2010 SPRING FEVER BIKE RIDE

PILOT CLUB OF SULPHUR SPRINGS

The 9th Annual Pilot Club Spring Fever Bike Ride is scheduled for Saturday, March 20, 2010.  Ride coordinators for 2010 are Jane Goldsmith and Barbara Theofildes.

The ride is scheduled for a 9 a.m. start at the Hopkins County Civic Center.  Registration begins at 7 a.m. or you can find a registration form on the Pilot Club website – www.sspilotclub.org.  Registration fee is $30 per rider.  The Pilot Club is expecting 300+ riders for the 2010 Spring Fever Bike Ride.

Prizes are awarded for the 1st place finisher in each ride (male and female).  If there are over 300 registered for the ride, 2nd place is also paid. 

Over the past 8 years, over 2,250 riders have been to Sulphur Springs to ride in the Spring Fever Bike Ride.  Riders come from Sulphur Springs, the DFW area, Greenville,  Gilmer, and Bogota and from as far away as Austin, Houston, Waxahachie, Wichita Falls, and Ashdown, TX, Tulsa, OK, and Little Rock, AR.

For the 2010 Spring Fever Bike Ride there will be 16, 29, 39, and 59 mile rides.  You can view the ride maps at www.sspilotclub.org.  Riders are required to wear bike helmets through out the event.  Participants will ride through several Hopkins County communities including Greenview, Miller Grove, Brashear, Ridgeway, Emblem, Peerless, Posey, and Birthright.   Click on the “bike review” link to access reviews posted by riders from prior years on www.bicycle-stuff.com.

There are 5 rest stops for the riders with one every 8 – 10 miles providing rest rooms, fruit, drinks, homemade cookies, and other goodies.  Rest stops this year will be hosted at Divide Baptist Church, Miller Grove Schools, Brashear Baptist Church, Peerless Baptist Church, and Birthright Café.  Pilot Club members and volunteers man SAG wagons all along the ride routes to provide mechanical and/or medical assistance for the riders. The Sulphur Springs Police Department, Hopkins County Sheriff’s Office, and the Hopkins County Memorial Hospital EMT provide professional support for the routes.

All riders finish up back at the Civic Center grounds for Hopkins County Stew cooked that morning over open fires in huge cast-iron pots.  In 2009, eight pots of stew were cooked.  The stew is cooked by Pilot Club members, Co-Pilots and community volunteers – including Pilot Club member Judy Gregg, Hopkins County Beef Stew Champion.  Pilot Club members provide homemade desserts to complete the meal.

The Pilot Club is very appreciative of the community support provided for our Spring Fever Bike Ride.  This is our only fundraiser of the year and would not be possible without the tremendous community support we receive.

Pilot Service projects so far this year include  coordinating  A Walk To Remember fundraiser for Terrific Tuesdays, providing 2 activity booths at Handicapable Rodeo, cooking breakfast at Circle of Friends camp for brain injury survivors, serving dinner and providing gifts at Our Place Christmas Party, sponsoring Caregiver of the Year Award at annual HC Chamber banquet, providing 4 Saturdays of Hoop Dreams basketball for area special needs children, making and donating over 100 fleece blankets and information on Shaken Baby Syndrome to local WIC participants and mailing care packages to 4 of our local soldiers deployed overseas.

The Pilot Club’s service focus is helping persons with brain-related disorders and disabilities through education, service, and financial support.  To learn more about Pilot Club contact President Debra Evans at 903-348-2632.

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