Bike ride gives people chance to take it easy

The 35th Annual Hilly Hundred, a three-day bicycle event, will take place this weekend. \nThe ride will take participants through the gentle, rolling hills and colorful fall landscapes of Brown, Morgan and Monroe counties. People of all ages can participate in the tour -- it is not a race, its organizers say.\n"People are invited to take their time and enjoy the scenery," said Skip Higgins, the Hilly Hundred's managing director, who has ridden for 24 years.\nCyclists in the event, sponsored by the Central Indiana Bicycling Association Inc., can choose between a 40 or 50 mile route Saturday and a 30 or 50 mile route Sunday. Saturday's tour loops riders by the lakes and hardwood trees of Morgan-Monroe State Forest. Sunday's ride winds cyclists by Lake Lemon and through Nashville.\n"People who take their time and look at the scenery have plenty available to them," Higgins said. \nThe frenzy begins Friday night, when riders can pick up their registration and enjoy live entertainment and free refreshments.\nAdvanced registration for the event is closed, but interested riders can sign up at Bloomington High School North, 3901 N. Kinser Pike, on Saturday morning before the ride. Riders can begin the route anytime between 8 and 10:30 a.m. Saturday and 7 to 10:30 a.m. Sunday. \nThe ride starts and ends at Bloomington North, the Hilly Hundred's headquarters. Registration costs $40 for one or both days, a price that includes entertainment and free food at all rest stops. \nThe Bloomington North Band Boosters, a club in charge of raising funds for the high school's band program, will prepare a Saturday morning breakfast, Saturday evening spaghetti dinner and a pancake breakfast Sunday morning for riders, said Donna Rinckel, who, with her husband, Tim, is in charge of organizing the weekend for the club.\n"This is our biggest fund-raiser of the year," Rinckel said. "It's a big endeavor with over 600 man-hours for the weekend." \nMany Little 500 riders participate in the Hilly Hundred, Higgins says.\nTim Laughlin, a Bloomington North Band Boosters member, says he encourages anyone who enjoys biking to participate in the event because roads are blocked off, making the weekend a rare opportunity to enjoy scenic routes without traffic.\n"It's a great time to ride because the roads are almost all reserved for the bicyclists," he said. "And, you get to see southern Indiana in all its fall glory."\nThe Hilly Hundred's main problem is bandits -- people who don't register for the event but partake in the ride and free food anyway, Higgins said.\n"People who haven't registered should not participate in riding," he said. \nThe first Hilly Hundred, then sponsored by the Southern Indiana Bicycle Touring Association, took place in June 1968 and featured 54 riders. Today's tour boasts 5,000 riders from more than 40 states.\nBicycle Magazine and the League of American Bicyclists' Best Biking in America Competition named the Hilly Hundred "Best Overall Ride" in 1999 and 2000.