Race Design Thread

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 4: Detroit - Detroit, 17.4km (ITT)

The race needs an ITT, and it needs to hit Detroit. Just an hour up the road from Toledo is the third largest metro area in the megaregion that is the Great Lakes. The urban sprawl is massive, but there is a great historic downtown core that was sadly bulldozed for motor vehicles. Ironically, Detroit had a fantastic tram system up until the 1950's despite being the Motor City (as a caveat: there is a new tram line in Downtown since 2017). Either way, the home of the GM, Ford and Chrysler was of course the first city to build a highway right through the city. This did help initially with congestion, but as we are all too familiar with - the long term effects include induced demand, splitting neighborhoods apart, removing walkability etc. Metro Detroit has been an absolute monstrosity for the past half century, to which the effects of de-industrialization and the financial crisis of 2008 didn't help. The City of Detroit lost hundreds of thousands of residents and even went bankrupt in 2013. Despite all of the setbacks, Metro Detroit has continued to grow.

Downtown Detroit

Because of the enormity of Detroit, the many highways passing through the city, and the recently added tram tracks - deciding where to host the TT was a tougher decision than I would necessarily like to admit. I contemplated having the start on the Canadian side of the border in Windsor, but didn't want to hassle of having to close a bridge for the vanity of a cycling race, which would be wildly impopular - it being the second busiest international crossing in North America. I also wanted to avoid using highways, so I settled on what I think is quite a beautiful and non-disturbing location.

Cullen Plaza & start line

The start and the finish are both a stone's throw away from each other at the Cullen Plaza, one of the many highlights of the Detroit Riverwalk, voted the best riverwalk in the country in 2021. While the Street View images don't do it justice, we will be beginning on what is a very narrow walkable path for about 600m before turning right and eventually ending up on East Jefferson avenue before turning right again onto the MacArthur bridge. After crossing the bridge, we do a counterclockwise lap around most of Belle Isle. This is what we want to highlight the very most.

Belle Isle

The settlement of Detroit was founded as part of New France in 1701, and Belle Isle was colonized sometime the same century. It has gone through periods of being more or less an estate with livestock to eventually becoming a park in the 1880s. It has long been an area for recreation, and hosts an aquarium, a botanical garden, a golf course and fountains among other things. It will make for some great helicopter shots. After finishing the loop, the riders head back nearly where they started, ending with a two 90-degree turns in the last 500 meters to keep the speed down a bit yet finishing near the same park and parking complex as the finish.

Finish line

Is it a particularly challenging ITT in any way? No. Does it need to be? Also no, imho. It's perfectly OK to have a more or less pan flat one, just not an absurdly long one in what is approx. a week-long stage race.

 

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 5: Bay City - Grand Rapids, 206.8km

While we could have begun our next stage in Flint, the town infamous for its decade-long water crisis only recently overcome, we opt to take a bit of a longer drive to our next start town: Bay City. The reason is quite simply - I want the start location to be closer to Lake Huron, and this town is located just upriver on the Saginaw River from the Saginaw Bay, a more than 1000 square-kilometer bay on the southwestern part of the lake .

Bay City, MI

The city, at about 30,000 inhabitants, is not even in the top 50 most populous "cities" of the state - though many fall into Metro Detroit where it just feels ridiculous to consider Dearborn or Southfield its own cities. It is however, no slouch as it, along with the towns of Saginaw and Midland form an acute triangle of settlements with somewhere in the magnitude of 375,000 inhabitants. The site was at first merely a log cabin, but grew to a town in the 1830s. Eventually, it was the site of several sawmills and shipyards - which peaked in the 1950s and 1960s. As is the case with so many of the towns we've passed, the decline has been pretty steep since. Bay City has lost about two fifths of its peak population, and it isn't expected to rebound. It's ticking along with what's remaining of the industry.

