Slow Roll Cleveland 2023 Season Opener

We promised to reveal one date from our 2023 season early, before the big reveal on the 24th, and here it is: Slow Roll Cleveland makes its long-awaited return to regular season fun on Saturday, April 29 in Edgewater Park!

We'll be celebrating ten years this season, and what better place to do so than the spot that brought us our record-setting crowd from last year, an event that drew over 700 riders and cemented 2022 as our biggest and wildest year ever. Whether you've never done a Slow Roll before or this is you 100th time, there's never been a better time to be a Slow Roller in this city. We're aiming for the stars in 2023 and with your help we'll get there with a ride that focuses on our core mission: bridging the communities of the beautiful and diverse patchwork quilt that is Cleveland and tying it together through the power of pedals. We'll see and experience things this year we've never attempted before on Slow Roll, and hopefully spread our cheer and goodwill through the city like seeds of hope. Let's see, together, how much good we can do on bikes.

We'll kick off this ride at 4 PM on Saturday, an unusual day for a Slow Roll, but this year we'll be featuring not one but three Saturday rolls, due to popular demand. Why not get started with one right off the bat? We're opening up our area, which should be quite visible off of Edgewater's main parking lot, at 3 PM, with our booth and those of some of our community partners. As we confirm which partners will be there with us on this Saturday, we'll provide updates and info.

Along for the ride this year are old friends Bike Cleveland (this year's squad shirt sponsor) and Beat Cycles, who keep your trusty SAG crew stocked with tools and supplies, along with new sponsor Knabe Law Firm. Long a friend to and supporter of the Cleveland area biking community, Ken is sponsoring our schedule cards this year, which you'll be able to get your hands on at any of our rides. On the back you'll find some handy legal tips for cyclists, so keep one of these in your pocket at all times!

We have a new website, at slowrollcleveland.org, which will be updated quite a bit more frequently than our old one, and will include some pretty neat features which we plan to roll out throughout the year, including an online store where you'll be able to purchase the latest Slow Roll gear and have it shipped straight to your home (although we still encourage you to come out to our rides and see it in person!) We'll also be working with an increased number of ride partners this year as we aim to deepen and strengthen our community roots. If you're interested in being part of Slow Roll and have an issue you'd like illuminated in a neighborhood we're rolling through, reach out to us and let's talk. We're happy to lend a microphone and our platform to important causes.

You'll likely notice squad of a different, more _orange_ hue along on this ride. Our sister organization, Slow Roll Buffalo, is also celebrating their tenth season (although we started a year before them, they didn't take a pandemic year off, so we're even in that count). They've been a huge and important fixture in their own city for years and have boldly carried the flame of the original ride from Detroit forward in important and essential ways. We're proud to welcome them to Cleveland for our opener; two days later, a contingent of our own squad will head to Buffalo for their opener. We're excited to continue strengthening the bonds between our two organizations and cities this year.

We'll have a lot more updates for you over the next couple of weeks. Everything is happening pretty fast now, but we'll do our best to keep you informed about all of it, so keep watching our social media spaces (and website) for the latest news and doings in the Slow Roll world.