Get pedaling this fall with Bike Pensacola's monthly Slow Ride series

It’s not every day you can exercise, party with friends and play a part in a good cause at the same free event.  

That’s exactly what Bike Pensacola’s Slow Ride series has been doing for the past five years, however, drawing hundred of bicyclists from around town once a month for a leisurely cycle around the city.

Exploring new routes each month, the Slow Ride series bounces from business host to business host each month, which serve as launching sites and eventually party pads after the completion of the ride.

Along the way, riders can pick up cycling skills, learn rules of the road and explore safe routes to commute or free ride in Pensacola.  

It’s a wide-ranging free event that started as a simple idea between two local friends.  

“It was one of those things where we started small – I think we had 25 the first month, 35 the second month – and then by the third month it just blew up,” Bike Pensacola executive director Christian Wagley said. “I knew then that we had really tapped into something that the community wanted.

“I describe it as a latent demand. There were people in the community wanting it, but nobody offered it. So we stepped forward and started offering it and the community really responded.”

For Wagley, the need for a monthly community Slow Ride grew from roadblocks he identified for Pensacola residents to participate in the hobby.  

Whether it was a lack of bike lanes or heavy car traffic, Wagley said he understood people’s concerns with cycling and wanted to find a way to educate new riders.

As the event grew, Wagley said he found it important to represent riders who didn’t necessarily cycle for purely for fitness or competition.

“Any movement has different subsets and there are great folks that do advocacy for riders that like to go faster and farther… Our core demographic is that daily rider who might ride to work or the store or library,” Wagley said. “We’re trying to focus more on those folks – and it really represents a larger group of people – that are daily utilitarian riders.”

That message has grown to include an advocacy effort as Bike Pensacola looks to not only influence safe practices for riders with educational displays, but also include cyclists in city infrastructure planning and development.  

Wagley said he’s seen progress in that effort over the events five years, noting the importance of community conversations like CivicCon in elevating the voice of the cycling community.

To return the favor, “Ride Squad” members guide cyclists on leisurely tours of city sites, including more people in the cycling conversation.

“I think people learn about things in the city that they might not have known about,” Bike Pensacola board member Dan Powers said. “So that’s a lot of fun.”

Saturday’s Slow Ride was hosted out of Ride More Bicycles downtown and included food and refreshments from local businesses Happy Taco Truck and Sneaki Tiki. Next month’s event will spotlight another business in Pensacola, surely bringing good vibes along the way.

“It’s a party afterwards, really,” Wagley said. “Getting people out in a safe and fun setting to ride their bikes makes them more likely to ride it on their own time.”

For more information on next month’s Slow Ride, visit Bike Pensacola’s Facebook page. The organization is active with event scheduling – including others besides Slow Ride – as well as news affecting the cycling community.  

Eric J. Wallace can be reached at ejwallace@pnj.com or 850-525-5087.