An array of colors buzzed back and forth between Ellettsville’s Edgewood High School and the hill on which the start/finish line of the 47th Annual Hilly Hundred bike tour was perched.
Friends and strangers alike swapped stories amid breakfast and bicycles, tree-lined path their backdrop, providing a taste of the same changing colors that first inspired the ride almost 50 years ago.
Skip Higgins, managing director of the Hilly Hundred, called the event a “party on wheels.”
Higgins said the ride, spanning about 100 miles throughout a two-day period, is a leisurely tour of the hills and changing leaves of the Monroe, Owen and Morgan counties — punctuated with rest stops offering music, entertainment and refreshments. Riders take on 55 miles of trail Saturday and 43 miles Sunday.
Forty-seven years ago, people got together and went biking to enjoy the fall, and the event has since grown exponentially, volunteer and cyclist Mark Ohlman said.
Ohlman said he has participated the ride 41 times, having started as a teenager when he got a 10-speed bike and became a part of the Central Indiana Biking Association, the group that hosts the Hilly Hundred every year.
“Back then, it was smaller, less than 1,000 people,” he said.
Now, Ohlman said he continues to see familiar ?faces when he volunteers and rides.
This year’s event had more than 4,000 riders, and each person who came had his or her own reason for being there, Higgins said.
The event has drawn as many as 5,000 riders in the past, but the IU fall break this past weekend may have depleted the numbers a bit.
Jessica Johnston of West Lafayette still came out for her fifth Hilly Hundred.
“I’ve done different biking events, and I have to say this is one of the best,” she said.
Johnston said she and her husband generally bike together, but because he was working and unable to come, she would be riding alone Saturday.
“People are really friendly,” she said, explaining that participants often swap stories and share locations of other events like the Hilly Hundred, building a networked community of riders.
Ohlman said people spend all year riding and getting in shape, so once they arrive, they can just enjoy the ride.
He added that the ride is supported and explained the rest stops located about every 12 miles include food, music and a scenic place to take a break before getting back on the path.
People of all experience levels come out to ride the Hilly Hundred and, save for a few steep hills, Ohlman said the ride is completely manageable.
“It’s really not a bad ride,” he said.
A lot of times, you end up riding by yourself, he said, but people come to events like this one from all around to ride with a community.
Some riders come from even farther away, like Henry Burden of St. Louis, Mo., who came to ride with a groups of his friends.
“(The participants) use it as a reunion,” Higgins said, explaining that there are even some old Little 500 teams that reconvene for an annual group ride at the Hilly ?Hundred.
He said his friends had done the Hilly Hundred before, but this was his first time participating.
“It’s a lot of fun to be able to get out and see the countryside,” Burden said.
Burden said he likes group rides for a variety of reasons, ranging from the sheer safety in numbers felt by knowing motorists are aware of the hundreds of bicycles around them to the community aspect of these types of rides.
“I’ve always enjoyed ?cycling,” he said. “I’m just looking to enjoy myself.”
Burden said there is fun both while riding and at the rest stops and that people should try out an event like this at least once.
After a night of sleeping inside the school’s gym, getting started in the morning is a great feeling, Johnston said.
“We love it,” she said.
IU senior Ashley King said it is amazing to think people come from all around the country to ride their bikes through a town she lives in during the school year.
This year’s Hilly Hundred, promised to be a fun opportunity to meet new people, she said.
“It’s just like a team bonding (experience),” she said.
King added that she likes the easygoing nature of the event, which stems from the variety of skill levels. The event provides a good mix of challenge and fun.
“You have to really push yourself,” she said.
