MILWAUKEE — Pedaling through Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood is a summer tradition for hundreds of bike riders during the annual Riverwest 24 Bike Race. It's a 24-hour bike ride through the neighborhood's streets.
"Got my share of riding in today," said Richard Cohn who participated Saturday with his family.
"I love it. I love all the activities," said Kaileia Rivera, Cohn's granddaughter.
For Cohn and other neighbors, the event is a chance to experience togetherness in Milwaukee.
"I just think its important that people need to do things together. There's so much division going on in our country and we need to work together, do things together, and this is an opportunity to do things together," he said.
Solana Patterson-Ramos, a first-time participant, agreed. She said seeing the community unite and rally around something fun is refreshing.
"There's just so much fun and vibrancy of Riverwest going on right now and it's definitely something that everyone should experience at some point in their life," said Patterson-Ramos.
The race is not competitive and is open to all ages. It started on Friday night at 7 p.m. and continued for 24-hours ending on Sunday evening.
Watch: Cycling for unity in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood.
The course takes riders through fun checkpoints on different streets throughout the area. Along the way, riders and neighbors rally together and enjoy music, games, treats, drinks and laughs at block parties that last through the night.
Joe Finney hosted one of those gatherings at his home.
"Just stop and say 'Hey what's going on', and give them food and drinks and invite people over. Because you don't who they are, you don't know what they're going through so all you can do is be nice and try to connect," said Finney.
It's a tradition focused on promoting biking and strengthening the community that makes up the Riverwest Neighborhood.
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