House the bikers, feed the bikers

By Jacob Wheeler
Sun editor
On Sunday, May 25, roadside onlookers throughout the county will catch bike racers zooming by during the fourth annual Tour de Leelanau (moved from the fall to Memorial Day weekend this year to get a leg up on other national bike races). Among other feats, the pedalers will climb the steep grade at Inspiration Point, zoom toward the Glen Lake Narrows; drop down Wilco Road from the Empire Bluffs Trailhead, and sprint through both Empire and Glen Arbor, with speeds anticipated to reach 55 miles an hour. Oh, but don’t forget the most grueling part of the race, the 400-yard climb at a 21-percent grade up Tower Road near Maple City (known locally as “Nagly Wal,” Polish for “tower of pain”).
Photo by John Russell

Some county locals, though, will enjoy an even closer-up view of the athletes flocking to Leelanau County from around the continent. Last year the Tour issued the call for local families to host bike teams, provide lodging and, most importantly, feed them the day of the race.
As Glen Arborites Bill and Dottie Thompson learned, what seems like a hearty breakfast for most just won’t cut it before a draining bike race (69.5 miles for the women, 109.5 miles for the men). The Thompsons, who own the White Gull Inn, had prepared plenty of eggs and sausage casserole for their guests, Aaron’s Cycling Team, in advance of last fall’s race.
“I thought I had prepared a real good breakfast for them. But they said, ‘We don’t need protein, we need carbs!’ So Bill ran across the street to the grocery store and began making French toast like a madman. The racers ate so much French toast and doughnuts, I couldn’t believe it.”
Kathy and Jim Koch, of Suttons Bay, echoed that sentiment. Last year they hosted the Cheer Wine team, including rider Laura Van Gilder, the top-ranked woman’s cyclist in the country (she finished second last fall), who faces random drug tests because she is so highly ranked and because of the doping scandals that have tainted the sport in recent years. Kathy says that the team ate everything she had prepared for them the morning of the race: (dense) oatmeal bread, toast, eggs, tons of fruit and juice. “Some of them even brought their oatmeal too, to eat on the side.”
Fast forward to after the race, when the fatigue from the race grips the body. Part-time Maple City resident Jim Hennessey, who hosted a team from Toronto last year, came home that evening and found the guys “sitting around drinking beer and telling war stories.” He could tell from how close the discarded empty bottles were to the full ones that the racers hadn’t moved even five feet in hours, they were so exhausted. In fact, the youngest one on the team was fast asleep on the couch. A good day’s work.