Tour de Cape riders take to two wheels for recreation, therapy

For most people, Saturday's Tour de Cape was just a recreational outing with friends or family members. How much recreation was involved depended on whether the 15-mile, 30-mile, 62-mile or 100-mile route was chosen.

Dr. Debbie Stiles is training for her first triathlon, the Florida Ironman on Nov. 11 in Panama City. She ran a 5K race Saturday morning before showing up downtown to begin a 100-mile cycling excursion that would take her to Trail of Tears State Park and the Southeast Missouri towns of Whitewater, Perkins and Chaffee before returning to Cape Girardeau.

A psychologist and professor on sabbatical from Webster University in St. Louis, Stiles didn't plan to push herself to record a good time. "This is just getting the miles," she said.

Each rest stop along the tour was decorated in a theme -- Down Home, Halloween, Hobos and Western. A mother and her young daughter rode a tandem bike made especially for the shorter legs at the back end.

Pre-registered for the ride were 130, nearly double the number who pre-registered in much colder temperatures last year, the tour's first. Jan Gerard, one of the organizers, said entries were received from 50 cities and six states. They included a number of St. Louisans from cycling clubs like the Scenic Psychos and the International Christian Cycling Club. Bob Wooldridge of the latter said the club "encourages good safe biking and encourages people to know God through biking."

He was looking forward to a leisurely ride on a carbon fiber bike that cost him $1,500 used and weighs only 19 pounds. Wooldridge has just recovered from a racing accident that broke his collarbone.

Lone biker

Sally Kitchen, a postal worker from Eureka, Mo., doesn't belong to a club and was entering only her third cycling event. "I'm pretty much of a loner," she said. "I have been avoiding doing these groups."

She rides 10 miles daily before dawn. "Its the only way to start the day," she said.

Like many cyclists, she used to be a runner but injured a knee. Now she's addicted to cycling. "It's the feeling you get," she said.

The ride was sponsored by the Evening Optimist Club of Cape Girardeau. It will benefit Mississippi Valley Therapeutic Horsemanship, a nonprofit program that provides horseback therapy for children with disabilities. Therapeutic horsemanship can help anyone with a disability, said Jana Rodgers, a speech pathologist who runs the program with her husband, Tim.

"The main thing is motivation," she said. "Now if they say, 'walk on,' this whole big animal moves."

A physical therapist also is associated with the program. Some disabilities are improved simply by the animal's warmth, which stretches muscles, Rodgers said. Riding also simulates the rocking motion that soothes people with autism. And the posture required to ride provides better breath support, she said. The therapy is provided at Crystal Creek Stables north of Cape Girardeau.

Stiles will be required to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and run 26.2 miles in the Florida Ironman. Running and cycling are her strengths. She swam 2 1/2 miles Friday but is not sure how swimming in the Gulf of Mexico will go. At least she'll have moral support.

Eight women she competes with in St. Louis are going to Panama City "to watch or identify the body," she said.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182