Motorcycle marshalls excited to be part of Sunday's event.

For the first time in four years, Dave Monstrey will take in more than just the tail end of the Tour de Leelanau.

The Bingham Township man owns a business that usually keeps him busy on weekends. With the popular point-to-point bicycle race taking place on Memorial Day weekend this year, Monstrey set aside the day to work as a volunteer.

DAVE MONSTREY of Bingham Township,
shown on his Honda Shadow 750, will be
part of the group of Tour de Leelanau
motorcycle marshals at Sunday's events.

“The past races always happened the same weekend of some big event in the county and we were booked up. If I was lucky, I could make to the finish line in time to see the racers cross,” he said. “My first preference would be to ride a bicycle as part of the race. Since I can’t do that, I decided to be motorcycle marshal.”

The fourth annual Tour de Leelanau, which was held in September the last three years, takes place on Sunday with the men’s race starting at 11 a.m. in Leland and women racers beginning around 12:40 p.m. at The Homestead, north of Glen Arbor. Both races finish at the Eagles Ridge Conference Center in Peshawbestown, with the first men expected at around 3:20 p.m. and the top women racers another 30 or 40 minutes later.

Both the men’s and women’s defending champions will be among a field of top professional racers.

Monstrey will be part of a group of 20 or so motorcyclists who will be part of the “rolling roadblock” that accompanies the main body of riders for both races. Monstrey said he has coffee most mornings with a group of friends, all of whom are motorcycle enthusiasts and are part of the tour motorcade.

“I’ve been riding motorcycles for a long time and I’m really looking forward to being part of the event,” Monstrey said, adding he’ll likely ride his Honda Shadow 750.

“It’s going to be exhilarating riding in front of the pack of racers, stopping traffic on a road; I can’t wait.”

Joe Bottenhorn of Suttons Bay has been part of the Tour volunteer organization since it formed in 2004, and drove his BMW motorcycle to the first organizational meetings.

“Iceman (Steve Brown, race director) saw the motorcycle and he decided I should be in charge of the motorcycle marshals,” Bottenhorn said.

In the first two years of the race, Bottenhorn said motorcycle marshals used a different tactic for stopping traffic at roads or driveways. Initially, the motor marshals would ride ahead of the main pack of racers, have one stop at an intersection or driveway, let the main body go past, then race around the bicyclists to get back up front.

Bottenhorn said that Brown has asked motorcycle referees, or commissars, to come in early for the race and hold training sessions. For the last two races, the motorcycle marshals now stay in front of the pack and stop traffic at spots not already covered by road marshals. “No more passing the racers,” Bottenhorn said.

The Tour de Leelanau will have four new BMW motorcycles for the use of the motorcycle commissars, who help the racers keep track of time and let them know where they are in the main pack, or peleton. The new “Beemer” cycles are on loan from a Grand Rapids BMW dealership. For Bottenhorn, the big thrill is being part of a long-distance bicycling event.

“For the men this is a 110-mile long race. It’s great to see how the racers react to situations, how they adjust their tactics in trying to break away from the main pack. There is no better way to see the race then from my motorcycle,” he said.

Brown said most of the details for the race are set. Priority Health is again the main sponsor, and Leelanau Sands Casinos returns as the event presenter.

“This biggest change, obviously, is the date,” said Brown. “We had to move from the third Saturday in September due to scheduling conflicts. Memorial Day weekend made the most sense, so we had a quick turnaround to get things organize for 2008.”

With the short time between events, though, Brown said he had to drop the popular Expo that debuted last year. “I just didn’t have the time to contact the sponsors and set it up. It’s too bad and I hope to have it back for next year,” he said.

As of Tuesday morning, Brown had 17 men’s teams registered with 118 riders ready to tackle the 110-mile course the starts in Leland, reaches as far south as Base Hill in Empire and as far north as Peterson Park in Leelanau Township before winding up finishing in Peshawbestown. For the women’s race, 11 teams are registered with 53 racers set to tackle the 69.4-mile course.

The 2007 men’s and women’s winners, Garrett Peltonen and Tina Pic, will both be competing again, and Brown said the Tour has even more of an international flair this time around.

“We have riders from as far away as Denmark, Australia, Japan, Israel, it’s really attracting some quality riders,” he said. The men’s field includes three teams – Team Race Pro, Jet Fuel Coffee and Aquila/Racer Sportiff – from Canada made up solely of Canadians. There is also one all-Canadian women’s team, Equipe Cascades.

Brown said he is just about set as far as volunteers go. “We have 95 percent of our needs set. We are looking for people in the Lake Leelanau area, but for the most part, we’re good,” he said.

Even with the move to Memorial Day weekend, Brown said he had to move the start times back because at least six of the racers will have enough time to finish the race, take a shower, and head to Traverse City to catch a plane out of town and go to New Jersey for a closed track race on Memorial Day. “There is always going to be some scheduling conflict. I’m happy it’s just six racers, it could easily be 50,” Brown said.

Anyone interested in volunteering can visit the race’s website, www.tourdeleelanau.com, to register.