Neutral start location & map

Regarding the cityscape, it looks pretty typically North American to me. Wide roads, the stereotypical grid-like pattern. I did however find a pretty nice neutral start point at Wenonah Park, the pretty much only suitable candidate in the town even if Veterans Memorial Park on the other side of the river might have been a decent fit. From here, the riders only have 3km until the proper start and we're in for quite a long stage.

Pretty much the first 95km are pretty smooth sailing, mostly passing through Central Michigan. We do pass the aforementioned town of Midland, though not for a sprint - that has to wait until we have taken a pretty narrow and pretty country road along the Pine River and we head past Saint Louis into Alma, 20km after which we actually reach the first real obstacle: our first gravel sector of the stage. There are a total of six, but I will not be using the French convention of naming them backwards.

Sector 1: N. Dunfield Road, 95.8-97.4km, 1600m **

Nothing too insane, but gets two stars. Some loose gravel. This was merely an appetizer though, as the longest sector is 20km up ahead.

Sector 2: Cedar Lake Road, 117.1-121.9km, 4800m ***

Not as much loose gravel, but the length and the softness of the road make it a drag and worthy of three stars. Once again, there's quite a bit of paved road, among which is through the tiny town of Sheridan (pop. ~700), before we hit the next sector.

Sector 3: Wise/Ferris Road, 137.2-140.9km, 3700m **

Another two star situation. This time, the next sector is less than 3km away.

Sector 4: N. Backus Road, 143.4-145.7km, 2300m **

The gravel is finer, but there are some holes in the road which does mean I will rate it two stars.

I'm not sure these sectors are decisive enough to create gaps. I hope they are, because the final two sectors are shorter and we'll have to ride on paved roads for a while to get there. Before then, we do pass the town of Greenville. With a population of slightly below 9000, it's no heavyweight - but it does have the oddity of being the home of a Danish heritage festival, celebrating the large history of Danish settlers in the area from the mid 19th century. It's a proper fit for the second sprint.

Sector 5: Tiffany Avenue, 171.6-173.3km, 1700m **

Not the longest of affairs, but the significant amount of loose gravel place it at two stars. Less than 9km separate this sector from the next, and final sector - being located right next to a great recreational area in West Michigan, being named after the town we pass right before - Cannonsburg. We will ride along 5 Mile Road, with a State Game Area to our left and a ski resort to our right, and the sector looks a bit like this:

Sector 6: 5 Mile Road, 182.3-183.5km, 1200m ***

The gravel here is definitely nastier, and is worthy of three stars. It's narrow, bumpy and softer with the mix of rough gravel. It's not the longest sector though, so I'm not sure how much damage it will do.

At this point, we're about 23km from the finish in Grand Rapids, the second largest city in Michigan. The city proper only houses about 200,000 inhabitants, but as is the case with urban sprawl, the metro area houses more than a million. While the town used to be primarily known for its furniture manufacturing, it has since diversified with the healthcare sector being one of the largest employers.

Grand Rapids, MI

Back to the race: If there are gaps here, maybe a sprint team could bring it all back together, but there are still opportunities in town. We do have a short climb starting about 7km from the finish, that being Ball Ave. 540m at 5% isn't all that much, but it's something. The run in afterwards is very straight-forward, not really technical at all sadly. However, finish does ensure it won't be just a flat bunch sprint.

Ball Ave.

The final 1.5km sees us hit the riverfront before turning left at 620m to go for a final kick of 6.4%, with the nastiest bit being above 10%.

Michigan Ave. and the finish line location

What to expect: Maybe an attritional classics-type stage due to the gravel, especially if the weather turns sour. Maybe a nothing-burger and an uphill sprint at the end? It depends.

