October 15, 2024 • 20 mins
If you need a reason to love Mondays, Slow Roll Cleveland is it. In this episode, Greg and I join Slow Roll Cleveland and several hundred other cyclists for a leisurely-paced bike parade through our urban streets. Slow Roll Cleveland hosts these ten-mile Monday evening rides during warmer months to highlight Cleveland neighborhoods and bring joy and community to riders and residents alike. Our slow roll took off from Shaker Square and took us through the Shaker, Buckeye, and Mount Pleasant neighborhoods. It was a blast. Hundreds of cyclists on bikes tricked out with bells, boom boxes, and lights shouted "Happy Monday" to excited onlookers waving from tree lawns, porches, and driveways. Slow Roll Cleveland has been hosting these inclusive social bike rides since 2013. Board President, Kevin Jones, spoke with us before the ride about the mission of Slow Roll, how it was founded, and why these rides are so popular. We also spoke with several participants and members of the Squad, the crack volunteers who ensure the rides run smoothly and safely. Come along with us. There is magic in our neighborhoods, in our people, and in the simple joy of riding bikes together.
Guest:
Kevin Jones, President of the Board, Slow Roll Cleveland
Resources:
About Slow Roll Cleveland
Slow Roll Schedule
Volunteer with Slow Roll Squad
Follow us:
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https://www.instagram.com/ecospeakscle
Contact us:
hello@ecospeakscle.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for the
eco curious in Northeast Ohio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, come along for aride with us tonight as Greg
(00:37):
and I join Slow Roll Clevelandand several hundred other
cyclists for a leisurely pacedbike parade.
Slow Roll Cleveland hosts these10 mile Monday evening events
which traverse the nurks andcrannies of our urban
neighborhoods and bring joy andcommunity to riders and
witnesses alike.
Tonight's ride is taking offfrom Shaker Square, and here to
tell us about what to expectwith a slow roll is Kevin Jones,
(00:58):
the board president for SlowRoll Cleveland.
Please stay with us to hearfrom some of the people we meet
on the ride and some of thesquad members, the
yellow-shirted volunteers whoare dubbed Protectors of the
Ride and Guardians of the Street.
Welcome, kevin.
Hello, way to give us a reasonto look forward to Monday.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Goodness, I look forward to every single Monday.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Mm-hmm, yeah, and you're here.
What nine months out of theyear doing these, unless it's
snowing or whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We get started at the end of April and then we end
our rides at the end of October.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, wow.
Well, it's a little chillytonight, but we came prepared.
I read that Slow Roll is amass-happening event and a
movement.
Can you tell us why?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
You know, we get a lot of people from different
parts of the city who come andjoin our rides and they come
from all walks of life.
They come from differentneighborhoods, they come from
different parts of the community.
Inside the city, in thesuburban areas, there are people
who drive in from other citiesand it's just a fun time.
(02:05):
It takes you back to yourchildhood, allows you to get out
there and explore something,see something you haven't seen
all week.
If you get around your ownneighborhood, that's wonderful
and we love our neighborhoods.
But then it's cool to get outinto another neighborhood and
just see a street you haven'tseen, see a friendly face you
haven't seen, see kids onanother street, see grandma and
(02:27):
grandpa on another street.
It's all about exploration andhaving fun together.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Wow, that's amazing, so one of the impetuses for this
interview.
When we first interviewed BikeCleveland a while back, they
mentioned the slow roll and Ihave yet to get around to
participating, but Greg's beenon one.
I've got a treat in store foryou, yeah and I just met a
(02:56):
gentleman over there who movedto Cleveland from Georgia two
weeks ago and his friend invitedhim on a ride.
So it really is kind ofbringing the community together.
So tell us a little bit aboutSlow Roll Cleveland, how it got
started and what your mission is.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So Slow Roll Cleveland got started in 2013
and there were just a few of uswho came out on bike rides.
My friend, sam, started theride, and a friend of mine, mike
.
He said, hey, you're going togo to Sammy's ride tonight.
I said, who is Sammy?
He said, oh man, come on,follow me.
And so I came to the ride andgot hooked.
There were like 15 of us ridingaround and just traversing
(03:35):
neighborhoods and just havingfun together.
Then, before we knew it, therewere like a bunch of people
coming.
So you know, that's, that'swhen's when, just really took
off just tagging along and 15yeah, tagging along and people
you know.
Then we became a little bit moreofficial and we started getting
more violent.
You know volunteers to help outwith the logistics of the rides
(03:57):
, and so we've just grown fromthere what?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
how many people have been on your most populous ride,
would you say?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
about 800.
