(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Ryan Smith, left, owner of the Marietta Adventure Company, talks to participants Friday about the route for the Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour. The tour is held each year.

Cyclists gathered in downtown Marietta Friday for the annual Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour, a casual evening bike tour on the city’s festive streets.

The event is hosted by the Marietta Adventure Company with support from the Marietta Running and Cycling Club.

“This is just kind of an opportunity for people to get together to ride some bikes and see some Christmas lights,” said Ryan Smith, who is the owner of the Marietta Adventure Company.

The five to eight mile route covers as much of the downtown as possible without turning it into an endurance event, Smith said. The ride usually lasts around 60-90 Minutes and the event was open to all levels of experience.

The ride is designed to be relaxing and social.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Mike West adjusts his lights before the annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour.

“Once we start rolling, this is just a casual pace ride,” Smith said. “We’re not really doing stops unless the group gets really spread out, and we just kind of try to stick together as one big mob cruising through town.”

Around 20-25 riders participated in this year’s event and Smith said attendance varies year to year.

“The ride goes on no matter what the weather is. If it’s really bad, we might shorten the route, but looks like we might luck out this evening,” Smith said. “I’ve done the ride many times over the years, and I’ve seen well over 100 riders. And I remember one year where there were only like five or six of us. It was, you know, like 35 degrees and raining that year.”

Smith said one of his favorite parts of the night is seeing how riders decorate their bikes. This year he restored and rode his first mountain bike, a Raleigh M30, for the ride.

“People get really creative and decorating their bikes is fun,” Smith said. “I’m actually riding a bike tonight that was my very first mountain bike, and I resurrected it from the graveyard and kind of rebuilt it just to ride tonight. It’s got some extra lights on it this evening. So it’s making its return.”

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Ryan Smith, owner of the Marietta Adventure Company, shows his restored 1993 Raleigh M30 to others Friday before the annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour. Smith said this was his first bike and that he restored it for the event.

To keep spirits high and to help combat the weather each year, the shop offers refreshments before and after the tour. Participants were invited into the store after the event.

“We’ve got hot chocolate, water and lots of sweet treats to tempt people,” Smith said.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) Bikes line the rack outside the Marietta Adventure Company Friday before the annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour.

(Photo by Douglass Huxley) People gather outside the Marietta Adventure Company Friday before the annual Marietta Holiday Lights Bicycle Tour.