Whether you’re looking for free and fun activities, want outdoor exercise, or like making friends, then there’s a cycling group for you. In this episode, we look at the seven cycling groups that meet every week or every month in Dallas. We’ll go over where they meet, what they’re like, and how to join. The full schedule is in the show notes and on our website, ThisDallasLife.com. This episode – released at the beginning of National Bike Month – is the first volume of active cycling groups in Dallas. Volume 2 will be released later in May.

Critical Mass

Critical Mass is a popular social ride that gathers every last Friday of the month, 7pm at Dallas Farmers Market.

People start gathering at 7pm; ride begins at 8pm. No registration or signup is required; people just show up! One of the most passionate cyclists you’ll see at every Critical Mass ride is Jose Benitez.

Jose Benitez: “Critical Mass is basically just a gathering of friends. [It’s to show] that we exist as cyclists through the city. We get together, we show that we’re here. It’s for safety. It’s to show that we deserve a spot in the city. You don’t have to be in a car every day. It’s a gathering to show we exist.“

Critical Mass is an “all-wheels” ride, meaning you’ll see almost every type of bicycle imaginable.

Jose Benitez: “People show up on skates. It’s basically come on, any type of wheels you have from the house and join us. You can even run. We have runners here every so often… This ride is for beginners. This ride’s for women, children, men, anyone who’s just starting it. It’s a ride that you come and you learn the basics.”

Some cyclists carry infants in child carriers or pet dogs in bike trailers. Many decorate their bikes with colorful lights to maximize their visibility while cruising city streets shared with cars and other vehicles. Combined with the evening lights of the downtown skyline, Critical Mass is a visual spectacle for cyclists riding along and enchanted sidewalk bystanders. Jose was in the Dallas cycling scene long before Critical Mass came to Dallas, and he was part of the original group that got it started here.

Jose Benitez: “Critical Mass actually started in other [major cities]. In Dallas, we really didn’t have a gathering or anything, but as we saw the cities growing in other states, we wanted to be the same. Critical Mass [Dallas] started with about 15, 16 riders, and we rode for about a year that way. So all cities do it at the same time. They all coincide at eight o’clock last Friday of the month. So we’ve been doing this for the past 10 years, 11 years, something around there. We’ve been gathering as friends and over the years it has grown to a size of about five to 600 riders.”

I asked Jose if he could identify the tipping point when Critical Mass went from a few cycling buddies into a major event hundreds of cyclists strong.

Jose Benitez: “That’s the thing. When Critical Mass changed, it was, I guess you can say it was more of a surprise. We never expected it to change that big. And as for the groups that were there, there’s so many. There’s Marcus Gillespie; he’s one of my best friends. There’s Junior Belmonte; he’s one of our great friends. He’s one of the OG riders and everything. He’s been there since the very beginning. We have Pops; he works at Redstar. He was there at the very beginning. We have quite a few people that started this ride and we’re there every day. I’m talking about every last Friday we were there in zero degree weather. The friendships that were gained, you can’t explain how something grows when it’s natural. When it’s natural, it just happens and you don’t question it.”

All the groups featured in this episode take turns leading Critical Mass each month.

Jose Benitez: “And in Dallas it just has grown to a point of where it’s almost uncontrollable without a group. So there’s groups now that lead Critical Mass that … make sure everybody’s together.”

Over a decade of community building has resulted in a safe and protective cycling culture. When someone accidentally falls, someone calls “biker down!” to bring the entire mass to a halt. A protective barrier of bicycles and people form around the fallen cyclist to give them time and space to recover. Thanks to the slow speed and natural group protection, recovery usually takes less than a minute. I talked to Alyssa Kruger, who had just ridden in her first Critical Mass.

Allysa Kruger: “So one thing I noticed on the ride that really kind of warmed my heart was the community about it… I moved here about three years ago in 2020 from Ohio. And I didn’t know anyone coming here to Dallas or anything, so I kind of met friends through different activities and things.”

I asked what she liked the most about her first group ride in Dallas. She described being impressed by the protectiveness of the cycling community.

Allysa Kruger: “… and there were so many people that were yelling directions or these different people stopping to like hold up traffic. And I just felt like there were so many people within the organization that were just taking the lead and just protecting all of the writers. And I was like, wow, this is like a community that really cares about the rest of the community. And so I thought I was stoked about that… They want to just make sure everyone’s safe and having a good time.”

