Cyclists ride in southern Ind.

More than 3,000 bicyclists from Monroe County and several foreign countries toured the hills of southern Indiana this weekend at the 46th annual Hilly Hundred Weekend.

The event, sponsored by the Central Indiana Bicycling Association, featured a 98.7-mile course through Monroe, Owen and Morgan counties for riders to complete at their own pace.

The event featured free food and live entertainment at both the tour’s headquarters at Edgewood High School in Ellettsville, Ind., and at each of the three rest stops throughout the course.

Skip Higgins, Hilly Hundred’s managing director, said the tour is not designed as a race, but as a challenge.

“We want riders to enjoy themselves, take their time and listen to the music at the rest stops,” Higgins said.

Participants were charged a $3 registration fee that will go toward the Central
Indiana Bicycling Association Foundation, a charitable organization formed by the CIBA that promotes the benefits of cycling.

Of the money that goes to the CIBA Foundation, it will be used for the foundation’s grant program to help fund events like Hilly Hundred Weekend and other bicycle-related causes.

Higgins, who helped with the event the last 13 years, said riders this year came from California to Massachusetts and from as far as Belgium.

The long-lasting tradition of the event, as well as word of mouth from family and friends, is what draws in more riders for the Hilly Hundred year after year, Higgins said.

“With almost 4,000 riders, there’s probably 4,000 different ways they all found out about it,” he said.

This year’s oldest rider was 85.

“It’s a lifestyle,” Higgins said. “This is not a single weekend or an event like a bicycle race.”

Ian Roper, who traveled from DeKalb, Ill., for this year’s event, said he participated to support his friends who cycle.

Although he said he doesn’t regularly bike himself, Roper, 30, said the event’s laid-back atmosphere makes the tour more inviting for riders.

“My friends have been participating since 2001,” Roper said. “We spend the weekend biking and camping. The event is challenging but fun to finish.”

Indianapolis resident Alyn Brown  participated in his fourth Hilly Hundred Weekend this year with his wife.

Brown, 39, said the one thing he looks forward to is seeing the different people who come out to cycle.

“You see people on an inexpensive bike where it’s the only cycling event they do all year to people who ride regularly and all the time,” Brown said. “It’s a really cool mix of people and a lot of fun.”

Follow reporter Brett Frieman on Twitter @brttfrmn.