"The Experience" Frankenmuth, MI - Can anyone tell me about this race?

Just thought I'd bump this one last time to see if anyone could give me any insight on this race?

I am sure its fun. The Coleman brothers are both racers and in charge of the event. They make a great effort to make sure their events are fun. I have not done this one, but one of their other races a few times in the past. If my schedule stays on path, I will be at this one this year.

There are a few others on here that did it last year, maybe they will chime in

I should add, I am off the week of July 21st. After the mandated trip to Kalahari water park, I plan on riding the course. It's actually not far from some of the roads I ride now. I showed the course to my 1st shift counterpart at work. He lives up there and said those are pretty decent roads.

Their are some good pictures on FB from last years race.

Edited by Puppetmaster 2014-06-16 4:20 PM

Thanks for the replies. I have emailed 3Disciplines a couple times with no resopnse. Would you have any information on the follwoing questions? I've decided to do the sprint and not the olympic...time for training just hasnt allowed for it...lol.


-Is the swim wetsuit mandatory? Are they recommended or is the water temp. fine without?
-Where can I get a layout of the bike and run routes? I am interested in whether its a flat course, or any hills, slow grades or slopes?
-Is the transition from Swim to Bike include running up a ramp from the waterfront? Is this part of the T1 time, or part of the swim time? Is it a long distance from exiting the water to the Bike zone?

How bout just one important question...were wet suits used last year? lol.

Wetsuits are not required but you can wear them, the courses are pretty flat, there are mats a short distance out of the water that is where your swim time ends and transition time begins.

-Is the swim wetsuit mandatory? Are they recommended or is the water temp. fine without?
-Where can I get a layout of the bike and run routes? I am interested in whether its a flat course, or any hills, slow grades or slopes?
-Is the transition from Swim to Bike include running up a ramp from the waterfront? Is this part of the T1 time, or part of the swim time? Is it a long distance from exiting the water to the Bike zone?

I know this is late, but I did it this year and had fun. To answer your questions

-Not mandatory.
- Super flat
- It's part of T1 and yeah it's kind of long.

This race was amazing. The whole organization of the event was great and considering the tourist area it was really well put together. The food and drink, bag of goodies, etc. at the end was great and better than anything I've seen in Ontario at any event.

Water was warm, no wet suit needed though many wore them. (I didn't and was very comfortable.)
Your right, it was super flat. Bike was flat as a pancake, the run has some minor slopes near the end...
T1 was right from the paddleboat up the ramp to T1. At least a few hundred meters.

Only complaints:
-Spectators mulling through the path on T1. Most people were very careful not to go into the path, but there are always some people oblivious who dont pay attention. Had to call out to a few people I was coming through and it cost me a bit but nothing serious...
-The run through downtown had one intersection not manned by an official. So if you hit a red light it could stop you in your tracks had there been any traffic. Didn't effect me, but I could see someone getting hooked at the wrong time.
-The fork where sprint athletes ended their run and Olympic athletes started lap #2 didn't have an official at it directing people. some people (including me) ended up running down the second lap about 20m or so before turning around and going back looking for the sprint finish. Someone in the crowd actually told me where the fork was. There were a few of us bunched together so the signage on the ground wasn't visible. This cost me maybe 10 or 15 seconds...I went from 7th and finished 8th overall in the sprint... That being said I told the official at the end of the race about the issue at the fork and within 2 minutes they had someone there calling out directions...

Overall this race was amazing. I'll be back 2015 for sure. Taking the family and making a long weekend out of it in this amazing tourist area was the icing on the cake. Its a 4-5 hour drive (depending on the border crossing) so spending the whole weekend there made it an awesome mini vacation.