Wow, yeah, we had 800 a fewweeks ago at uh, where was it?
Lincoln park in tremont, and Ithink we had close to that at
edgewater a couple years backwow, which one did you go on
greg?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I did the edgewater one a couple years back, when I
remember somebody saying it wasthe most people at the time that
had ever been there wow.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So how does that work when you get 800 people?
I'm assuming slow roll is aslow ride.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
It's about eight to 10 miles an hour.
We try to average about eightmiles an hour so that we can
appeal to a little bit ofeverybody.
I mean, we've got kids who come, we've got families and we
don't want to leave anyonebehind.
So we try to make sure thatwe're at a pace that's
reasonable.
And so that ride was a littlechallenging because we were very
(04:55):
, very spread out Okay.
So we had to really manage thatride.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Did you have someone to run sweep to make sure no one
gets left behind?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Oh, we've got multiple sweepers and we've got
a sag.
We've got a car that ridesbehind the ride and follows the
ride and makes sure that peopledon't get left behind.
Usually, if we have problemswith a flat tire or something
like that, we have our sag crew,our support and gear crew, to
stop and help them out withfixing their inner tubes,
(05:26):
patching it up or putting a newone in.
Okay, something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Are there other slow roll organizations other than
Cleveland?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Absolutely there's excuse me, there's a slow roll
Detroit, which was the originalslow roll.
Then Cleveland came next, thenBuffalo, new York came next and
there's been other ones.
There was a slow roll Chicago.
I'm not sure if they're stilloperating, but there was them
and so I mean I've gone to.
I was in at slow roll Detroit afew weeks ago and they had
(05:56):
about about the same as our rideat this point mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So it is a movement.
And what's your mission?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
our mission is is bridging communities through
inclusive bike rides.
So we take our map, the maps ofour rides, at the end of each
season and we want to make surethat we've rode around the whole
city.
So we'll overlay the maps andmake sure that we're not, uh,
missing a part of the city.
(06:23):
So we try to get people to.
We encourage people to go outand meet their neighbors in
other parts of town.
So we may, we'll be in Tremontthis week, we'll be in Glenville
the next week.
We may be in Camps Corner thenext week.
We may be in Waterloo the nextweek and next, next week.
From now we'll be downtown inMall B.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Okay, and that's the bike with the mayor, right.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That's the bike with the mayor.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Mayor Bibb coming out for that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Mayor Bib Bibb's gonna come out.
He rides.
We rode with Mayor Bibb lastyear at the opening of the
trails ride so we supported thatride and it was pretty cool.
He seems to be really bikefriendly.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Good, good.
What have been some of yourfavorite rides this summer?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
One of my favorite rides this summer was the
Glenville ride.
We had some young people whocame and joined the ride and
they came up popping wheeliesand whatnot.
And so we said, okay, well, howdo we make use of these young
people?
And we asked them to help outwith our squad work.
So they actually helped to keepthe ride safe and after a few
(07:30):
blocks they were asking us OK,where do you want us to go next?
And it was just a really organicconnection with kids in the
neighborhood.
These are teenagers who arejust literally riding their
bikes around exploring theneighborhood and when they came
along and saw us they said ohwow, we're riding with y'all,
that's cool, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Do you have a way for people to borrow bikes or do
you have a way for loaners outthere?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, we don't.
Slow Roll Cleveland does nothave loaners, but any bike
pretty much will do.
Just show up with a.
You know, it could be any bigbox bike that you've bought, or
it doesn't have to be.
You don't have to go spendthousands of bucks to come ride
with us.
We're riding at a slow pace.
Just get something that'scomfortable for you and come
along.
(08:18):
Some people have gotten bike,share bikes and ridden on our
rides, so a lot of those arearound town.
So maybe check an app for that.
Tonight we happen to have asponsor for this ride providing
bikes with a.
You know, as long as you have adriver driver's license, you
can get a bike tonight on theslow roll cleveland ride that's
(08:39):
supported by the st luke'sfoundation oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay, and um people can also get bikes from ohio
city bicycle co-op too yes, theso, the so.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
St luke's's Foundation is supporting the
rentals from the Ohio City BikeCo-op tonight.
I see, and so those bikerentals are coming for free to
people in the neighborhood.
First come, first come basis.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Okay, Greg.
What did you think about theslow ride you went on?
What did you get out of it?
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Well, like I said, it was the most populous one at
the time, so there was a lot ofpeople there.
The most populous one at thetime, so there's a lot of people
there.
Edgewater is already, you know,a pretty chaotic place to ride,
so it was nice to havestructure and be among fellow
cyclists and, you know, there'salways a couple people who are
looking to cause trouble withcyclists on the road.
So it's nice to, you know, feellike your pack mentality not in
danger on the roads.
(09:26):
Cleveland's not necessarily atotally bike friendly city in
all places, so it's nice to getthe awareness out there, show
people that people are using theroads for cycling and when we
all work with because there arepeople who come up with cars on
cars in cars and they'll pull upand say what is this?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Why are you riding around my neighborhood?
And then we say well, we'd likeyou to come out.
Do you have a bicycle?
Please join us.
We're not here to run yourneighborhood, we're here to ride
with you, we're here to bringjoy to you.
And it's just so wonderful whenyou ride around a neighborhood
and you see kids playing, andthen they normally come out.
(10:17):
The kids come out first andthey start pointing towards the
bike and they start jumping upand down and you just see their
smiles, you know, just becausethey're saying, oh my goodness,
and some of them will go,actually get on their bikes and
go along as far as their parentswill let them go.
Oh, that's great you know, ifthey can't go off the block,
they'll go to the edge of theblock and then they'll wave and
(10:38):
like we're like.
Oh, tell your mom and dad tocome to the ride next time.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, this woman, sandy, who's in the Cleveland
Hiking Club with me, was sayingyou me, was saying you just got
to come out because that there'sso much joy seeing people come
out of their homes and they'rewaving.
You know people are coming outof their houses and waving and
seeing their community.
You know 500 bikes just show upon their street.
It's got to be pretty cool, Iwould think it's also a fair
(11:03):
share of people who you knowpretty eclectic characters.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Some people like dress up and oh really yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, yeah, we've got a we've.
We've got people who some areon rollerblades, some are on
electric unicycles.
There's, there's.
Lately we've had an individualon a unicycle.
He's juggling and riding aunicycle at the same time.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I'm pretty amazed at it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I'm a little concerned at times I'm concerned
at times times, but he seems tokeep it together.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
So, uh, hey, like yeah like seeing the guy in the
predator, the full predator getup.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yes, yeah, he's pretty amazing greg's got all
his guardians gear on tonight,so division series.
So I'm really excited to getout there tonight for the first
time and do you have any?
Tips.
Thank you.
Do you have any tips fornewcomers or people?
How do people learn more?
How do we get signed up, getthe schedule?
(11:59):
But any tips like for me forslow rolling?
Tonight I'm wearing a brightfuchsia color jacket.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I'm kind of worried about being visible because
it'll be dark by the time we'redone right on nights, when we
have dark rides, we alwayssuggest to wear, wear bright
colors, because that thatpromotes people actually seeing
you, versus darker clothesclothing where they don't see
you.
Also, come with your bike with,with your air, properly
inflated brakes working, ifpossible.
(12:30):
We want you to be able to stoptest your brakes before and
making sure that your chain islubricated, and those are just
the basics.
If if you have a breakdown,we're there to help out.
To find out about our scheduleand whatnot, you can go to our
website, which iswwwSlowRollClevelandorg.
That's wwwSlowRollClevelandorg,and you can find us on social
(12:56):
media, on Instagram at Slow RollCleve, s-l-o-w-r-o-l-l-c-l-e,
or on Facebook.
You can find us as well.
We post our schedule on all ofthose.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, and all the rides are free.
You just show up.
Do you have to sign up ahead oftime or sign a waiver?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
If you haven't ridden with us, we encourage you to go
onto the website and do thewaiver before coming to the ride
, or you can do it when youarrive at the ride.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, cool.
Now what about volunteering?
If someone wanted to be one ofthe yellow squad participants
volunteers, how would they dothat and what do they actually
do?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
So we've got our squad.
We have about 40 to 50 squadmembers who volunteer to do
different aspects of the ride,from blocking streets to making
sure the riders stay to theright, to leading rides, to
driving a chase car that goesbehind the ride, to our support
(13:58):
and gear crew and other otherroles as well within the
organization.
If someone wants to volunteer,you can go to our website and
fill out the form on the websiteokay, again at
slowrollclevelandorg and or justtalk to someone on the ride.
I mean, I started volunteeringfrom just riding and I just
asked someone, hey, can I helpout with the rides?
(14:19):
And they said, sure, uh, areyou sure you want to do that?
Or you know, I said, of courseI want to do that I want to be.
I don't want to just be aparticipant, I want to volunteer
.
So just talk to someone or hitour website and someone will get
back to you and we'll be gladto have you okay, and where are
we going tonight?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
we're leaving Shaker Square.
What's the general route?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I don't have the general route.
