{"id":205079,"date":"2026-05-29T04:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/205079\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T04:20:11","slug":"philadelphia-cycling-classic-pep-rally-marks-100-day-countdown-to-race-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/205079\/","title":{"rendered":"Philadelphia Cycling Classic pep rally marks 100-day countdown to race return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music played, beers were on tap and bicycles rolled in as a pep rally along the Schuylkill River marked 100 days until the return of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Thursday’s event gave attendees a preview of what organizers say people can expect on Aug. 30, when the professional cycling race returns to Philadelphia streets for the first time in a decade.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“It’s so nice to come back, I just didn’t think it would ever happen,” said Jeff Braff of the Bicyclist Club of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Cycling Classic first launched in 1985 and has operated under several different names over the years. Organizers said the mission of the race has remained unchanged.<\/p>\n

“Our goal is to get back to our roots and how it was before to get hundreds of thousands of people out around the course,” said Carlos Rogers, co-founder of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic.<\/p>\n

Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who was integral in bringing the event back, said the race has long been an important event for the city.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“It’s really about the cyclist and the joy that the Philadelphia Cycling Classic brings to Philadelphia, it’s Philadelphia’s race,” Nutter said.<\/p>\n

Linda McGrane of South Hampton said the event is important for local riders.<\/p>\n

“It’s a great vitalization for the cycling community,” McGrane said.<\/p>\n

On Aug. 30, riders will travel from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, up Kelly Drive, through Fairmount Park, and into Manayunk, including the well-known Manayunk Wall climb.<\/p>\n

“It’s a real challenge the first time. I stripped my gears, it was so steep and I wasn’t ready for it,” Braff said.<\/p>\n

Wednesday’s pep rally was held in partnership with Parks on Tap and began with a celebratory ride along the Schuylkill River.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

“The whole idea of the partnerships is to bring everyone together, and this is really the culmination of that this is really a grassroots effort,” said Eric Robbins, co-founder of the Philadelphia Cycling Classic.<\/p>\n

Organizers say the celebration surrounding the race will continue leading up to the event.<\/p>\n

A two-day fan fest is planned for the weekend of the classic and will feature vendors, food and music.<\/p>\n

6abc is the exclusive broadcast partner for the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Music played, beers were on tap and bicycles rolled in as a pep rally along the Schuylkill River…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205080,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[85295,90366,90364,90365,69,71,70,33486],"class_list":["post-205079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-cycling-classic","tag-jeff-braff","tag-mayor-michael-nutter","tag-pep-rally","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-schuylkill-river"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205079"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205079\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}