This Sunday, beginning and expert bikers are invited to attend the fourth annual Missouri Mountain Bike Ride in Cape Girardeau. "This is a great opportunity for people in Cape to have a legitimate bike event," said John Dodd, the owner of Cyclewerx, who helped organize the event. "It's about people coming out to enjoy the competition, and see what other bikers are doing."

Five races on Sunday will begin at 9 and 10:30 a.m. and another four will be at 1 p.m. at Delaware Park. Prizes include cash for first place and bicycling gear.

Dodd is expecting 75 to 100 racers at least that many spectators to attend.

He said even though the track is just two miles long, it is respected among area bikers, who will be traveling from Memphis, St. Louis and other cities to race on it.

Patrick Koetting, the general manager at Cape Bicycle & Fitness, said the designers of the track did a good job of giving a rider two solid miles of workout.

"They filled the landscape," Koetting said. "It's relatively technical, not long and wide open. There's going to be some turns, you cross a creek twice and there are some steep climbs."

Matt Struckmann, a racer with the St. Louis bike team Big Shark said he might attend the event because he would like to race on another track besides the ones in St. Louis.

"It's like eating the same food all the time," Struckmann said. "It's something different."

Dodd said he enjoys the race being so local.

"From my house, it's just five minutes," he said.

The race is one of many sponsored by Mesa Cycles.

The 18-acre Delaware Park is on a gravel driveway off Old Sprigg Street. If turning from Lexington Avenue onto Old Sprigg Street, make a right at the first gravel driveway. If turning right from Bertling Street onto Old Sprigg Street, make a left on the last gravel driveway.

For more information, visit www.stlbiking.com/mtb/pages/cape.html.