I'm not the ride leader tonight.
Deidre is our ride leadertonight, but but we will most
likely be going around theLarchmere area, Shaker area and
Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So it'll be a 10-mile loop coming back, ending here
at Shaker Square.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Awesome.
Well, is there anything elseyou want our listeners to know
before we head out?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I just want to say come out, join your neighbors
and family and friends in otherparts of town, Enjoy yourselves.
This is all about fun.
This is all about community.
This is all about diversity andmaking sure that you have a
good time and stay safe and arenoticed out here on bicycle safe
(15:24):
and are noticed out here onbicycle.
And I like what you saidearlier about you know being a
kid again, remembering what it'slike to have fun on a bike.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Absolutely, this is like my most childlike day of
the week.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Like I got done with work and I'm like okay, I get to
go to slow roll Awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, thank you so much for joining us for this
quick interview.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And, yeah, we're going to have a good time
tonight.
What brought?
Speaker 8 (15:54):
you out to Slurrell tonight.
If I'm being honest, I try toget a ride in before the summer
end.
My guy, Dennis, has beeninviting me out the whole summer
and I just wanted to get one inbefore it got too cold outside.
I'm an avid bike rider so Iwanted to come out and enjoy a
fun ride For sure.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Slow road, yeah, for sure.
What are you looking forward tomost?
Speaker 8 (16:11):
Actually, I'm just looking for experience.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I see what it's like on.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
Facebook.
I just want to know what itfeels like to ride with the guys
and just experience it and bepart of the team.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I started volunteering for Slow Road
because of its mission to unitecommunities through inclusive
bike rides, but also to show howto share the road with
bicyclists and help keepbicyclists safe and increase
that awareness.
But also, it's a great event tomeet other folks that you don't
(16:42):
normally meet and to ridetogether as a community.
There's a lot happening inCleveland a lot of new
developments metro, parks,trails neighborhood development
that you don't know about ordon't see about.
So, when you come and hang outfor Slow Road different
community.
Every Monday night at 7 pm youget to see all of this and make
(17:04):
hundreds of new friends,literally.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Literally.
I'm going to ask you yourfavorite part, but it sounds
like all of it.
Yes, that's all of this.
And make hundreds of newfriends.
Literally, literally, literally.
I ask you your favorite part,but it sounds like all of that
yes, that's all of it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
All of it.
So I love volunteering andgetting free cookies from from
you.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you always about thecookies.
Thank you so, sandy.
How are?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
you doing, I'm doing.
Well, it's happy Monday day.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
What brings you out to slow roll again?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
So I love making people feel good.
We ride around areas and allthe kids run to the end of their
tree lawn and they wave andthey say hi to us and it's just
a real good feel good feeling ona Monday.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, and you said it gives you a reason to love
Mondays again.
Right, it does.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Yes, it's a happy Monday.
And somebody had asked me.
They're like what's yourpolitical agenda?
I go, there's no agenda, it'sjust making everybody happy on a
Monday.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Sweet, and your name is.
I'm Dave.
Hi, dave.
What brings you out tonight?
Speaker 7 (18:01):
Out for the fun, like Sandy said, to put on some
entertainment for the kids.
Every week we trick out ourbikes a little more with lights
and horns.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Do you really have you been doing this all summer?
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Pretty much.
I started mid-summer, so thisis about my sixth time.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh, awesome.
Okay, what do you want peopleto know about Slow Roll and why
they should come out?
Speaker 7 (18:21):
It's an incredibly diverse group of people,
incredibly diverse group ofbikes.
Everybody just gets along great, has a good time.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
My name is Lisa and today's my first time biking in
this slow roll.
So excited, so excited to behere.
This is Mike.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I'm Mike and this is my first biking on the slow roll
as well, and I'm excited to behere.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, and it's my first time too, and they've been
doing this since 2013.
I think we're a little late tothe party but, how did you hear
about it?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
From our hiking club Okay Cleveland.
Hiking Club.
Yeah, there are a whole bunchof Cleveland Hiking Club people
that we're joining here tonight.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Okay, I'm also a member of the Cleveland Hiking
Club, so yeah, Sandy probablydragged us all out here tonight.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
I like the night rides because you can see all
the bikes lit up and people havespokes that are lit up and
going around and it's this biggroup going down the street and
you turn around oh my God, whenyou see 800 people behind you.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
This is like a train.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
It's a bike parade, awesome.
What's your?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
name Gary, Hi Gary.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Be aware of your surroundings Talk, laugh, enjoy
the night.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak
CLE.
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(20:00):
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Stay tuned for more importantand inspiring stories to come.
