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Tour de'Belleville recap

Hats off to the Belleville Neighborhood Associations and the Belleville Department of Parks and Recreation for pulling off a successful Tour de'Belleville.

About 500 people attended the ride Friday night, much more than organizers expected. Given that it took eight years to get Tour de Stooges to that number of participants, I say Tour de'Belleville organizers did a great job of finding their target audience -- people who normally don't do a lot of cycling -- and getting the word out. Tour de'Belleville organizer Phil Elmore did a great job in contacting neighborhood groups and the Belleville Area Bicycling and Eating Society, among others, to encourage them to spread the news about the event.

Now, a seven-mile ride isn't much of a challenge for people who belong to the BABES, so we decided to make a celebration out of it. More than 20 people showed up for our pre-ride meal at Margarita's Mexican Restaurant, then a good number of people went to Main Street Jazz & Blues for a post-ride happy hour, which turned into hours. Several of us finished early enough that we got to do a second circuit of the route.

While several of us wished the route was a bit longer, I think seven miles probably was enough for the vast majority of participants. Hopefully, they got a taste of how much fun cycling can be and will consider doing longer rides in the future.

Roger 0 comments 11:48 AM