Critical Mass is a delightful way to see parts of the city that most people never otherwise visit. While every ride begins downtown at the Farmers Market, each month explores a different adjacent neighborhood.

Allysa Kruger: “So it’s kind of like, wait, I could actually ride to the Design District to Uptown to Deep Ellum, in less than an hour and it would be easy, which you wouldn’t think because you’re always driving in the city… So it was also cool to just ride through the scenery and realize how rideable the city is, because everyone thinks his city’s very drivable. So I think those two things were kind of shocker or like things I thought in my head as I was riding.”

An unexpected side-effect of the group ride was a change in Allysa’s perspective on the city’s diversity.

Allysa Kruger: “Doesn’t seem to be like one type of person. I see a lot of different varieties of people who seem to be coming from like lots of diversity within the group, within their styles, within just like the people they are, and I haven’t talked to all of them, but you can just tell that it’s a huge diverse group. I would think that a lot of groups within Dallas, or just any city, if I go there, I’m probably gonna see that type of people. But the cool thing about this group is you can tell… the diversity within them. And so I’ve got to mingle and meet some of the community here. And they’re all great, super friendly, super welcoming.

TITS Tuesdays

TITS Tuesdays is a women-led social ride that gathers every Tuesday 7:30 pm at Lakewood Whole Foods Market, 2118 Abrams Road.

Bekah Kornblum: “This bike ride is called TITS Tuesday. It is an acronym for Time-In-The-Saddle. It is historically a women-only ride and then they wanted to open it up. So it is a women led ride. But encouraging women to get on bikes is still very much a part of this ride. It meets at the Lakewood Whole Foods every Tuesday, rain or shine unless it’s down pouring. It’s definitely, I would say beginner; maybe not, like, true beginner, but it’s an introductory social ride for sure.”

Cyclists in TITS take turns leading each Tuesday. I spoke with Bekah Kornblum who recently led TITS Tuesdays for her first time. Bekah grew up in Fort Worth and has lived in Dallas since 2018. She’s been cycling since 2015. I asked Bekah to describe the style of riding people can expect on TITS Tuesdays. I also asked her to describe her process for planning the route for the group.

Bekah Kornblum: “I wanted to choose a route that I found interesting. So I live in East Dallas, and the ride starts in East Dallas. You can go wherever, but I wanted to stay kind of where I live. My first ride I did about 10 miles through Bryan Place, Junius Heights, kind of everything east of 75. And I actually asked a few people on that ride, as I was riding, ‘what do you want in a ride?’ One person was like, ‘I wanna see a view, like either at the top of a hill or a view of the city or a view of the sunset or something like that.’ So I tried to work that in. Some people like speed or thrill, so I know some rides try to catch like a downhill really fast. So they wanna have fun. They wanna see cool things, they wanna talk to people and it’s always gotta end at a fun place. So I had to end at Bryan Street Tavern. It’s a typical place for the TITS Tuesday ride. It can end at really any bar or any location that the leader wants. Bryan Street is always really welcoming to us, so that’s where I chose to end it.”

Respectful cyclists of all genders are welcome to participate in TITS Tuesdays. By being women-led, this group provides a fun and safe community for female-identifying cyclists in an otherwise male-dominated sport. Author Jeff Speck coined the acronym “WAMIL” (spelled W-A-M-I-L), to describe the stereotype of cycling being a recreational activity for White Affluent Men In Lycra.

Bekah Kornblum: “So cycling is definitely male dominated, and I think historically more exclusive and it seemed like it was only for like rich white men. If you go to White Rock Lake and you see the bikes that are going 20 something miles an hour around the lake, it’s people with (I’m assuming I could be way off here) $5,000 bikes, the full kit, the gear, the Garmin, you know, and that’s intimidating. It’s a high barrier to entry. So historically cycling has felt exclusive to a lot of people. I’m a white person, and so at least I didn’t have that barrier. But I am a woman and it is a male dominated sport. So TITS is exclusively women led. It not only gets women on bikes, but it teaches them how to design a route and lead a group around the town. I’m a more confident rider because I’ve been welcomed in, and the tits ride is specifically welcoming women in, and it makes a difference.”

Bekah describes the impact of TITS on her social life.