You're listening to EcoSpeak CLE, a podcast for the
eco curious in Northeast Ohio.
My name is Diane Bickett and myproducer is Greg Rotuno.
Together we speak with localsustainability leaders and
invite you to connect, learn andlive with our community and
planet in mind.
Hello friends, come along for aride with us tonight as Greg
(00:37):
and I join Slow Roll Clevelandand several hundred other
cyclists for a leisurely pacedbike parade.
Slow Roll Cleveland hosts these10 mile Monday evening events
which traverse the nurks andcrannies of our urban
neighborhoods and bring joy andcommunity to riders and
witnesses alike.
Tonight's ride is taking offfrom Shaker Square, and here to
tell us about what to expectwith a slow roll is Kevin Jones,
(00:58):
the board president for SlowRoll Cleveland.
Please stay with us to hearfrom some of the people we meet
on the ride and some of thesquad members, the
yellow-shirted volunteers whoare dubbed Protectors of the
Ride and Guardians of the Street.
Welcome, kevin.
Hello, way to give us a reasonto look forward to Monday.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Goodness, I look forward to every single Monday.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Mm-hmm, yeah, and you're here.
What nine months out of theyear doing these, unless it's
snowing or whatever.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
We get started at the end of April and then we end
our rides at the end of October.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Okay, wow.
Well, it's a little chillytonight, but we came prepared.
I read that Slow Roll is amass-happening event and a
movement.
Can you tell us why?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
You know, we get a lot of people from different
parts of the city who come andjoin our rides and they come
from all walks of life.
They come from differentneighborhoods, they come from
different parts of the community.
Inside the city, in thesuburban areas, there are people
who drive in from other citiesand it's just a fun time.
(02:05):
It takes you back to yourchildhood, allows you to get out
there and explore something,see something you haven't seen
all week.
If you get around your ownneighborhood, that's wonderful
and we love our neighborhoods.
But then it's cool to get outinto another neighborhood and
just see a street you haven'tseen, see a friendly face you
haven't seen, see kids onanother street, see grandma and
(02:27):
grandpa on another street.
It's all about exploration andhaving fun together.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Wow, that's amazing, so one of the impetuses for this
interview.
When we first interviewed BikeCleveland a while back, they
mentioned the slow roll and Ihave yet to get around to
participating, but Greg's beenon one.
I've got a treat in store foryou, yeah and I just met a
(02:56):
gentleman over there who movedto Cleveland from Georgia two
weeks ago and his friend invitedhim on a ride.
So it really is kind ofbringing the community together.
So tell us a little bit aboutSlow Roll Cleveland, how it got
started and what your mission is.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
So Slow Roll Cleveland got started in 2013
and there were just a few of uswho came out on bike rides.
My friend, sam, started theride, and a friend of mine, mike
.
He said, hey, you're going togo to Sammy's ride tonight.
I said, who is Sammy?
He said, oh man, come on,follow me.
And so I came to the ride andgot hooked.
There were like 15 of us ridingaround and just traversing
(03:35):
neighborhoods and just havingfun together.
Then, before we knew it, therewere like a bunch of people
coming.
So you know, that's, that'swhen's when, just really took
off just tagging along and 15yeah, tagging along and people
you know.
Then we became a little bit moreofficial and we started getting
more violent.
You know volunteers to help outwith the logistics of the rides
(03:57):
, and so we've just grown fromthere what?
Speaker 1 (04:01):
how many people have been on your most populous ride,
would you say?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
about 800.
Wow, yeah, we had 800 a fewweeks ago at uh, where was it?
Lincoln park in tremont, and Ithink we had close to that at
edgewater a couple years backwow, which one did you go on
greg?
Speaker 5 (04:20):
I did the edgewater one a couple years back, when I
remember somebody saying it wasthe most people at the time that
had ever been there wow.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
So how does that work when you get 800 people?
I'm assuming slow roll is aslow ride.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
It's about eight to 10 miles an hour.
We try to average about eightmiles an hour so that we can
appeal to a little bit ofeverybody.
I mean, we've got kids who come, we've got families and we
don't want to leave anyonebehind.
So we try to make sure thatwe're at a pace that's
reasonable.
And so that ride was a littlechallenging because we were very
(04:55):
, very spread out Okay.
So we had to really manage thatride.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Did you have someone to run sweep to make sure no one
gets left behind?
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Oh, we've got multiple sweepers and we've got
a sag.
We've got a car that ridesbehind the ride and follows the
ride and makes sure that peopledon't get left behind.