 

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 6: Ludington - Traverse City, 164.6km

Climbs:
Onekama M22 (cat.4), 2.2km @ 5.3%
Arcadia Scenic Highway (cat.4), 1.2km @ 7.8%
Great Dunes (cat.4), 1.9km @ 4.5%
Grace Road Climb (cat.4), 1.2km @ 4.7%
Eden Hill (cat. 4), 1.4km @ 5%
Barnes Road (cat.4) 1.4km @ 4.9%
Hickory Hill (cat.4), 2.7km @ 3.9%

Gravel sectors:
1. Higgins Road ** - 1.6km
2. Moss Road * - 1.1km
3. State/Fewins Road *** - 4.9km
4. Oakley/Bronson Road *** - 5.4km
5. Mud Lake Road **** - 2.4km
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Despite the many categorized climbs, the stage doesn't even crack 2000m of elevation and isn't all that difficult looking at just the climbs. Because of the lack of proper mountains, I feel obliged to include even these types of bumps as categorized climbs. However, we have managed to squeeze in more than 15km of gravel roads on the course. Hopefully, this stage will not end in a bunch sprint.

Ludington, MI

An hour an a half northwest of Grand Rapids is the quaint town of Ludington. With a population under 8000, it wouldn't be notable at all if it weren't the Michigan port of SS Badger, one of the passenger and vehicle ferries across Lake Michigan operating between Ludington, MI and Manitowoc, WI from May to October. An excellent marina to boot, it is all possible thanks to a pair of breakwaters built in the 1870s, not to mention the already existing natural harbor they were blessed with. The start location is visible in the shot above, right next to the marina. 3.7km later, we're waving the flag.

Manistee, MI

The first 60km or so are quite uneventful in terms of the racing. We do pass a few stunning spots already for the potential helicopter in Manistee, with its isthmus between the smaller Manistee Lake and Lake Michigan itself. Just before the man made channel between the next lake, Portage Lake, and Lake Michigan, we head around the lake and join the M22 into the tiny settlement of Onekama before tackling our first climb. 2.2km at 5.3% isn't all that bothersome, but it is the first of the many obstacles.

Onekama, MI and Portage Lake. In the distance, the canal between Portage Lake and Lake Michigan is just about visible.

This part of the M22, in Northwestern Michigan, is part of the Pure Michigan Byway system, a series of highways designated as scenic. Much like other known scenic routes, like California's Scenic Highway, this scenic route takes us mostly along the coast of the lake. This particular section was voted by readers of USA Today in 2015 as the best scenic autumn drive in the country. Continuing along, we eventually reach the town of Arcadia, where we have our first sprint. As with the previous two towns, this one also has its own lake in Arcadia Lake, with a dredged channel connecting it to Lake Michigan. It is after passing the town we find ourselves at our second climb, Arcadia Scenic Highway, ending near Arcadia Scenic Turnout, a popular overlook.

Arcadia Scenic Hwy

We leave the scenic route after our next climb, Great Dunes, and head east up Grace Road after which we enter our first dirt road.

Sector 1: Higgins Road, 94.8-96.4km, 1600m **

A pretty easy sector, but two stars because of the topography - this will go pretty fast as a it will be partly downhill. An uncategorized climb, not steep enough to register, does follow, and we do enter the town of Beluah before going up Eden Hill. The next sector comes pretty soon after.

Sector 2: Moss Road, 106.4-107.5km, 1100m *

While the gravel is similar to the first sector, the length just makes this a one star affair. We now find our do a near 180-degree turn and head north towards the main road with a sprint in the town of Honor, with a population slightly above 300m, with a claim to fame being the only drive-in theater left in the state. A few kilometers later, we leave the main road US 31 onto a proper lengthy sector.

Sector 3: State/Fewins Road, 116.2-121.1km, 4900m ***

We're on proper country roads now, but the dirt is in pretty good shape for the most part. The real difficulty is in the fact that less than 2km separate this from the next sector, heading east keeping the private Lake Ann Airport to our left.

Sector 4: Oakley/Bronson Road, 122.8-128.2km, 5400m ***

The quality varies throughout the sector, hence the three stars. The road is quite wide as well, despite the surface being varied. Continuing east into the Green Lake Township, we eventually enter Mud Lake Road, the most difficult sector in the race.

Sector 5: Mud Lake Road, 132.3-134.7km, 2400m ****

The road is way narrower, the surface poorer. Had this road been longer, five stars could have been warranted. Despite turning into asphalt after two and half kilometers, the road stays quite narrow and passes both recreational and residential areas in the county. This is truly a lake-heavy part of the state with tourism being the main economic engine.

Green Lake Township, MI.

Past the lakes, we're race-wise in a bit of a dead zone until we hit the two climbs leading up to the finish in Traverse City. Neither of climbs are particularly hard, but could work to hamper a potential bunch sprint depending on the race situation. The first half of Barnes Road does average about 7%, and Hickory Hill also has section at around 8%, but not for long enough to be decisive. After finishing the climbs, we head into town as fast as possible down Route 72 finishing by the lake shore. Because of a divider, the finish line is quite narrow - so I would really hope the race has been split.

Finish line, Traverse City.

Speaking of Traverse City, the town is definitely one of the more well to do places in the state. The town itself only has about 15,000 residents, but punches well above its weight. It hosts the National Cherry Festival bringing in about half a million visitors annually, as the area is one of the primary cherry growing regions of the world. It is also the home to a part-time symphony orchestra! The name, Traverse City, alludes to the the long journey the 18th-century French explorers embarked upon when canoeing the mouth of the bay, as it is split in two parts - two "arms". Looking at a map, it is quite evident why tourism plays such an important part of the economy.

Traverse City, MI and the Grand Traverse Bay.

What to expect: Plenty of attacks, but not certain anything sticks 100%. Either complete carnage, or a reduced bunch sprint.

 

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 7: St. Ignace - Munising, 199.9km

Climbs:
Cemetery Road (cat.4), 1.9km @ 5%
Cemetery-Lehnen Road (cat.4), 1.8km @ 5,9%

Mackinac Bridge

The transfer to stage 7 takes the caravan across the Mackinac Bridge. A colossus of a bridge at over 8km long, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time it was built. It opened in 1957 and reduced the need for the up to nine ferries working the strait separating Lake Huron from Lake Michigan. St. Ignace, the town on the northern side of the strait, might be the oldest of our towns so far. One of the oldest continuous settlements in the state, it was founded as early as 1671 as the site of a Jesuit mission. Its founder, Jacques Marquette, spent much of his life learning both the Iroquois and the the Anishinaabe languages (from which many of the place names we have gotten accustomed to come) of the Great Lakes region, specifically in what is now Michigan, and proselytized. He was buried in St. Ignace in 1677, but the town outlived the mission - first becoming a major fur trading hub and later being a connecting point between Lower and Upper Michigan. The town itself is quite small, with just above 2,000 inhabitants, and wraps itself around a small bay facing east. Only 3.1km separate the neutral start at the town marina and km 0.

St. Ignace, MI

The stage itself offers nothing in terms of racing. Could there perhaps be crosswinds? Maybe, but it's not very likely as there aren't many roads exposed to the wind. Michigan's Upper Peninsula is sparsely populated and even more heavily forested than Lower Michigan, the entire stage is more or less a transport across Michigan's Upper Peninsula, part of the state due to a former border dispute between Ohio and Michigan in the 1830's where Ohio got hold of Toledo while Michigan settled for the Upper Peninsula.
Despite being geographically linked with Wisconsin, it had never been politically linked - even in the times before European colonization and ethnic cleansings of native tribes. The people living there now, nicknamed Yoopers do in fact have more in common with Wisconsinites in general though, but no one is really pushing for any changes to state boundaries.

