real attack. Sprinting up the climb, Nick was chased by 3 other riders, and the winning break was made. Nick had just returned from racing with the U.S. National Under-23 team in Europe and he was really turning the screws on the others.

The finish was at the Leelanau Sands Casino, a 90 degree turn and up 1000 feet, gaining 200 feet in elevation. SUPER painful after 77 miles and 4,000 feet of climbing for the day.

Nick punched it, dropped the other 3 breakaway riders and took a clean win! FANTASTIC!

This final climb really separated the chasing group of 30 and despite arriving at the bottom of the climb together, riders finished spread out over 3 minutes.

In a fantastic performance the team placed 4 riders from the “A” squad and 2 riders from the “B” squad, “IN THE MONEY” which paid to 22 places.

Finishing for the team were: