Thanks to all who braved the elements to join our 2021 Season-Opening Ride! Felt like a family reunion, especially for our volunteer squad, which continues to adapt to conditions as we split riders into groups and guide the ride ourselves, without the police motorcade, stopping more often as part of street traffic.

Thanks also to Big Ditch Brewing Company for having us back, and to our presenting partner Independent Health for continued support since 2015.

From Big Ditch we took the right lane on Oak Street, which drivers tend to treat as a highway connecting the 33 and 190 expressways; still, bicyclists have the right to take a lane, and so we did smoothly, as shown in this coverage by Gilat Melamed of WKBW.

We rode through Niagara Square and out Niagara Street to Front Park, along which we noted that our 311 Thursday report of craters in the Busti Avenue bike lane had been filled, thanks to the folks at the city’s Department of Citizen Services and Department of Public Works for responding in good time.

We then rode from the West Side to the East Side for a stop in MLK Park, where our partner East Side Bike Club meets for their free and inclusive community bike rides every Saturday starting at 10am, kicking off May 15th. From there we headed back downtown by Genesee Street for our Buffalocal afterparty at Big Ditch. 

Photos by Fr. Jud Weiksnar

Onward we roll with six months of Monday fun! Next up, May 10th, as our second free and inclusive Monday night community bike ride of 2021 brings us back to the Terrace at Delaware Park, where we started our 2016 season with our biggest ride to date, taking over the Scajaquada Expressway to advocate for revival of the Scajaquada and Humboldt Parkways – two world-renowned Olmsted-designed connecters that were destroyed to build disconnecting highways through the heart of Buffalo.

That fight against the car-centric mindset of the New York State Department of Transportation continues with this coming Monday’s Reconnecter Ride, spotlighting the advancing “One Road” advocacy of both the Restore Our Community Coalition and Scajaquada Corridor Coalition, both of which include Slow Roll Buffalo – together last week, we renewed our calls for parkway revival, joined by elected officials including Congressman Brian Higgins, who called for the ideal solution that would “rip out the entire expressway, end-to-end, root-and-branch.”

Our 10-mile route will stop in the Hamlin Park and Trinidad neighborhoods that were severed by the destruction of Humboldt Parkway, including neighborhoods Kingsley, MLK Park, Parkside and Park Meadow along major streets Forest, Delaware, Delavan, Humboldt, Fillmore, Kensington and Parkside.

We’ll return to the Terrace in Delaware Park for our Buffalocal afterparty with food, music and fellowship.

Thanks to Independent Health for continued support of Slow Roll Buffalo since 2015.