Seven Cities Bike Tour coming here Saturday, Aug. 6

About 250 bicycle riders are expected to arrive in Petersburg on Saturday morning, Aug. 6, and that will add to the community activities during the annual “Bash in the Burg.”
That will be just one of the “extras” planned during this year’s Bash.
Another big new event will be the “Bashin’ in the Burg” boxing in addition to the annual grilling, home brew/concoctions and homemade bread competition.
About 250 riders are expected on the fifth annual 7 Cities Century Tour. Events associated with this ride begin Friday evening, Aug. 5, with a packet pick-up and a spaghetti feed at Ta-Ha-Zouka Park, Norfolk.
This ride is “bike sightseeing” tour because the pace is leisurely and there is no competition. Total length of the ride is 100 miles over two days.
Riders will leave Ta-Ha-Zouka between 6 and 8 a.m. on Saturday, traveling south to Madison. They will then travel west of Highway 32 to Kalamazoo (nine miles west of Madison) and finish the day’s ride at Petersburg, where they will have lunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The first day’s ride will be about 48 miles.
All riders are invited to the Bash in the Burg activities throughout the day.
This will be an overnight stay for the bike riders. Most of them will stay in the Boone Central Middle School at Petersburg, but some will also stay in tents.
The Petersburg Community Club will be serving breakfast to the riders on Sunday morning, Aug. 7, and they will depart between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. for the final 51-mile leg, traveling north on Highway 14 through Elgin, then east on the Oakdale cut-across. From Oakdale, they will proceed east along Highway 275 through Tilden and Meadow Grove.
At the Highway 121 junction north of Battle Creek, they will turn south into Battle Creek, and then ride east on Sherwood Road to travel 10 more miles east back to Ta-Ha-Zouka Park.