Cherry Roubaix Bike Race set to return bigger, better!

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. –

Riding the success of its inaugural event last fall, the popular bike race will return to the streets of Traverse City in 2009 – and will also take to the rolling hills of Leelanau County. Organizers have announced that this year’s event, scheduled for Aug. 29-30, will not only include a criterium race downtown, but will also incorporate a road race the following day.

“The response to our Saturday criterium race was tremendous, but the racers immediately began asking for a Sunday road race,” said Bob McLain, who is co-race director with John Sohacki. “It makes a lot of sense. Downstate races are generally flat, so holding a road race in Leelanau County is very appealing. And holding two races is a bigger draw for the competitors.”

The first Cherry Roubaix, which was held in late September of 2008, came together in only seven weeks, McLain said. It drew 159 riders, who competed in a wide range of skill and age divisions. Held on the city streets and neighborhoods of Old Town, it was the first criterium-style race held in Traverse City since the Tour de Michigan in the late 1980s.

The title of the race pays homage to Traverse City’s moniker as the Cherry Capital of the World and to the famous Paris-to-Roubaix race in France, which includes challenging sections on cobblestone roads. The Cherry Roubaix includes its own “cobblestone” section on antique-bricked 6th Street.

“Last year’s race was a great success,” McLain said. “Thousands of spectators came out to watch. The community really supported it. Traverse City is a very athletic community; there are a lot of cyclists here. So it’s the perfect place for an event like this.”

The 2009 Cherry Roubaix will be part of the Michigan Challenge Race Series, in which riders receive points based upon their finish in a number of events around the state. Series races typically draw more highly-skilled cyclists.

Following the Cherry Roubaix criterium race on Saturday, Aug. 29, a road race will be held Sunday, Aug. 30 on the same 12-mile course that the Michigan State Road Race used in the late 1980s. The start-finish line for the Michigan State Road Race was at Sugar Loaf Resort.

One rider who knows the Leelanau County course well is Michigan native Frankie Andreu, who won the Michigan State Road Race there in 1986 and went on to compete in the Tour de France nine times. Andreu helped teammate Lance Armstrong capture the first two of his seven consecutive Tour de France titles in 1999 and 2000.

Andreu remembers the northwest Michigan course as “challenging.”

“It had a couple of climbs. They were more than just small bumps in the road; you actually had to pace yourself around the circuit to prepare for the hills,” Andreu said. “It’s a course that tactically you have to be smart on. But it gives the stronger riders a chance to separate themselves and go for victory.”

For more information about the Cherry Roubaix, log onto www.cherry-roubaix.com. Please direct inquiries to info@cherry-roubaix.com or Bob McLain at (231) 944-1211.