With just one day remaining before the big ride, participants in the 2016 Tour de Cure cycling event are doing the last-minute things that will prepare them for the American Diabetes Association’s annual fundraiser here in Suffolk.

Bicycle tires properly inflated? Check. Wheels greased? Check. Water bottles filled? Check. Riding attire ready to go? Check. Registration complete? If not, it’s still not too late. Last on the list for most of the thousand or so riders expected to take part is this — and it’s probably the most important: Get a good night’s rest before tackling the 10-, 25-, 65- or 100-mile courses that will meander from King’s Fork High School, along Suffolk’s back roads and back again.

For folks in Suffolk who will not be riding, the checklist is simple. Watch out for the riders on Saturday. Share the road responsibly. Be good neighbors and hosts.

Ever since the Tour — now in its 22nd year in Hampton Roads — came to Suffolk in 2012, it has grown by leaps and bounds. That says much about the city’s open-arms approach to the event. Suffolk has welcomed the event and its riders, has provided a cadre of volunteers to help pull it off and has worked with the organizers to make sure all of the logistical challenges of such a big ride are handled efficiently.

“The city of Suffolk as a whole has been very good to us, and we really appreciate how supportive they’ve been of the event,” Amie Holman, associate director of the diabetes association, said this week. “We can’t stress how much we appreciate it.”

From rest stops to medical aid to food to manpower, Suffolk has stepped up to help make this an event that draws people into the city, where they can see some of what makes it special for those of us who call it home and where they can feel good about spending money on gas, on food and on supplies while they’re here.

Sharing the roads with a thousand cyclists on Saturday might seem an inconvenience to some, but the benefit to the city — to say nothing of the benefit to those supported by the tens of thousands of dollars raised by the American Diabetes Association during Tour de Cure — is worth the slight inconvenience. And by Sunday, the cones and the bikes will all be gone, and folks can go back to worrying about trains, rather than bicycles.