CityFest organizers say the idea for Dothan’s festival came about because mayor mike Schmitz and City Manager Mike West are fans of bike riding.

Coordinators say, West was on a business trip in Montréal, Canada and saw a city bike racing festival and wanted to try it in Dothan.

Skylar, although CityFest is sure to have fun for everyone, the focus of the event is on the numerous bike races throughout the day.

A local group of cyclists have been training hard for their race on Saturday, here's their story.

The bike races at this weekend's city fest are an outlet for a growing trend in Dothan.

“There’s a lot of people in town that cycle. There are a couple of bike shops and if anybody is interested it's pretty easy to find people who are out here doing it,” said Wiregrasss Cyclist Tony Antonivich.

A wiregrass cycling club is just one example of increased local interest in the sport.

“We’re getting ready to go on a ride. Basically just a training ride. we do this every Tuesday night. We get together with some friends and have some fun,” said Antonivich.

“We come out on Tuesdays and ride hard for about thirty miles,” said Wiregrass Cyclist Tim Kilpatrick.

“Lately a handful of the cyclists have been training extra hard for the big race this weekend,” said reporter Danielle Eldredge.

“We ride maybe 10 hours a week or so we do about 300 miles a week and we just ride real hard and train trying to eat right,” said Kilpatrick.

“Since about December I've been training riding, I do a little bit of running and swimming also pretty much do about 100 to 130 miles a week on the bike,” said Antonivich.

The wiregrass cyclists say if you've never seen a cycling race, it is definitely something to watch.

“I've been in races before when there was 50 people and it gets pretty dangerous with 50 people all packed together trying to be up front there could be wrecks and it gets pretty exciting,” said Kilpatrick.

The race route is 7 tenths of a mile around Dowtown Dothan.

The start and finish line is at Foster and Main.

Then cyclists will head west on Main, right on South Oates, right on Adams, another right on South St. Andrews and back to Foster and Main.

Although the featured cyclists will be participating in the amateur category, the professional level race later in the evening has a $10,000.00 prize pool. The top 25 will win a portion of it.

For CityFest registration and schedule information, visit our webchannel at wtvy.com