Winding Their Way Tour Des Lacs Gives Riders A Scenic Tour As Fall Sets In
She heard the call, the challenge to be an athlete of a singular caliber. Nikki Otero heard the call to be slow.
The Spokane woman said she’d finish dead-last in the annual Tour des Lacs bicycle ride on Sunday. She was committed to this, and had done it the day before. And Otero would endure all the food breaks she could to catch that tarnished brass ring.
“They feed us a lot,” she shrugged early Sunday, eating pancakes at City Park in Coeur d’Alene. The day before, Otero and the cycling mob stopped for breakfast, brunch break, lunch, then a pre-dinner snack.
“I couldn’t eat dinner,” she said. “I was too full.”
The two-day Tour des Lacs ends up being the only cycling event where riders can actually gain weight.
But that’s OK. Fun, far more than speed, was the goal of this bike tour. It’s not a race. It’s about friends and scenic touring once more before winter weather sets in. About 850 people joined in Sunday, and they even got to choose their own course.
On Saturday’s trip from Spokane to Coeur d’Alene, riders had a choice of four routes - two featuring cruises across Lake Coeur d’Alene. Not too shabby.
The mob meeting for the second-day ride from Coeur d’Alene back to Spokane was varied.
Some were Lycra-serious. Others were Levi’s-casual. Some rode old single-gear beaters with rearview mirrors sprouting like antennae. Others rode groovy new mountain models and road racers.
And seven were pedaling away on the road to nowhere - warming up using stationary bikes. Their instructor - a woman from Sta-Fit who shouted commands through a headset - barked out the routine.
Someone said they didn’t like the music - a sandwich of synthesizers and drum machines a la guerrilla warfare.
“You’re not in my pack!” the teacher chastised. “You’re not on my team!”
Bill Zales and Bob Herbkersman fed her team and everyone else’s. They were members of the Panhandle Kiwanis, and that meant they were also the Pancake Guys. They flipped about 1,800 flapjacks on Sunday.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Herbkersman said. “I enjoy harassing the people and having them harass you right back.”
Cindi Hogan and Terri Fortini harassed one another instead, and they did it with song. They were riding tandem, and no matter how poorly the other one warbled, there was no chance of escape.
Organizer Gino Lisiecki told everyone it was time to start. The bikes swarmed tire-to-tire at the park’s north edge. And with a police escort to lead them, they were off.
Now free of customers, the Pancake Guys besieged Lisiecki. They wanted their souvenir shirts.
Back on the trail, some riders rode 73 hilly miles, others rolled over 40 gently rolling ones. Everybody smiled, either way.
It may have had something to do with what Lisiecki said before riders left: “We’ll see you at the Bayou Brewing Company!”
Yes, by afternoon the riders had traded in their Gatorade for Gator Ale. The parking lot of the Spokane brew pub was a tangle of spokes, pumps, and cool cycling jerseys.
And on the patio in back, it was party time.
There was sour cream and butter and chili and about six kinds of hot sauce. And lots and lots of beer.
Pam and Lenny Nichols and friend Debbie Buckley all hailed from Newport, and they said the trip south was well worth it.
Lenny sipped something sudsy with a lemon bobbing in it. He looked happy.
And Pam was ecstatic. “Somebody even saw a moose!” she said in an amazed whisper.
They rode along the river and through two states.
“We feel pretty good,” Buckley said. “I was surprised. I wasn’t sure how we’d feel after that.”
But alas, Nikki Otero did not savor the taste of anti-victory a second time.
Looking as unruffled as if she had taken the bus, Otero looked like she had tried. But after her, others still arrived.
Oh well. The ex-champ turned away, back to the consolation prize, back to the potatoes and beer.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 4 photos (3 color)
MEMO: Cut in Spokane edition