Bekah Kornblum: “I really wanted to lead a social ride. That was a goal of mine last year, 2022. I really wanted to lead TITS and I think I posted it on the Facebook group, like, ‘Hey, I’m interested in leading. How do I sign up?’ And they were like, ‘Oh my gosh, here’s the calendar. Pick a date.’ Super supportive. They helped me. They’re like, ‘You should create an event so you can promote it and you should message the whole group so that people know.’ Because I mentioned it was my first time leading – Hexel, you were there – a lot of people came out and supported me in that and kind of gave me tips on projecting my voice and being confident and keeping the group together and setting a good route. It’s a very supportive group of people and  I am a more confident rider because of the other cyclists around me. I’ve made amazing friends and had a lot of good times on the TITS ride.”

Femme Pedale

Femme Pedale is a women-only social ride that gathers every Thursday 7pm near Baylor. Visit the Facebook Group for Femme Pedale.

Femme Pedale meets weekly on Thursdays at 7:00 pm. While its counterpart, TITS Tuesdays, is a women-led ride open to all genders, Femme Pedale is a private club providing a safe space for women-identifying cyclists.

Gretchen Allen: “It is a ladies only group. We all take turns leading and we meet at Baylor. We usually have 10 to 20 people that show up for rides. We’d love to have new people; that’s why we have this group. It’s for people, ladies, to feel safe to come out and ride and not be judged. They can express their concerns. We try to teach ‘em safety on the bicycle and out on the road. It’s just a really encouraging group. We love it.”

Visit the Facebook group for Femme Pedale to join their Thursday ride.

Gretchen Allen: “We don’t really advertise publicly where we meet cuz it’s private. But the Facebook group, you just have to answer some quick questions and then you can find out all the information once we approve your request to join.”

As mentioned earlier in the episode, different cycling groups in Dallas take turns leading the Critical Mass on the last Friday of the month. When I spoke with Gretchen for this podcast, Femme Pedale was getting ready to lead Critical Mass.

Gretchen Allen: “This is our second year to lead Critical Mass. Kind of nervous, but I think it’ll be fun. We usually choose February because it’s cold and we want a smaller crowd.”

I asked Gretchen what women may need for their first meetup, and what they can expect during the ride. I also asked how she learned about the group. Like many people featured in this podcast, Gretchen learned about Femme Pedale by word-of-month at another cycling event.

Gretchen Allen: “So we are mostly on the road around Dallas. So good tires for cruddy Dallas streets. My rule of thumb is if you can make a loop around the lake in 45 minutes to an hour, that’s about 10 miles an hour, then you’ll be fine. If you can’t do it, then you need to practice a little bit because we do have some experienced riders. It’s very social, but we do need you to be at least 10 miles an hour, 10 miles before you can hang with us. I found Femme Pedale through a friend of a friend on another social group ride. I just showed up. I didn’t know a soul. And the Ride leader was super friendly and super nice, and we just got to talking and she’s like, oh, you should come lead a ride. I didn’t know what I was doing, but she just nurtured me and taught me how to do it. And that’s kind of what we do in our group is we nurture other leaders and make women feel more comfortable out on the road. And so here I am – I don’t know – two years later leading Critical Mass! What the heck!”

Debunking the assumption that you need to be a hardcore cyclist before joining a social ride, Gretchen describes being just a beginner when she joined her first group ride. She also describes fond memories she’s had with the group.

Gretchen Allen: “Oh yeah, totally. I was new. I think my first social ride was with TITS and that’s a women led group. And I showed up, didn’t know a soul, and I met people and I was new and I wasn’t a very good cyclist, but I saw other people that were doing it and I thought, you know what? If they can do it, I can do it. So that instilled this fire and I wanted to meet more people and I just started cycling all the time that I could. Every time I could, I was out. Wow, there are so many fun memories, but I think one of my very favorite ones was just a beautiful small group, and then we ended up on a patio and we all were just chatting and going around the circle and getting to know one another, and that is just such a lost art. I think with women, we try to one up each other and there was none of that. It was all encouraging and it’s still that way to this day. We all just wanna get to know you and encourage one. It’s a safe place you can gripe and moan about your boyfriend, your girlfriend, and you know we love you anyway. The bike community in Dallas, especially among women, is like none other.”

Shifty Freewheelers

Shifty Freewheelers is a weekly social ride that gathers every Monday 7pm at Cold Beer Company, 3600 Main Street.

Miso Ryu: “Shifty Freewheelers’ regular ride is on Monday nights and currently we’re meeting here at Cold Beer Company, which happens to be kind of the favorite watering hole for a bunch of us cyclists because they’re very friendly toward cyclists. We can bring our bikes onto the patio; they’re very welcoming of us. So we meet here on Monday nights for our regular weekly rides, and we people start meeting here around seven o’clock and we try to roll out by 7:30. But usually we end up rolling out around 7:45 PM. The speed is slightly faster than your run of the mill social ride. We will go usually between 11 to 13 miles per hour. So we’ve been trying to push it a little bit so that it would be just a hair faster than the typical social rides, but a little more leisurely than the training rides.”

Aside from the slightly faster pace, Shifty Freewheelers is very similar to other social rides you’ll find in Dallas. I asked Miso about how she got started with the cycling scene in Dallas.

Miso Ryu: “I’m trying to remember the first group bride I ever did, it might have been with one of the local bike shops. I know I did the Truck Christmas Lights Ride 2019. I think I also did one with Red Star Bicycles. And then I also found out about the Eastside Taco Ride. So I did that a couple of times and all of this happened before Covid… And then Covid happened, so then I started riding my bicycle all the time. But all the organized group rides were canceled. So I started organizing my own small group rides among my friends that had bicycles and we would meet and just cruise around Dallas when there were no cars.”

It was through the pandemic that she became the frequent organizer that we know today. Miso didn’t originally start Shifty Freewheelers. But the group came under her wing when the founder had a family medical issue.

Miso Ryu: “I went to my first Shifty Freewheelers ride in October of 2020, and I started riding with them pretty regularly. And at some point, Martin, who was one of the founders of the ride, always led the Shifty Freewheelers ride on Mondays. His dad had a stroke and so he ended up moving in with his parents and taking care of his dad and just started riding less and less. And so we were not having regular Monday night rides anymore. So I kinda started taking it upon myself to make sure that we were riding on Monday nights. And then he reached out and thanked me for continuing it and, you know, asked me to continue it as long as I would want to. And he appreciated my effort. So I really liked it. I kind of continued the tradition. But the group had a very regular route that was pretty much written every Monday, and I’ve kind of changed that a little bit. I don’t always lead, but I will coordinate with other people to come up with different routes. But it’s a pretty casual group. We tend to be a little bit on the smaller side than some of the other group rides, but we like it that way because we can kind of do what we want and then we always socialize afterward, either here or Bryan Street Tavern for their half price pizzas. It’s always a good time and we are also very welcoming and a good mix of people.” 

Monday Mash

Monday Mash is a fast-pace training ride that gathers every Monday 7pm at Exposition Plaza, 269 Exposition Ave.

Jose Benitez: “I lead Monday Mash, which is a very fast ride. It’s basically a training ride. Just know we want you to push yourself. That is the whole focus of this Monday Mash training. You wanna push yourself to the max. Monday Mash meets every Monday at seven o’clock at Exposition Plaza, right here in Dallas.”

Exposition Plaza is right around the corner from Cold Beer Company in Deep Ellum. However, it’s common for people arriving early to hang out at CBC with Shifty Freewheelers before the ride begins.

Miso Ryu: “Monday Mash does not meet here [Cold Beer Company]. They meet nearby at Exposition Park. They meet around seven o’clock as well. And they roll at 7:45 PM but they usually end up here at Cold Beer Company with all of us after the ride.” 

Jose explains how the Monday Mash ride works.

Jose Benitez: “Our average speeds are from 17 to 19 miles an. We ride for 20 miles with checkpoints. So when I say checkpoints, the checkpoints are basically spots that we meet. So we will go for about two or three miles, you give it your all, and that’s where we all meet at the end of a checkpoint. You’ll catch your breath for about 30 seconds, and then we wait for you to push yourself again for another two to three miles. So the whole thing is you could get left behind, but we never make a turn without you, so you’ll never actually get left behind. This is the ride where if you want to race and you wanna get better, we’re there to show you how. And the only way you get better is riding with people who are better than you.”

