Embrace the Hills draws 102 riders for 15th year
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
The 15th annual Embrace the Hills bicycle ride drew 102 registered cyclists Sept. 19 to the Mondamin Community Center.
"This all started about 17 years ago when I was cycling in the area," said Tammi Mether, who organizes the ride with her husband, Richard. "I never took the hills; they seemed too difficult. But riding only flat routes makes you more tired, so eventually I decided that I needed to 'embrace' the hills. It was more challenging but definitely a good switch. We thought it would be fun to organize a group of riders to enjoy the Loess Hills. So we did!"
About half the riders took the [28/29]-mile route through Pisgah and Little Sioux. The rest rode to Magnolia, where they split between 36-mile and 48.5-mile routes that later joined the Pisgah and Little Sioux route.
"We've had participants from many different states in past years, but this year's group was all Iowans and Nebraskans," Mether said.
Last year's ride had 113 registered cyclists from Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and New York "We didn't have any calls for our support teams, and that was rare," Mether said. "Everyone got along very well with their bicycles, and we had no breakdowns, no 911 calls. That's always a good thing!"
Mether said food is a big reason the ride continues. "I believe one of the main reasons that this ride keeps happening is that the cyclists love the wonderful homemade foods donated by local volunteers," she said. "We make efforts to try to meet the needs of all the people involved, and a big part of that is the food."
The ride benefits Matthew's House, a local food pantry. "Another thing people enjoy is blessing our local food pantry, Matthew's House," Mether said. "As a part of the registration fee, cyclists are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items. The proceeds from the ride also benefit the food pantry."
"The one thing I hear the most is how friendly our volunteers are," she said. "Our pit stop teams do not change much from year to year, and most of the cyclists are repeat participants, so it's starting to be like a big family. The scenery is always mentioned also. We live in a beautiful area, and it's fun to show it off by bringing people into this area. All of the towns on our Embrace map have been wonderful to work with!"
"Organizing this seems to get easier each year," Mether said. "I have people volunteering for different positions even when I have not asked for help. I have the most wonderful group of people putting their time in to make this a very good event.
"Besides the wonderful cooks, we have help with registration, dining room and kitchen workers, pit stop volunteers and support team drivers. We also spend a day marking the route with arrows so no one gets lost, and it takes another day to put out entertaining road signs to keep participants from getting bored."
Information about the ride is available at bikeiowa.com, or by contacting Richard and Tammi Mether at tammimail@gmail.com or 402-253-5102.
