The 2nd Annual Tour of Muncie is more than a bunch of helmet clad people with bicycles, more than a donation to an important cause and more than a good form of exercise. It is a community coming together.
The bike tour will be held on the corner of Walnut and Charles streets in Muncie on Saturday. On-site registration begins at 7:45 a.m., and tours begin at 9 a.m. Online registration costs $10, $15 at the gate, and all of the proceeds go to the Muncie-Delaware Clean and Beautiful, a non-profit that works to beautify the community.
Kyle Johnson, GIS coordinator for the event, said the idea of a tour around the city started with him and three other friends.
"We were going to have a Tour de France party. Somehow it went from that to, ‘Hey, let's host a community cycle event.'" Johnson said. "We wanted something that promoted cycling on roads as a viable means of transportation, but also highlights some of the cool and interesting things that are in Muncie that people don't really know about."
While this year, the Tour of Muncie has the same goal as previous years, they have many new features, Johnson said.
One improvement is the six themed tours, each guided by a professional within that area. On average they are between 7 to 10 miles, so there is a tour for everyone. "Weird Muncie" is one of these tours, which will be guided by Nick Werner, the former Star Press blogger who wrote the blog "Weird Muncie."
"There are going to be some interesting places. There's like a castle house that looks exactly like a castle that is hidden in Muncie that no one knows about." Johnson said.
Another addition is the "Stop and Go" event which will provide food, music and activities, as well as a free "Swag Bag" for participants. The bag will include an event T-shirt, water bottle and a reusable shopping bag, among other items. A mini bike race and bike toss competition will take place after the tours as part of the activities. There is even an After-Event Party at 4 p.m. for participants over 21 at the Fickle Peach.
With all of these improvements, executive director Tom Reever is hoping to grow from last year's 100 participants and $400 revenue to between 200 and 300 participants and to raise over $1,000. Part of this positive outlook is based on the fact that Ball State students are given the chance to get involved this year.
"It is one of those things that it seems we don't get a lot of students to venture off campus," Johnson said. "[We are] getting them a little more downtown and show[ing] them that there is more to Muncie than Ball State. Hopefully, we can get more of them to stick around and turn the city around a little bit."
Thomas Friddle, president of Emerging Green Builders, an architecture club affiliated with the United States Green Building Council and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design energy compliance measures, is a Ball State student who is eager to get involved, but not just because he received the mass email sent out to everyone.
"I did a bike ride in Michigan with a group of guys who happened to be from Muncie, I didn't realize they were from Muncie when I drove up there to meet them," Friddle said. "One of the founding members of that club [Johnson] is sponsoring the Tour of Muncie."
Now Friddle, senior architecture major, is trying to pull together a group of EGB club members to join the bike tour with him.
"The whole big idea for the club is to get involved more locally, and being green in a lot of ways means making the world around you more enjoyable and more beautiful," Friddle said. "I thought this was a good opportunity for that."
Although this will be the first time they are involved with the bike tour, EGB is no stranger to the MDCB non-profit.
"In the past, EGB has done the White River Cleanup, I've been here four years and as long as I've been here they have been involved in that." Friddle said.
MDCB hosts many events - three to four per month — as well as their regular programs such as the White River Cleanup, and they are always looking for more Ball Sate student participation.
"It's nice when Ball State students get involved because it brings them out into the Muncie community; it helps them participate in helping to make the town look better" Reever said. "And, to be quite honest, on a Saturday morning picking up litter with your friends, it's a really easy job, kind of fun and social. All of my student volunteers always seem to like it."
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