Jose Benitez: “I’m not the fastest myself on this ride that I created. I have team members that run faster than me, but that’s what makes me play every day is the challenge of beating my own friends. What’s life without a little bit of losing, you know? A little bit of a challenge. So Monday Mash is that for yourself. If you want to push yourself to the limit and see what you can do on a bicycle – road bike, track bike, mountain bike, I don’t care what you’re on, bring what you got – but understand, we want you to push yourself. If you’re not there to push yourself, it’s one of the rides that you should stay away from because it will intimidate you. But if you do wanna be a part of it, then this is how you get faster.” 

Dallas Bicycle Tours

Thai Temple Ride is a social ride that gathers every 3rd Sunday 10:45 am starting at Cold Beer Company, 3600 Main Street and destined for Buddhist Temple of Dallas, 8484 Stults Rd. Visit DallasBicycleTours.com.

White Rock Lake Ride is a social ride that gathers every 4th Sunday 10:45 am starting at the parking lot of Dallas Bike Works, 4875 W Lawther Dr. Visit DallasBicycleTours.com.

Heather Cohen: “I started a company for local riders. It’s kind of a love project, a passion project to introduce cycling to people that are traveling to Dallas. So we kind of give them a little city tour, take ‘em around and combine that with some history and some local art of some of our favorite sites and places. I’m a Dallas-native, born and raised here, so it’s important to me to showcase our city in the best way possible to those visiting and then also to any friends that would like to ride.”

Dallas Bicycle Tours hosts two free monthly bicycle rides: the Thai Temple Ride every third Sunday and the White Rock Lake Ride every fourth Sunday. Both rides gather at 10:45 in the morning and roll out at 11:00 am. Like many groups in this episode, the Thai Temple Ride gathers at Cold Beer Company in Deep Ellum every third Sunday. It’s a 12-mile journey to the temple. The group rides on the Santa Fe Trail, White Rock Lake Trail, and White Rock Creek Trail. Every Sunday, the Buddhist temple has an outdoor food market.

Heather Cohen: “All the proceeds go to the vendors there and you can get anything from sticky rice to bone noodles to a fish. You can get amazing food there. It’s cash only and all the proceeds are benefiting them and what they do, and everything’s locally made and it’s a great cause.”

After a delicious lunch, the group returns to their starting point on the reverse journey. (Side note: if you want to avoid biking 12 miles back to Cold Beer Company, you can bring your bicycle on the train at the DART Forest Lane Station, practically next door to the Buddhist Temple).

The other Dallas Bicycle Tour that Heather organizes is the White Rock Lake Ride every fourth Saturday. The White Rock Lake Ride gathers at the Bike Works parking lot on Lawther Road at 10:45 am and rolls out at 11:00 am. The trail ride around the lake is approximately 10 miles.

I asked Heather about how she started cycling. Like many, the pandemic was a big reason Heather started spending more time in the saddle.

Heather Cohen: “So I would have to say that I was not a big cycler. I’m more of a volleyball player. And I got into cycling during, like before Covid, maybe about a year before Covid. And I was just doing it for fun as an activity to do with my boyfriend so that there was something we had in common to do together. And then what actually happened? During Covid we wanted to be social, but we still wanted a social distance and we wanted exercise. And so we started seeing a couple people or a couple posts here and there. And then before you knew it, we had about six or seven of us just riding together on Tuesday nights. And social distancing, of course, around White Rock Lake. And one of the main people in the bike scene that encouraged me a lot and a lot of other riders and connected us all is Joel Shakespeare. He’s also great on repairs. But he’s just a really cool person that kind of brings people together in the biking community. And so he started riding with us and because of riding with him and my boyfriend, my riding improved. And then out of us meeting Joel, we met all these other bike groups and that’s how we know about all the rides. It’s just this amazing community family… Dallas is pretty epic.”

In addition to hosting free social rides for free, Dallas Bicycle Tours also offer twenty-dollar bike rentals. You can visit their website, DallasBicycleTours.com, to read about and purchase tickets for special tours, such as their Deep Ellum, Downtown, and Fair Park tour. Dallas Bicycle Tours also offers twenty-dollar bicycle rentals for Critical Mass.

Bike Friendly South Dallas

Bike Friendly South Dallas is a non-profit that hosts a social ride every Saturday 10am at We-Cycle Resource Center, 1616 Al Lipscomb Way. Visit BikeFriendlySouthDallas.org. 

