Tyler Bicycle Club holds its 34th annual bike tour

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The Beauty and the Beast Bicycle Tour began Saturday morning with more than 700 cyclists and about 1,000 spectators at the 34th annual event.

“Its named as such because of the beauty of the wonderful hills in East Texas, but the beast is always that final hill climb that everybody has to do that they love and hate at the same time,” said Bill Lewis, the president of The Tyler Bicycle Club.

He said he got on a bike 10 years ago, joined the bicycle club, beat cancer, and eventually became the president of the club.

“So you just never know where cycling will take you,” Lewis said.

The tour consisted of three different routes including a 22-mile route, a 43-mile route, and a 62-mile route that’s referred to as the beast.

“Last week I did a 73.3 Ironman on Saturday in Florida, so we came over here to do this,” said Larry Boyd, who has been riding for three years and prepared for the tour by doing a triathlon.

Proceeds from this event will go towards a bicycle park for children in Tyler.

“We are doing a playground just for children’s bicycles,” Lewis said.

The Tyler Bicycle Club is teaming up with Tyler Park & Recreation to bring this bicycle park into fruition, and construction is set to begin around June.

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