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Steamboat Springs — Don't expect to see an endless stream of Front Range cyclists crowding the highway during Saturday's Tour de Steamboat.

The local event - which organizers stress is not a race - is capped at 500 riders. Tour de Steamboat organizer Katie Lindquist describes the third annual 105-mile cycling tour as "a little bit of a last hurrah, end-of-summer event."

The Tour de Steamboat is sponsored by Kent Eriksen Cycles.

"We like to keep it small," Lindquist said. "It's kind of a local thing, so you get to know everyone, and there's not so many people that you need police escorts or anything."

The only thing participating cyclists will need is a little nutritional help between riding up Rabbit Ears Pass on U.S. Highway 40, Gore Pass on Colorado Highway 134 and finishing on Yellow Jacket Pass on Routt County Road 14.

Between these high points (which total 6,684 in elevation gain), organizers will have five aid stations with "food, snacks, energy drinks and lots of cheerleading," Lindquist said.

Lindquist expects about 225 riders. The tour starts and ends at the Meadows parking lot near The Tennis Center at Steamboat Springs, with riders departing betweem 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. The finish line will close at 6:30 p.m. A SAG support vehicle will roam the course to help riders who need medical and/or technical aid.

The tour events will be capped with an evening barbecue at Kent Eriksen Cycles/Orange Peel Bicycle Service, 1136 Yampa Ave.

Lindquist said she still needs volunteers to work the aid station in Toponas and at the finish line. Those interested should e-mail tourdesteamboat@springsips.com.

Visit www.tourdesteamboat.com for more tour details and full route information, or call 871-0480. Registration is open until Friday. Interested cyclists can download forms from the Web site and fax to 879-0481. The cost to ride is $100. Packet pick-up is from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Eriksen Cycles/Orange Peel Bicycle Service.