On a sunny April evening, dozens of cyclists gathered in Covington, ready to roll through the city for Ride the Cov’s first spring ride of the season.
The group gathered around Covington’s Goose Girl Fountain for its first spring ride on Wednesday, April 8.
“There’s no pressure to these,” said Justin Brandenburg, who first rode with the group in 2021. “My eight-year-old son has ridden in them before. If you fall back, people will fall back with you, and you’ll catch up with the group. It’s fun. You can see a lot of the town you wouldn’t otherwise see.”
The Covington resident is a year-round bike commuter to and from work.
“I just saw the opportunity to meet people who were like-minded, find other routes around town that I didn’t know about,” Brandenburg said.
Ride the Cov was founded in 2017. One of its cofounders, Nate Weyand-Geise, said its creation was tied to Love the Cove, which came from the bicentennial of Covington. Ride the Cov was an idea to make Covington a more walkable, bikeable, livable city. Not only was the idea to get people to come out in mass to ride together, but also to collaborate with elected officials on the importance of bike and pedestrian infrastructure.
Weyand-Geise said he and the other board members are Covington residents who all bike to work most days. The rides they host are mostly in Covington.
Wednesday’s ride focused on four projects that are reshaping the city. The ride was coined “Future Covington.” The projects the ride targeted were the Goebel Park transformation at 501 Philadelphia St., the old Duro Bag building redevelopment at 1301 Madison Ave., the Fourth Street Bridge project, and work started near Riverfront Commons, in relation to the Brent Spence Bridge project.
They also host special rides in partnership with groups on occasion. Last year, Ride the Cov’s best-attended ride was a historical tour through Ludlow, including the Ludlow Lagoon, in partnership with the Ludlow Historic Society, which drew over 40 riders.
On a Ride the Cov ride, the group has a leader and a “sweeper” who makes sure no one gets left behind.
“We like to say at the beginning of our rides, we move like a giant bus,” Weyand-Geise said. “So, if you imagine a bus with 40 people in it. That bus is going to take a little bit longer to get through an intersection. Well, we’re going to make sure that the people in the back of the bus are coming through.”
The rides typically attract an average of 28 cyclists.
The basic expectations for someone if they want to join, Weyand-Geise said, are to be able to ride at least 10 miles over fairly flat hills. If someone doesn’t own a bike, there is a Cincinnati Red Bikes station near Ride the Cov’s meet-up spot. Those bikes are electric, and so if someone isn’t comfortable riding 10 miles on their own, they can get an electric bike. Beyond that, he said to be cheerful and ready to talk to people.
While Brandenburg has been riding with Ride the Cov on and off since 2021, the day saw brand new faces.
Jared Morse, while a seasoned bike rider for 15 years, attended his first Ride the Cov outing after hearing about it from a coworker. Morse moved to the Bellevue area from Portland about six months ago. He works in Covington and said he decided to pop over after work and see what it was about.
“These groups are the best way to get started on city streets, for sure,” Morse said. “Because I understand it’s pretty intimidating to ride with traffic, but in a group like this, it’s pretty hard to go wrong.”
To find ride details, visit Ride the Cov here.
