The night before the Boston Marathon, hundreds of cyclists gathered in Hopkinton to ride the Boston Marathon course, a tradition which began in 2009.

The midnight ride helps raise money to support cycling advocacy in Boston.

While runners were getting their sleep the night before the Boston Marathon, hundreds of cyclists headed to Hopkinton to ride the course. The Midnight Marathon Bike Ride gives those who didn’t get into the race—and those who don’t run at all—a chance to enjoy the historic route.

The ride’s founder, Greg Hum, said the ride began in 2009 when he was a student at Boston University.

“It started off with me and a couple friends in college thinking it would be fun to bring our bikes on the commuter rail train out to the starting line of the marathon route, and then bike back into the city to our college dorms,” he said.

Now in its 11th year, the event has become an unofficial Boston tradition. One year, in 2013, the Midnight Marathon Bike Ride worked with the Boston commuter rail to charter a train to take 700 cyclists and their bikes out to the start.

After the bombing in 2013, The Boston MBTA commuter rail banned bikes on the trains during the marathon weekend, so Hum hired moving vans to transport up to 300 bikes from downtown Boston to the start in Hopkinton. They sold tickets for $30 to transport bikes, and the money is used to pay for the next year’s vans and support local bike advocacy programs.

“The silver lining is that we do get to support local bike advocacy,” Hum said.

Cyclists filled the 10:40 p.m. train from Boston South Station to the start in Hopkinton, where they were reunited with their bikes. From there, a stream of cyclists rode their way along the course. Local bike shop Crimson Bikes supported the ride with rest stop snacks and mechanical assistance. Some residents along the route set up camp in their lawns to cheer on riders.



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Pat Heine

The mostly downhill route made the ride friendly for casual cyclists, and even other modes of transportation.

“We’ve had unicyclists come,” said Hum. “At least one unicycle every year since I’ve done this. We’ve had packs of rollerbladers come do the marathon route with us in the middle of the night. We’ve even had packs of skateboarders come do the ride in the middle of the night. So we’ve got all modes of transportation.”

Riders also encountered runners taking part in the tradition of running from the finish line out to the start, to take part in the official race later that morning.

While the ride has become part of a tradition, Hum said not to expect the ride to become a part of the official Boston Marathon program.

“This whole ride kind of depends on the idea that we’re sharing this tradition with them, and not in an official capacity, because we are riding bikes and we’re not running,” he explained. “And it’s not a race. We’re just doing the ride purely out of fun, and if people decide to race each other, that’s up to them.”

Pat Heine Video Producer The resident ultrarunner, Pat is a video producer who joined the Bicycling team in 2016 after he tried to run a century ride, got injured, and bought a bike to rehab.

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