By MIKE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
For many people, the idea of going for a bike ride means heading out on the Green Circle Trail or down one of the many streets in the county for a nice, leisurely ride.
But for dozens of Portage County residents, bicycle riding is a competitive sport where weekends are spent traveling across Wisconsin for the next big race.
And one of those large events happened last Saturday in the Cable/Hayward area at the 17th Annual Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival. That's where 2,500 mountain bike riders, including two dozen from Portage County, took part in either the Chequamegon Fat Tire Forty, a 40-mile race, or the Short and Fat, a 16-mile race.
The race, which three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond won in the early '90s, has become so popular that bicyclists have to be chosen in a lottery in order to compete.
Stevens Point's Scott Cole was the highest finisher in the Fat Tire Forty from the area, taking 51st overall (11th in the Male 35-39 age group) in 2:34:44. Troy Olm of Plover wasn't far behind, finishing 55th in 2:35:02 (19th in Male 30-34 age group).
"I wasn't close to my goal, but I was pleased with how I did," said Cole, who hoped to finish in the top 20. "I just ran out of fuel towards the end of the race."
Cole currently competes in the state's mountain bike series, called the Wisconsin Off-Road Series. In fact, through nine races he's leading the 35-plus Expert class in the series. Round 10 is this weekend's Buzzard Buster in Neillsville and the second to last race is Oct. 3 in Iola.
Earlier this summer his team, which included riders from Wisconsin Rapids, won the Pro Overall at the 24-9 relay race held at Rib Mountain. In the event, teams of four or five take turns riding nine miles for 24 hours.
Cole, who says he competes in 25 to 30 races a year, got into bicycling about 10 years ago.
"I got started back in '89 or '90 when we moved to Florida. I started racing with college students," he said. "I was a college runner in cross country and track and it was something competitive."
The Stevens Point rider uses both his bicycle and his running shoes to train before and during the season. Wednesday, he went on a 40-mile training ride.
"I ride between 15 and 20 hours a week and I try to run a couple of days a week," he said.
Other bicyclists, like Wayne and Elizabeth Drifka of Stevens Point, aren't as serious as the top racers on the mountain biking circuit.
The couple competed in the Fat Tire Forty last Saturday and both finished in the top half. Wayne was 1,146th in 3:56:53 (147th in the Male 40-44 age group) and Elizabeth took 1,379th place in 4:24:14 (29th in the Female 35-39 age group). After four years in the Short and Fat, Elizabeth entered the big race of the day.
"It was very physically challenging. I'm used to coming in the top 15 females (in the Short and Fat)," Elizabeth said. "It's a lot tougher. It's 100 times tougher physically.
"But it's still a lot of fun," she added.
Fun is one of the big reasons the Drifka's got into bicycling. Wayne started about nine years ago and Elizabeth's been riding competitively for about five.
"We were so impressed by it - it looked like so much fun," Elizabeth said. "I did a couple of races and kept doing more."
This summer the Drifka's haven't raced as much as in past years, when they were on the road to races at least every other weekend. But that could change next year, according to Wayne.
"We kind of cut back but we still did our favorite races. We took a hiatus, I guess," Elizabeth said.
"Next year we plan on racing more," Wayne said.
One of Wayne's friends first introduced him to bicycle racing and took him to his first road race. Wayne said he didn't have a bike and had to borrow one.
Over the years, the Drifka's have met lots of people along the way. They even found each other.
"I made a lot of new friends and I met my wife that way," Wayne said.
You can't beat the people, they're really nice," Elizabeth said. "They're the kind of people, if you fall during a race, they'll stop and help.
"The people are so cool. You just meet really cool people."
Wayne said he met one of his competitors the Fat Tire Forty, someone he won't soon forget.
"The guy was 80 years old. That's where I want to be," Wayne said.