About 1,500 bicycle riders participated in Meritan's annual Midnight Classic Bike Tour & Lunar Festival last year.
About 1,500 bicycle riders participated in Meritan's annual Midnight Classic Bike Tour & Lunar Festival last year.
Tents will be going up Saturday evening at Poplar Plaza in preparation for the 11th annual Meritan Midnight Classic Bike Tour & Lunar Festival.
And at 10 p.m., the warm-up begins with music by popular party band Venus Mission, trick bicycle riding, food and beverages and cycle vendors.
"We expect 2,000 the night of the ride," says Elise Bone, Meritan spokesman. "We had 1,500 last year, so have moved the venue to Poplar Plaza, which has more space."
The ride this year is similar to last year's -- a 17-mile jaunt mostly through Midtown that attracts cyclists of all kinds, including families who bring the littlest ones along in bike carts.
It's not really a race, although, Bone says, some will make it a race. For most, she says, "it's a leisurely tour for families along with a lot of employee groups and church groups riding."
There will be police, security and volunteers all along the route, and if a rider has mechanical trouble or just gets tired, there are support vehicles that can transport them and their bikes back to Poplar Plaza.
The $35 preregistration ends today (see midnightclassicbiketour.org) or by going to the Meritan offices at 4700 Poplar. It's $40 the night of the tour, but $20 for students and military with ID.
All proceeds go to Meritan (meritan.org), a nonprofit organization that finds foster families for children with special needs, does job retraining for seniors, trains the visually impaired and offers disability and homemaker programs.
This year there's an additional benefit to riders: Gibson's Donuts will provide 2,000 doughnuts at the end of the tour to give that end-of-event sugar bump.
Midnight Classic Bike Tour & Lunar Festival
10 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday. Preregistration $35, $40 night of the ride. College students and military personnel $20. The ride starts and ends at Poplar Plaza Shopping Center at Poplar and Highland.
For more information: midnightclassicbiketour.org.
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