Usually, if we have problemswith a flat tire or something
like that, we have our sag crew,our support and gear crew, to
stop and help them out withfixing their inner tubes,
(05:26):
patching it up or putting a newone in.
Okay, something like that.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Are there other slow roll organizations other than
Cleveland?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Absolutely there's excuse me, there's a slow roll
Detroit, which was the originalslow roll.
Then Cleveland came next, thenBuffalo, new York came next and
there's been other ones.
There was a slow roll Chicago.
I'm not sure if they're stilloperating, but there was them
and so I mean I've gone to.
I was in at slow roll Detroit afew weeks ago and they had
(05:56):
about about the same as our rideat this point mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So it is a movement.
And what's your mission?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
our mission is is bridging communities through
inclusive bike rides.
So we take our map, the maps ofour rides, at the end of each
season and we want to make surethat we've rode around the whole
city.
So we'll overlay the maps andmake sure that we're not, uh,
missing a part of the city.
(06:23):
So we try to get people to.
We encourage people to go outand meet their neighbors in
other parts of town.
So we may, we'll be in Tremontthis week, we'll be in Glenville
the next week.
We may be in Camps Corner thenext week.
We may be in Waterloo the nextweek and next, next week.
From now we'll be downtown inMall B.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Okay, and that's the bike with the mayor, right.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That's the bike with the mayor.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Mayor Bibb coming out for that.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Mayor Bib Bibb's gonna come out.
He rides.
We rode with Mayor Bibb lastyear at the opening of the
trails ride so we supported thatride and it was pretty cool.
He seems to be really bikefriendly.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Good, good.
What have been some of yourfavorite rides this summer?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
One of my favorite rides this summer was the
Glenville ride.
We had some young people whocame and joined the ride and
they came up popping wheeliesand whatnot.
And so we said, okay, well, howdo we make use of these young
people?
And we asked them to help outwith our squad work.
So they actually helped to keepthe ride safe and after a few
(07:30):
blocks they were asking us OK,where do you want us to go next?
And it was just a really organicconnection with kids in the
neighborhood.
These are teenagers who arejust literally riding their
bikes around exploring theneighborhood and when they came
along and saw us they said ohwow, we're riding with y'all,
that's cool, that's cool.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Do you have a way for people to borrow bikes or do
you have a way for loaners outthere?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
Well, we don't.
Slow Roll Cleveland does nothave loaners, but any bike
pretty much will do.
Just show up with a.
You know, it could be any bigbox bike that you've bought, or
it doesn't have to be.
You don't have to go spendthousands of bucks to come ride
with us.
We're riding at a slow pace.
Just get something that'scomfortable for you and come
along.
(08:18):
Some people have gotten bike,share bikes and ridden on our
rides, so a lot of those arearound town.
So maybe check an app for that.
Tonight we happen to have asponsor for this ride providing
bikes with a.
You know, as long as you have adriver driver's license, you
can get a bike tonight on theslow roll cleveland ride that's
(08:39):
supported by the st luke'sfoundation oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Okay, and um people can also get bikes from ohio
city bicycle co-op too yes, theso, the so.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
St luke's's Foundation is supporting the
rentals from the Ohio City BikeCo-op tonight.
I see, and so those bikerentals are coming for free to
people in the neighborhood.
First come, first come basis.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
Okay, Greg.
What did you think about theslow ride you went on?
What did you get out of it?
Speaker 5 (09:05):
Well, like I said, it was the most populous one at
the time, so there was a lot ofpeople there.
The most populous one at thetime, so there's a lot of people
there.
Edgewater is already, you know,a pretty chaotic place to ride,
so it was nice to havestructure and be among fellow
cyclists and, you know, there'salways a couple people who are
looking to cause trouble withcyclists on the road.
So it's nice to, you know, feellike your pack mentality not in
danger on the roads.
(09:26):
Cleveland's not necessarily atotally bike friendly city in
all places, so it's nice to getthe awareness out there, show
people that people are using theroads for cycling and when we
all work with because there arepeople who come up with cars on
cars in cars and they'll pull upand say what is this?
Speaker 3 (09:57):
Why are you riding around my neighborhood?
And then we say well, we'd likeyou to come out.
Do you have a bicycle?
Please join us.
We're not here to run yourneighborhood, we're here to ride
with you, we're here to bringjoy to you.
And it's just so wonderful whenyou ride around a neighborhood
and you see kids playing, andthen they normally come out.
(10:17):
The kids come out first andthey start pointing towards the
bike and they start jumping upand down and you just see their
smiles, you know, just becausethey're saying, oh my goodness,
and some of them will go,actually get on their bikes and
go along as far as their parentswill let them go.
