This Midnight Ride Before the Boston Marathon Has Become Tradition
Cyclists in major marathon cities know one of the best times to ride downtown is the night before runners take to the streets — closed roads, a quiet atmosphere, and it’s free! Riding the marathon course has especially become a tradition in Boston ahead of the marathon.
It’s not a race — there’s no official start time or mandatory direction/route. Participants are encouraged to ride between 6 p.m. and midnight, in groups or solo, to experience the community.
People have been biking the Boston Marathon route for a long time, but this was the 15th year since it became an organized ritual, deemed the Midnight Marathon. It began in 2009, when Boston University student Greg Hum proposed it to some friends as a group ride. They spread the word and ended up with nearly 50 riders for the inaugural event.
Since then it’s grown and grown—sometimes they have well over 2,000 bikers. The website gives riders plenty of tips in order to fully enjoy the evening, including where to get breakfast after. “The magic of this tradition comes from the community of thousands of riders on the route, all evening and night, riding in both directions.”
How the Midnight Marathon Ride started
GBH News reports that Hum and his original group wanted to be involved in the tradition of the marathon, but didn’t want to run. “We wanted a way to connect with this amazing Boston tradition but didn't want to run it. So we decided to take our bikes on the train and bike the marathon home in the middle of the night.”
Now there are several options for the ride, depending how much pedaling you want to do. Because the Boston Marathon is a point-to-point race, you have to have transportation to and from the start and finish.
Or you can ride the route as an out-and-back and cover 52-miles. Many riders used to take mass transit to and from the ride, but this year MBTA enforced a strict no-bikes policy on trains. So riders had to get creative and call in carpool and drop-off/pick-up favors.
A spokesperson for Keolis, which operates the commuter rail for the MBTA, told GBH News that the prohibition of bikes on trains this year was due to safety concerns. Still, the ride went on and people made their way without public transit.
The evening was full of music, lights on bikes, and people having a great time enjoying the course. The cyclists also had a much better forecast than the runners, with no rain and fairly mild temperatures. Participants of the Midnight Marathon love that they get to support the tradition of the city before the crowds take over Monday morning.
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