Popular Tour de Meers slated Saturday

Anyone who has driven around Lake Lawtonka and then toward Meers, sees clearly why the Meers Volunteer Fire Department’s continued growth is vital to all those residents and that’s just why the group puts so much effort into their 35th Annual Tour de Meers.

This year’s event is scheduled Saturday and while preparations have been ongoing for months, now the pace quickens as the 7:30 a.m. start creeps closer.

“Everything is progressing as normal; we’ve had much-needed rain and now things are drying up and we’re making our final push,” said longtime spokesperson Cindy Rowe Zelbst. “Everything is the same; the routes, the rest stops. We feel like the routes are the best we have had and there is no changes being made. Our gravel route for those experienced riders has been wet but it’s drying out and should be ready.”

While many riders have already registered, there is still time for those late comers who have been waiting on a weather forecast or trying to work out their schedule.

To register you can go to the following Website: www.bikereg.com to get into the field and if you enter before 11:59 p.m. Wednesday you will be guaranteed a Tour de Meers shirt.

You can still register after Wednesday but may not get a shirt depending on the number of competitors. Registration will also be available on race day starting at 6 a.m. but you will not be guaranteed a shirt.

“If they want to make sure they get a shirt, they need to register by the Wednesday deadline,” Zelbst said.

Another advantage of registering before Wednesday is that will allow you to show up Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. to pick up your race packet which will include your shirt.

“We do allow riders who are registered to come out Friday evening to get their packet and that will keep them from having to do it during the Saturday morning rush,” Zelbst said.

This week Zelbst will start putting the final preparations into full speed.

“Meers helps us out by providing the bananas, oranges and orange juice and that is really helpful,” Zelbst said. “I will make a run to the store and buy Gatorade, water, snacks, and pickles since all of those things are popular at the rest stops.”

On race day the volunteers gather at 5:30 a.m. and start preparing for checkin and registration while other groups gather to assist at the parking area and others get their rest stop supplies and head to their locations where they will remain until the last riders complete the ride.

There are numerous family groups that run rest stops and there are others who make the event work as efficiently as possible.

“The Lawton-Fort Sill Amateur Radio Club has been assisting with the Tour since its inception,” Zelbst said. “They provide valuable communications on race day. They also provide a team to drive each route and if there is somebody who needs medical or mechanical help they contact us and we send out help.

“The Cache Masons have been helping with our parking area and that is another important group to make sure riders get parked and have time to warm up and get ready for the start. All those groups and our rest stop groups are what makes this such a popular ride. Our rest stop groups do an amazing job making the riders feel special.”

And as a sign of the positive relationship between rural fire departments, several of them help with the effort.

“The Medicine Park Fire Department helps with the route inside in the town and especially crossing the bridge, so they are a vital part of this effort,” she said. “The Pecan Creek Fire Department helps out during the ride and Saddle Mountain Fire Department run a rest stop on one route.”

The Tour also has a special project this year.

“Bill and Peggy Coe have worked hard with our merchandise sales and she is a wonderful quilter,” Zelbst said. “She came up with the idea of taking shirts from our earlier rides and make a T-shirt quilt that is going to be raffled off this year. She worked with Ed Hoozier at Stanton’s (Screen Printing) who has done all shirt designs and he signed the quilt to make it a special item for the winner of that drawing.”

Tickets for the quilt raffle are $5 each and riders can purchase those on Friday evening or during the duration of the ride on Saturday or they can buy them when registering.

As always, the group will turn right around to improve their equipment which is the reason the group works so hard to make the ride special.

“Since last year’s ride we were able to purchase a new piece of equipment which is a side-by-side with a tank and spray rig,” she said. “The (Wichita Mountains Wildlife) Refuge and the Oklahoma Forestry people both use those vehicles and they are great for up in the rougher terrain where trucks can’t drive.

“The funds we raise also go to help with routine maintenance, fuel, and the other normal things we need. That’s why we do this, to keep improving our department.”