Oh, that's great you know, ifthey can't go off the block,
they'll go to the edge of theblock and then they'll wave and
(10:38):
like we're like.
Oh, tell your mom and dad tocome to the ride next time.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Yeah, this woman, sandy, who's in the Cleveland
Hiking Club with me, was sayingyou me, was saying you just got
to come out because that there'sso much joy seeing people come
out of their homes and they'rewaving.
You know people are coming outof their houses and waving and
seeing their community.
You know 500 bikes just show upon their street.
It's got to be pretty cool, Iwould think it's also a fair
(11:03):
share of people who you knowpretty eclectic characters.
Speaker 5 (11:06):
Some people like dress up and oh really yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
Yeah, yeah, we've got a we've.
We've got people who some areon rollerblades, some are on
electric unicycles.
There's, there's.
Lately we've had an individualon a unicycle.
He's juggling and riding aunicycle at the same time.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
I'm pretty amazed at it.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
I'm a little concerned at times I'm concerned
at times times, but he seems tokeep it together.
Speaker 5 (11:33):
So, uh, hey, like yeah like seeing the guy in the
predator, the full predator getup.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Yes, yeah, he's pretty amazing greg's got all
his guardians gear on tonight,so division series.
So I'm really excited to getout there tonight for the first
time and do you have any?
Tips.
Thank you.
Do you have any tips fornewcomers or people?
How do people learn more?
How do we get signed up, getthe schedule?
(11:59):
But any tips like for me forslow rolling?
Tonight I'm wearing a brightfuchsia color jacket.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
I'm kind of worried about being visible because
it'll be dark by the time we'redone right on nights, when we
have dark rides, we alwayssuggest to wear, wear bright
colors, because that thatpromotes people actually seeing
you, versus darker clothesclothing where they don't see
you.
Also, come with your bike with,with your air, properly
inflated brakes working, ifpossible.
(12:30):
We want you to be able to stoptest your brakes before and
making sure that your chain islubricated, and those are just
the basics.
If if you have a breakdown,we're there to help out.
To find out about our scheduleand whatnot, you can go to our
website, which iswwwSlowRollClevelandorg.
That's wwwSlowRollClevelandorg,and you can find us on social
(12:56):
media, on Instagram at Slow RollCleve, s-l-o-w-r-o-l-l-c-l-e,
or on Facebook.
You can find us as well.
We post our schedule on all ofthose.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Okay, and all the rides are free.
You just show up.
Do you have to sign up ahead oftime or sign a waiver?
How does that work?
Speaker 3 (13:13):
If you haven't ridden with us, we encourage you to go
onto the website and do thewaiver before coming to the ride
, or you can do it when youarrive at the ride.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
Okay, cool.
Now what about volunteering?
If someone wanted to be one ofthe yellow squad participants
volunteers, how would they dothat and what do they actually
do?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
So we've got our squad.
We have about 40 to 50 squadmembers who volunteer to do
different aspects of the ride,from blocking streets to making
sure the riders stay to theright, to leading rides, to
driving a chase car that goesbehind the ride, to our support
(13:58):
and gear crew and other otherroles as well within the
organization.
If someone wants to volunteer,you can go to our website and
fill out the form on the websiteokay, again at
slowrollclevelandorg and or justtalk to someone on the ride.
I mean, I started volunteeringfrom just riding and I just
asked someone, hey, can I helpout with the rides?
(14:19):
And they said, sure, uh, areyou sure you want to do that?
Or you know, I said, of courseI want to do that I want to be.
I don't want to just be aparticipant, I want to volunteer
.
So just talk to someone or hitour website and someone will get
back to you and we'll be gladto have you okay, and where are
we going tonight?
Speaker 1 (14:37):
we're leaving Shaker Square.
What's the general route?
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I don't have the general route.
I'm not the ride leader tonight.
Deidre is our ride leadertonight, but but we will most
likely be going around theLarchmere area, Shaker area and
Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
So it'll be a 10-mile loop coming back, ending here
at Shaker Square.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Awesome.
Well, is there anything elseyou want our listeners to know
before we head out?
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I just want to say come out, join your neighbors
and family and friends in otherparts of town, Enjoy yourselves.
This is all about fun.
This is all about community.
This is all about diversity andmaking sure that you have a
good time and stay safe and arenoticed out here on bicycle safe
(15:24):
and are noticed out here onbicycle.
And I like what you saidearlier about you know being a
kid again, remembering what it'slike to have fun on a bike.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Absolutely, this is like my most childlike day of
the week.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Like I got done with work and I'm like okay, I get to
go to slow roll Awesome.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, thank you so much for joining us for this
quick interview.
