The 20-mile bike ride kicks off Nov. 4 , 9:30 a.m. at Dallas City Hall Plaza. Photo courtesy of Dallas Bike Ride.

Oct. 25, 2017

A new bike riding event aims to celebrate and encourage bike riding in Big D, while benefiting some good causes.

The inaugural Dallas Bike Ride, hosted by Capital Sports Ventures along with Dallas Sports Commission, Visit Dallas, Uptown Dallas Inc., and Downtown Dallas Inc., Dallas Bike Ride, launches Nov. 4 at 9:30 a.m. at Dallas City Hall Plaza. Nonprofit beneficiaries include Incarnation House and BikeTexas.

“Dallas has so much potential to become a great bicycling cit," said Michelle Cleveland, marketing director of Capital Sports Ventures. "The founding partners saw an opportunity to create a fun, recreational, closed-road bike event that would welcome those interested-but-concerned bicyclists and create a bike experience for all, encouraging everyone to give bicycling a try.”  

With 20-miles of closed-roads, the route showcases some of the best Dallas offers winding through eight different neighborhoods and crossing the Trinity River using four different bridges.  

“The course is made up of 20-miles of closed roads so this is the only opportunity Dallas has to bike around their city completely car-free,” Cleveland said.  

Over the years, Dallas has become a more bike-friendly city. There are more than 100 miles of bike trails in Dallas. The city’s longterm plans include creating a fully interconnected bikeway system. This summer, the launch of a dockless bikeshare has made biking more accessible too. 

“Local bike shops are expanding and opening new stores in the city,” Cleveland said. “There are 15 neighborhood-based Bike Friendly organizations in the area that focus on advocating for better bicycling and the city of Dallas itself is working on making biking better with plans to build new trails and protected bike infrastructure.”  

Community groups like BikeTexas, BikeDFW and Incarnation House are also working to invest in youth to teach safe bicycling education, and bike clubs and teams are working to encourage more people to give bicycling a try. 

The Dallas Bike Ride also invests in future generations biking in Dallas, said Cleveland. 

“One of two non-profit beneficiaries, Incarnation House, is located in the Uptown neighborhood and conducts after-school programming for at-risk high school students. They will be using the support to create a new program using the bike as a youth development tool,” she said. “The second beneficiary, BikeTexas, works to advocate for better bicycling across the state of Texas. They will use the support to teach 400 Dallas youth how to ride a bike.”

The Dallas Bike Ride begins and ends at City Hall Plaza, 1500 Marilla Street, followed by the Methodist Dallas Finish Festival, which will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The festival will be headlined by DJ Spinderella of Salt-N-Pipa, among others. Methodist Dallas is giving away 1,000 free yoga mats and festival highlights include a yoga session by a Methodist Dallas yoga teacher, a Health and Wellness Zone with a Dallas Wings youth basketball clinic, a Kids Zone, giveaways and children’s activities, a community bike village with local bike clubs, bike mechanics and food trucks. Additionally, the route will have on-course entertainment, such as a local 50-piece high school marching band, and snack stops along the way. 

Registration is $70 and includes access to the 20-mile close-road course, a Dallas Bike Ride water bottle, and a Rider Identification Kit with rider bib, helmet sticker and bike sticker. Children ages three to seven are free to sign up and youth ages eight to 15 are $30. 

Dallas Bike Ride

About: Bike ride featuring 20-mile course, closed to all car-traffic. There will be a shorter course available as well, around 10.5 miles. Festival features includes bike-related booths, family-friendly activities, a food truck and giveaways.

When: Nov. 4, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Starts and finishes at City Hall Plaza at 1500 Marilla St in Dallas.  

Registration: $70. Ages 8-15, $30. Ages 3-7, free.

Website


Stay up to date on everything green in North Texas, including the latest news and events! Sign up for the weekly Green Source DFW Newsletter! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Tags: