DAVID JENNINGS CYCLING HELPING IMPROVE HIS LIFE
MEERS — Last year, cyclist David Jennings looked up and saw a sign for the Tour de Meers and told himself, ‘I’m gonna do that next year.’
“It’s been a goal I’ve had for a long time,” said Jennings on Saturday after completing the 60-mile rout in the 29th annual Tour de Meers. “I’ll be honest with you it’s the hardest ride I’ve ever done, but I was so excited to be out here riding today.”
Since his childhood, the Jennings family has frequently made the trip down from the Oklahoma City metro to the Wichita Mountains to adventure and enjoy family time together. Afterwards, Jennings enjoyed some of his favorite delicacy, peach cobbler from Meers.
Not only was Jennings cycling through the mountains on Saturday, he was also battling adversity uphill. To channel inner strength, Jennings recited renowned Tour de France cyclist Lance Armstrong’s quote, “Pain is temporary. Quitting is forever.”
“That’s always what gets me through,” Jennings said.
Sixty miles is the farthest Jennings, a Moore resident who works as an electrical engineer at Tinker Air Force Base, has ever ridden on a bike, though he did ride 56 last week in Oklahoma City as his final training ride. On that ride, Jennings, 24, didn’t wear sunscreen and took home an awful sunburn.
That sunburn led to Saturday’s blisters. About 40 miles into the Tour de Meers was when Jennings noticed he had heat blisters all over his arm. To top it off, his front tire was flat, a discouraging feature several other riders discovered with their own bikes throughout the race.
“I was exhausted with blisters everywhere and a flat, but I finished,” Jennings said.
Jennings was closer to quitting than he realized, though.
“I quit. I was done,” recalled Jennings at the 50-mile mark. “It was one of those moments I wanted to cry because it was so hard, but I had set the goal and decided to keep going and going until I achieved it. So today was a big win for me.”
At every rest stop or whenever he saw someone on the side of the road with a bike pump, Jennings stopped and asked if he could use the pump, forcing him to stop several times on the way home after cruising through the first half of the race.
Jennings called his wife, Caren, but in the sparse cell-service in the mountains, he couldn’t reach her. Eventually, Caren found him, and drove behind him the rest of the way until he finished.
“There are times in my life like today when I got a flat tire going up a hill where I ask, ‘Why do I do this? I should just quit,’” Jennings said. “Every time I keep going and finish and it’s the thrill of it and I can’t wait to get back out there.”
When adversity had reached its peak Saturday, Jennings realized how far he had come in his cycling journey.
In college at Oklahoma State, Jennings had a close friend, Nathan, who was big into cycling and encouraged Jennings to join him.
“I kind of made fun of cyclists for a little bit, at first,” Jennings said.
Nathan took him out for a 10-mile ride and the intrigued Jennings began riding with him once a week. But once Nathan graduated and moved away, Jennings let cycling fade once more until he graduated and moved to Moore, where his house was right off a bike route.
“I needed to start biking again,” said Jennings who at the time weighed 50 pounds more than he does now. “I needed a way to exercise.”
So, one day, Jennings hopped on his bike and began riding. The first day he rode four miles; the next, six.
“I kept going farther and farther until I got real serious about it,” Jennings said. “I eventually started doing organized events for charities and bought a really nice bike. That helped me get into it.”
The first organized event Jennings road in was to raise money for the Salvation Army to buy kids helmets at Christmas times.
“I’m all about that,” Jennings said. “It’s a big deal to me. Most of the time, it’s easier to enjoy a hobby when you’re raising money for some good cause.”
This fall, Jennings will ride in the Bike for the Light, which is a five-day tour of nearly 500 miles from northern New Mexico riding south to the Texas border. Caren’s uncle is the event organizer. The charity raises money to support missionaries all over the world.
“Biking is huge for me and it’s a very important part of my life,” Jennings said. “To be able to have a hobby where I can help people means a lot to me. Not only do I get something out of it — prolonging my life with health benefits — but I can help others as well.”
Until cycling, Jennings never had a true hobby in his life. He enjoyed partaking in certain activities, but he never perfected a craft. Now that he’s found cycling, his lifestyle choices have improved with a simple, but fun form of cardio, while also providing the opportunity to help others.
Some rides like the Tour de Meers help organizations sustain themselves for the following year.
Given the high fire danger the Wildlife Refuge is often in, supporting an organization like the Meers Volunteer Fire Department means the world to cyclists like Jennings, who has made many special memories in the area throughout the years.
“I really care about the Wichitas because I spent a lot of time here growing up,” Jennings said. “Riding through the Wildlife Refuge is a huge deal and that’s the best part about the ride.”
What Jennings, and several other cyclists, have enjoyed most about the Tour de Meers over the years, is the one-on-one time with nature at a slower pace.
“When you ride, you’re going slower than driving. You’re taking more in, you’re breathing in the air,” Jennings said. “You’re face-to-face with these big huge bison, the longhorns. It’s an exhilarating moment. This is probably one of the best rides I’ve ever done.”