I spoke with Taisha “TK” Hobbs (president) and Ashley Fletcher (founder and executive director) of Bike Friendly South Dallas. I asked them to first describe what Bike Friendly South Dallas is.

TK Hobbs: “We are a nonprofit, 100% volunteer, 100% nonprofit. Everything that we do, we have volunteers or we get from grant money or generous donations. We’re unique in that we have a WeCycle resource center. Which is an actual structure which operates more or less like a retail shop, even though we don’t like to say that exactly.”

Ashley Fletcher: “We teach indoor and outdoor bicycle riding. How to ride in our community because as you know, north Dallas is different from South Dallas when it comes to road infrastructure. Bicycle riding in Dallas is needed. I love that the residents support us. We’re here to grow the community, get more butts on bikes, and really know that riding bikes is good for your mind, your body and your soul. And more importantly, it’s good for our environment.”

There are four main things that Bike Friendly South Dallas does in the community. First is their weekly Saturday morning bicycle ride.

TK Hobbs: “Every Saturday wheels down at 10:00 AM. We are trying to get more rides on our calendar, but right now we are trying to have either a community outreach event or a ride. Every Saturday wheels down at 10:00 AM We’ll start at the WeCycle Resource Center, again located at 1616 El Lipscomb Way. And we have various routes that we go on. Route Coordinator and WeCycle Resource Center Director of Operations, Mr. Stan Harris, depending on the crowd, he’ll determine whether we’ll go to Bonton Farms, or we’ll ride around Fair Park or go out to any of the beautiful areas here in South Dallas. You know, the gems that many people don’t know even existed here; they’ve lived here all their lives and until they came on one of our, our bike rides, they didn’t know that a lot of the great resources here in sunny South Dallas that we have.”

The weekly Saturday morning ride is an opportunity to explore places with cultural significance in Dallas.

TK Hobbs: “So before I started volunteering with this organization, I did not know that there’s so many historical landmarks around here. There’s a house where Ray Charles lived, where he wrote one of his most famous songs. We have our Black History Ride, or our Juneteenth Slow Roll, where we visit many of those historical sites. There’s just so many wonderful sites, historical landmarks, just beautiful things to see.”

Being seen riding together as a group on local streets in the neighborhood is an act of advocacy unto itself.

TK Hobbs: “And the most beautiful thing about riding in South Dallas is the people. You know we get so many people that’s just happy to see us on rides. They’ll ask when we ride, when they can join us, or sometimes we’ll run into a group of cyclists and they’ll just, just hop on and, and roll with us.”

The second thing they do is workshops and special events in partnership with other cycling groups and local non-profits. 

TK Hobbs: “You know, my girl, Becca Kornblum, shoutout to her. She is reigniting the Dallas Bicycle Coalition. And she actually is going to come out and ride with us on our Juneteenth ride. Because not only is she wanting to get input from everybody, she’s actually wanting to come out and ride these rides and, and ride these routes and kind of compare it to where we are kind of with the Dallas bicycle plan.

Ashley Fletcher: “Next month is May, which is National Bike Month. So we do things like community engagement. We’ll really go around to other bicycle events and we allow one of our partners – Bicycle Customs, myself – to really advertise biking and really talk to people about why they ride bikes.”

The third thing they do is give away donated bicycles to those who can’t afford to buy one.

TK Hobbs: “Yeah, well we have a surplus of bikes right now that are up for you know, either through our Earn A Bike program. So if you don’t have a bike and you wanna ride with us, you can earn a bike by either volunteering. You can either, if you have mechanical skills, we can always, again, I can’t stress this enough, use volunteer mechanics.”

The fourth thing they do is repair bicycles at their We Cycle Resource Center.

TK Hobbs: “So we got bikes, we got tools, and if you wanna get involved, just come in and hit us up through our website. You can go through the contact us page or again at come in, visit us. We’re there Tuesdays through Fridays, 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM and most Saturdays 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM”

Ashley Fletcher: “We do minor maintenance and repairs on bicycles. We are not a bike shop; I always like to encourage people to go to bike shops when they need something major done to their bike. But we can teach you how to do simple things like how to fix your tire when it’s flat, and how to maybe make some adjustments to your brakes and things like that.”