6th annual Tour Da Yoop, Eh bike tour rides into second half, sets off from Houghton

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) -The 6th annual Tour Da Yoop, Eh is well into the second half of its 1,200 mile journey.

On Tuesday, 38 riders rode around the Keweenaw, starting and ending in Houghton. On Wednesday, 40 set off for Marquette.

“When we got up to the top of Brockway Mountain yesterday, we were halfway,” said Tour Da Yoop, Eh Event Director Gary Perala. “We call it Hump Day. And so, five days in, and we got five more days to go. Today, we’re leaving from Houghton and we’re heading to Marquette.”

From Marquette, the riders will head over and around the eastern U.P to St. Ignace, then west back to Manistique, the race’s starting point. Perala says the riders will ride on, rain or shine, but have a support crew of over a dozen volunteers ready to assist.

This year’s race has introduced something new.

“One of the bigger challenges is that we have riders of a lot of different speeds,” said Tour Da Yoop, Eh Founder James Studinger. “We cover a hundred and twenty-something miles a day usually, and so we’re trying to do everything we can to do stagger starts, and basically we want to bring the group closer together over the course of the day so that faster riders are catching up with some of the slower riders, and by the end, we finish in a similar timeframe.”

Before leaving Houghton, riders rode up Dodge Street, a three-year-old tradition in honor of cancer patient Rylan Gibson. Gibson lost his battle with cancer last year.

The event supports childhood cancer by raising money through donations. The Upper Peninsula Lions Serve Childhood Cancer program works with organizers to raise money for U.P. families of cancer patients.

“Our families up here face particular challenges where they have to travel far for medical treatment,” said Upper Peninsula Lions Serve Childhood Cancer Chairman Christine Smith. “They need grants for travel, for medical bills, for household bills or anything that’s attributable to their child’s diagnosis.”

This year’s goal was to raise $100,000, roughly double last year’s total. As of Wednesday morning, the goal has been surpassed, reaching over $108,000. Donations are being matched by sponsors.

To donate, click here.

Copyright 2023 WLUC. All rights reserved.