Spinning their wheels
Ryan Collingwood Staff Writer | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 2 months AGO
RYAN COLLINGWOOD/Press Participants spin their wheels Friday during the Guns and Hoses Charity Bike Ride at Peak Fitness in Post Falls.
LISA JAMES/PressJacqueline Boone of Blades by J shows Sherrie and Joe Taylor knives at the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday. The show opened Friday at noon and runs through Sunday.
LISA JAMES/PressFlowers were given to the first 300 visitors to the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday. The show opened Friday at noon and runs through Sunday.
LISA JAMES/PressGarden Art by Imagine Metal Design was one of the wares for sale at the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday. The show opened Friday at noon and runs through Sunday.
LISA JAMES/PressKimberly Clark of Scentsy arranges one of her winkles candles before the start of the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday. The show opened Friday at noon and runs through Sunday.
LISA JAMES/PressEric Christen of New Leaf Nursery in Hayden looks over their booth before the start of the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds Friday morning. New Leaf Nursery's booth took first place.
LISA JAMES/PressFlowers were given to the first 300 visitors to the 2017 Home & Garden Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday. The show opened Friday at noon and runs through Sunday.
LISA JAMES/Press The 2017 Home and Garden Show judges selected the winning vendors at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds on Friday morning. The judges, from left: John Kraack, Idaho Division of Building Safety, electrical inspector; Denise Ketron, Idaho Division of Building Safety, customer resource team; and Chuck Knapp, Idaho Division of Building Safety, plumbing/HVAC supervisor.
POST FALLS — Twenty-two exercise bikes, with a different butt planted on every seat each hour, formed a half-circle Friday at the Post Falls Peak Health and Wellness Center.
This wasn't a run-of-the-mill spin session, though.
From 6 a.m. to midnight, 260 people pumped their legs and sweated it out for the Kootenai County Police and Fire Memorial Foundation.
The ninth annual Guns and Hoses Charity Bike Ride also featured games and a silent auction, all in an effort to exceed last year's fundraising mark of $20,000.
This year's goal was hiked up to $27,000, a tribute to fallen Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore's K27 call sign. By Friday afternoon, the charity event was on pace to reach its mark.
Post Falls resident Joe Houser's effort was perhaps the biggest boon.
While everyone else was required to ride the bike for an hour before rotating, Houser, an employee of Buck Knives, rode the exercise bike for 18 hours and raised more than $3,000 by 3 p.m.
"(Peak) does this event every year, and I like to support them, but the foundation is pretty awesome," said a pedaling Houser, who was nine hours through his goal.
Houser took short breaks, but joked he mostly did it for the courtesy of the other spinners.
"I have to take a shower break," he said. "The smell gets pretty bad."
Of the 22 bikes representing a team, each had a title, with Houser's boasting a play on words: "Wheely Tired."
"I just try not to look at the clock and push forward," said Houser, participating in the fundraiser for the third year.
Each team raised a minimum of $530 and indivduals pledged anywhere from $5 to $30. One Coeur d'Alene Polce Department team raised more than $3,000. Each local fire and law enforcement agency was represented.
Addison Arce, the director of the Kootenai County Police and Fire Memorial Foundation, was impressed with the event's turnout and its continued growth.
"I can't say enough good things about Peak Fitness. It took the time to put this together," Arce said. "It's one thing to have a golf tournament because certain people play golf, but this is for health reasons and the riding. It's a great thing for us to raise money."
Men, women and children participated in the event thought up 10 years ago by Post Falls Peak general manager Heath Wiltse. The idea came to Wiltse while he was watching “The Biggest Loser.”
"Instead of just writing a big fundraising check — something not many people can do — why not throw a big party where people can come and enjoy themselves and not mind spending $5 or $30," said Wiltse. "Then we pool it all together. That's how all of this started and it's grown every year."
The event raised $1,500 in its first year. In 2015, it raised $10,000 and doubled up to $20,000 last year.
"It's about growing this to get a lot of people involved and write a huge check to this foundation to help the first responders,” Wiltse said.
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