The only reason for this stage even existing is that I wish to have a stage hitting our final and largest of the five great lakes - Lake Superior. While Huron+Michigan is the same body of water hydrologically, they are not usually counted together, making Lake Superior the second (or third) largest lake in the world by surface area behind the Caspian Sea. It's a mammoth, but because of its latitude, there aren't any great population centers. Thunder Bay is the largest settlement, but with a metro area population of just about 123,000. I would have loved for the race to head there, but it's on the other side of the lake and would have added even more bloat to an already bloated stage race.

With all that being said, the stage finish is in one of few towns where there are some elevation changes nearby. Just as we pass a mini waterfall to our left heading down the US28 towards Munising, we head east up a climb towards the town cemetery. There are two ways to tackle the climb, and we make a loop of it - heading back up to the US28 tackling the climb once again but the other time taking a left turn once we reach the cemetery, swinging around coming towards the town along the lakeshore from the east towards the finish line - ending right at the marina.

Munising, MI and its finish line

Munising has a population of just under 2,000. While the town isn't all that impressive, the helicopter shots will be quite stunning. To the east is the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, a nearly 70km long shoreline featuring some exquisite waterfalls, rock formations and sand dunes; while to the north is Grand Island - a national recreational island with plenty of picturesque locations.

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

What to expect: A bunch sprint or a slightly reduced bunch sprint, the top of the climb being 6km from the finish.

 

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 8: Marinette - Green Bay, 151.9km

Climbs:
Scray Hill (cat.4), 1.7km @ 4%
Sportsman Drive (cat.4), 1.7km @ 3%

Menominee to the right, Marinette to the left

Once again, we sadly have about a two hour transfer - and this one finally sees us leaving the state of Michigan. Part of the state border is marked by the Menominee River, and at its mouth lay the two towns of Menominee and Marinette. Both towns are roughly the same size at around 10,000 inhabitants each and form what could be seen as twin cities, though not nearly the size of St. Paul/Minneapolis a few hours away. The towns had their peak population in the early 1900's at the height of the lumbering boom, and plenty of landmarks and buildings still remain from this heyday. The neutral start will take place right next to one such building, the Dunlap Square Building, a historical commercial block, with some absolutely stunning brick walls.

The start location, seen from above and the ground

After four neutralized kilometers, we're off an running. The route mostly follows the Lake Michigan shore, but crosswind action isn't all that likely due to dense vegetation on both sides of the road for the most part. We aren't really passing any bigger population centers either, and the route is more or less the quickest way to get to Green Bay metro area. We begin by having a sprint near downtown, on the left bank of the Fox River, on which the city is located. After the sprint, we head over the river on the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge, a twin-leaf bascule bridge just north of downtown. Here, we immediately do a 90 degree turn heading south along the river, passing the "town" of Allouez before finding ourselves in the next town over, De Pere. To call these their own towns is kind of a relic of the past as they are more or less part of the same urban sprawl.

Green Bay, WI with the Ray Nitschke Memorial Bridge in the foreground

Either way, the whole reason for this excursion to the south is to find two short climbs, or speedbumps, in Scray Hill and Sportsman Drive. I'm honestly not sure if this was worth it at all, as they are hardly decisive enough to create any gaps - especially with the finish line being 18km from the top of the last hill, but I fancied not making this just a pure pancake flat stage. I contemplated moving to a more hilly part of the state, a bit further inland towards Madison, WI, but I felt it wouldn't fit with the spirit of the race to leave the vicinity of Lake Michigan. Perhaps I could have ended the stage at the top of one of these hills, but yet again - the whole point is to have a stage finish in Green Bay and hit the larger settlements.

