Bike tour benefits search and rescue
<p>The mother-daughter team of Madison Keck, left, and Tammy Keck aboard a Giordano Viaggio tandem approach the turnout on the Forest Development Road overlooking Libby Dam 2.8 miles into their 83-mile ride. (From Missoula)</p>
Dejon Raines has taken her passion for bike riding and turned it into a fundraiser for David Thompson Search and Rescue.
“I really enjoy bike riding myself,” Raines, the founder and coordinator for the Le Tour de Koocanusa said. “That’s what inspired me to start the event. I’ve participated in the STOKR, the Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River two-day bike ride, which is the fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity. We were looking for a fundraiser for search and rescue because they do great work. That’s what inspired me to start the event five years ago.”
The Le Tour de Koocanusa is an 83-mile bike ride that serves as a fundraiser for David Thompson Search and Rescue, but also stimulates the local economy.
“It’s a fundraiser for search and rescue,” Raines said. “But, it also helps local businesses. We have people come from all over and it helps the local hotels and restaurants. It helps support the Riverfront Blues Festival. It’s definitely a win-win for a lot of folks in the community.”
The 83-mile ride will start at 8 a.m. Saturday, August 8. The ride starts at the David Thompson Bridge located in front of the Libby Dam. The ride follows Lake Koocanusa north on Forest Service Road 228. It crosses over Lake Koocanusa on the Rexford Bridge. Following the bridge the ride continues south on Highway 37. The ride finishes where it started on the David Thompson Bridge in front of the Libby Dam. The cyclists will face a 1.5 mile uphill section of the course at the very beginning with a climb of 500 feet.
“It’s a gorgeous ride,” Raines said. “It’s a beautiful route. Lake Koocanusa is rated the number one location for a bike tour. There is very little to no traffic on it. I know a number of contestants like it for that reason, so they don’t have to deal with oncoming traffic constantly. You can be riding along and maybe see one car. Another compliment we’ve received is that it’s a very well supported ride. With search and rescue we have the manpower to cover it and make sure all the riders get back safely. It’s just a really pleasant ride.”
Rider check-in and packet pick-up will take place Friday, August 7 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Irene Loveless Realty. The riders will have a chance to check in the morning of the event from 7 a.m. until 7:45 a.m.
The registration fee is $60 and includes a tee shirt and one ticket to the Riverfront Blues Festival on Saturday.
“One of the perks of our bike ride is that all the riders are given a ticket for Saturday’s Riverfront Blues Festival,” Raines said. “So a lot of them head down to Riverfront Park after the ride. It’s nice when two events in town can support each other.”
Raines said that on average there are normally over 100 participants that come to Libby for the 83-mile ride and that they come from all over.
“It’s pretty consistent that we get around 130 contestants,” she said. “A small percentage of the contestants are local. I would say about five percent of them are local. I’d guess that 50 percent of them are from Canada. We have a guy coming from Germany this year. In the past we’ve had people come from Japan. We normally have people come from California, Oregon and Washington. It brings in quite a spectrum of riders.”
Raines said that she would participate in the event if she weren’t the coordinator.
“I’m the organizer of the event,” she said. “So I have to make sure everything goes smoothly. That means I don’t get to ride.”
Raines said that when the tour starts there will be some spectators.
“At the start of the ride we have people gathered to watch,” she said. “But, there usually isn’t a big crowd to watch the end. We have elite riders and beginner riders. The elite riders finish around noon and the other ones will finish around 4 p.m. or 4:45 p.m. But, in between that time there will be a number of people finishing up.”
Raines said that the amount of support she has received from the community has been great the past five years.
“I have 23 volunteers that help me out,” she said. “Without their help I wouldn’t be able to pull this event off. I want to give a huge thank you to everybody in the community that help make this event possible. We have a number of sponsors that help us put the ride on every year and I’m thankful for all their support.”