Speaker 5 (15:51):
And, yeah, we're going to have a good time
tonight.
What brought?
Speaker 8 (15:54):
you out to Slurrell tonight.
If I'm being honest, I try toget a ride in before the summer
end.
My guy, Dennis, has beeninviting me out the whole summer
and I just wanted to get one inbefore it got too cold outside.
I'm an avid bike rider so Iwanted to come out and enjoy a
fun ride For sure.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Slow road, yeah, for sure.
What are you looking forward tomost?
Speaker 8 (16:11):
Actually, I'm just looking for experience.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
I see what it's like on.
Speaker 8 (16:14):
Facebook.
I just want to know what itfeels like to ride with the guys
and just experience it and bepart of the team.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I started volunteering for Slow Road
because of its mission to unitecommunities through inclusive
bike rides, but also to show howto share the road with
bicyclists and help keepbicyclists safe and increase
that awareness.
But also, it's a great event tomeet other folks that you don't
(16:42):
normally meet and to ridetogether as a community.
There's a lot happening inCleveland a lot of new
developments metro, parks,trails neighborhood development
that you don't know about ordon't see about.
So, when you come and hang outfor Slow Road different
community.
Every Monday night at 7 pm youget to see all of this and make
(17:04):
hundreds of new friends,literally.
Speaker 5 (17:07):
Literally.
I'm going to ask you yourfavorite part, but it sounds
like all of it.
Yes, that's all of this.
And make hundreds of newfriends.
Literally, literally, literally.
I ask you your favorite part,but it sounds like all of that
yes, that's all of it.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
All of it.
So I love volunteering andgetting free cookies from from
you.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, thank you.
Thank you always about thecookies.
Thank you so, sandy.
How are?
Speaker 2 (17:22):
you doing, I'm doing.
Well, it's happy Monday day.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
What brings you out to slow roll again?
Speaker 6 (17:29):
So I love making people feel good.
We ride around areas and allthe kids run to the end of their
tree lawn and they wave andthey say hi to us and it's just
a real good feel good feeling ona Monday.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yeah, and you said it gives you a reason to love
Mondays again.
Right, it does.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Yes, it's a happy Monday.
And somebody had asked me.
They're like what's yourpolitical agenda?
I go, there's no agenda, it'sjust making everybody happy on a
Monday.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Sweet, and your name is.
I'm Dave.
Hi, dave.
What brings you out tonight?
Speaker 7 (18:01):
Out for the fun, like Sandy said, to put on some
entertainment for the kids.
Every week we trick out ourbikes a little more with lights
and horns.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Do you really have you been doing this all summer?
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Pretty much.
I started mid-summer, so thisis about my sixth time.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Oh, awesome.
Okay, what do you want peopleto know about Slow Roll and why
they should come out?
Speaker 7 (18:21):
It's an incredibly diverse group of people,
incredibly diverse group ofbikes.
Everybody just gets along great, has a good time.
Speaker 6 (18:29):
My name is Lisa and today's my first time biking in
this slow roll.
So excited, so excited to behere.
This is Mike.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
I'm Mike and this is my first biking on the slow roll
as well, and I'm excited to behere.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, and it's my first time too, and they've been
doing this since 2013.
I think we're a little late tothe party but, how did you hear
about it?
Speaker 2 (18:55):
From our hiking club Okay Cleveland.
Hiking Club.
Yeah, there are a whole bunchof Cleveland Hiking Club people
that we're joining here tonight.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Okay, I'm also a member of the Cleveland Hiking
Club, so yeah, Sandy probablydragged us all out here tonight.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
I like the night rides because you can see all
the bikes lit up and people havespokes that are lit up and
going around and it's this biggroup going down the street and
you turn around oh my God, whenyou see 800 people behind you.
Speaker 3 (19:30):
This is like a train.
Speaker 4 (19:31):
It's a bike parade, awesome.
What's your?
Speaker 1 (19:32):
name Gary, Hi Gary.
Speaker 7 (19:35):
Be aware of your surroundings Talk, laugh, enjoy
the night.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of EcoSpeak
CLE.
You can find our full catalogof episodes on Spotify, apple
Podcasts or wherever you getyour podcasts.
New episodes are available thefirst and third Tuesday of each
month.
Please follow EcoSpeak CLE onFacebook and Instagram and
become part of the conversation.
If you would like to send usfeedback and suggestions, or if
(20:00):
you'd like to become a sponsorof EcoSpeak CLE, you can email
us at hello at EcoSpeakCLEcom.
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