The steepest part of Scray Hill

Speaking of the finish line being 18km from the last KOM - we head downhill, across the river at De Pere and then head north more or less all the way up until we take a hard left with 1.2km to go. From there on in, we are straight as an arrow until we hit the finish line at one of the great cathedrals of Midwestern sport - Lambeau Field, the home of the Green Bay Packers. I absolutely love the Packers for one simple reason: the ownership structure. While the rest of the big four North American sports teams generally have private owners, the Packers are in a league of their own being community-owned and not primarily a for-profit venture. This is akin to how European sports clubs usually operate, and had the NFL not allowed this exception for the Packers, the team would likely have relocate to a bigger market a long time ago. Instead, we are being allowed to see what could happen when a team is allowed to foster a bond to its community like no other and become a proper cultural institution. College football is the only comparison in the United States really. One additional benefit to the finish location is the massive parking lot near North American sports stadiums .

Game day at Lambeau Field

What to expect: a flippin' bunch sprint.

 

[jsem94]

Tour of the Great Lakes | Stage 9: Milwaukee - Chicago, 135.5km

Two hours south of Green Bay is Milwaukee - located at the confluence of the Milwaukee, Menominee and Kinnickinnic (awesome name) Rivers, it is the perfect location for a large settlement, being by far the largest one in the state. While it isn't as old as many other cities we have had starts or finishes in, it grew incredibly fast in the middle of the 19th century in large part due to German and other European immigration. These Germans brought with them beer brewing, and Milwaukee came to be an industry leader in the United States - something which still characterizes the city. Just as with the famous Milwaukee cheese production being visible in the high per capita dairy consumption in the state, the same can be said about the Badger State's drinking habits - consistently putting up Hall of Fame numbers when it comes to excessive drinking. I say: watch out for the deer! Hopefully, the riders don't start the stage lit up despite this being an easy stage on paper.

Milwaukee, WI and its City Hall

The start takes place near City Hall, and because of the central location we need nearly 10km of neutralized roads before the km 0. We're basically once again doing nothing but following the shore heading south towards the finish as best as possible. Despite being so close to the breeze, there is no certainty the race will be affected by it as the vegetation shields the riders. More or less the entire race takes us through urbanized areas. The first sprint takes place in Kenosha, a town mostly known for its infamous for the unrest which took place in 2020. Because of its location near both Milwaukee and Chicago, nearly half of its residents commute to work, but is otherwise a pretty average town on the Lake Michigan shore. Over the border to Illinois sees us enter the town of Waukegan for our next sprint. A similarly sized city to Kenosha with a bit less than 100,000 inhabitants, the demographics are quite different. Waukegan ends up being swallowed by the gravity of Chicago and is a more industrial and culturally diverse town, more or less a suburb of Chicago already.

Chicago, IL - the finish line visible to the right of the harbor within the breakwaters

Speaking of Chicago, it's the center of what is by far the largest metro area in the Great Lakes region at nearly ten million inhabitants. I don't know what say about Chicago that people don't already know - it's a city of enormous weight culturally, financially and has been since the second half of the 19th century. Similarly to Milwaukee, a large European immigrant population including German, Swedish, Polish, Irish and Italian came to dominate around the turn of the century - after which the Great Migration saw African-Americans also enter the city in the hundreds of thousands. Finding an appropriate finish location was a bit of a dilemma - as navigating the city center with the peloton would be quite the headache. I settled on having the finish at the lakeshore near some monuments along the shore, one of which being the famous Buckingham Fountain - the central piece of Grant Park, a 319 acre urban park often referred to as "Chicago's front yard". It has been the site of large public gatherings many times, including Abe Lincoln's funeral procession, major protests in 1968 as well as several championship parades for Chicago's major sports teams, the last of which was in 2016 when the Cubs won their storied title after a 108-year drought; so it will fit quite nicely to host the closing ceremonies of this stage race.

Buckingham Fountain and the finish line itself

What to expect: This stage is as easy as they come, and will with near 100% certainty end in a bunch sprint.


With all this said and done: I think the idea of the tour outweighs the reality of the mostly flat roads. It's a pretty weak route, but it's a consequence trying to fit in most major settlements and the shore of every lake. It would benefit from being more limited in its scope and only being a week long. I'm pretty relieved I finally got around to finishing these writeups as well... on to the next project!