Habitat for Humanity Libby gears up for 23rd fundraising bike tour

Libby’s population will swell this weekend as almost 500 bicyclists participate in the annual Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River, a ride benefiting Habitat for Humanity.

Many riders are expected to stop by Nevada Avenue and West Sixth Street, where a home is being built for Norma Sweet and her three children. Some riders will help lay the floor; all have been invited to sign it afterward.

This is the 23rd year of the tour, commonly known by its acronym STOKR. The primary fundraiser for Kootenai Valley Partners, the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate, the event over the years has raised upward of $500,000, said board member and tour organizer Susie Rice.

The tour has grown from 98 riders in 1995 to its current cap of 475 — a limit Rice said is due to available lodging and other logistical concerns. Participants are chosen in a lottery, she said, and whoever is turned away gets first dibs on the following year’s ride.

Rice said participants’ praise for the tour’s lack of traffic, clean air, quietude and scenery has made it a success from the start.

“We don’t advertise at all,” she said. “It’s all word of mouth.”

Registrants this year are from as far away as Ottawa, Canada, while previous years have seen cyclists from parts as distant as Alaska and New England. Most, however, are from the Spokane and Missoula areas, Rice said.

STOKR comprises two rides Saturday, one for 45 miles and the other 98. Both begin in Libby and proceed to Troy. From there, those cranking out the longer distance ride up to the Yaak and over Pipe Creek Pass; those pedaling the shorter distance go by way of Lake Creek. On Sunday, there’s a 38-mile ride from Libby to Libby Dam and back.

Rice said they refrain from publishing detailed routes for rider safety; one year, someone broke glass bottles along a stretch, causing about a dozen flat tires.

This year, organizers are trying something new — a three-wave staggered start to spread out the cyclists to ease congestion on the roadway. The food stops that Rice said have put the tour on the map will still be there for cyclists when they pass, featuring cookies — always homemade — pies, soup and some sandwiches.

Every other year, STOKR coincides with the building of a Habitat for Humanity home. Norma Sweet’s is the 12th built since 1996 and the eighth built in Libby; four have been erected in Troy.

Sweet said she was “completely humbled” when she found out her home application was approved.

“I’m not quiet often, and I was pretty silent for awhile” because she thought “there would be people who deserved it over us,” she said.

Habitat for Humanity requires 100 hours of “sweat equity” of home recipients, who are eligible for interest-free mortgages.

Sweet said she expects to move in by August 1 with her 13-year-old son and 9- and 10-year-old daughters.

Habitat for Humanity’s success is due in no small part to building volunteers. Every STOKR increases the ranks by about 350 volunteers responsible for everything from baking cookies to staffing food booths to driving support vehicles.

Many tour volunteers, Rice said, have “come to believe that what they do is as important as those who pound the nails” that give shape and stability to each Habitat for Humanity home.