Cycling in St. Cloud: SCHEELS Bike Club

Spring is here, and with that comes warmer weather and outdoor activities. At the St. Cloud SCHEELS, one activity you can participate in is the bike club.

“Bike club is basically a group that we can get together and ride after work or kind of get out and enjoy nature and enjoy just being out on our bikes. It’s filled with a lot of fun,” said bike group leader Ben Johnson.

While the group that meets every week changes, the start of the bike club goes way back between Ben and one of his former coworkers, who is also a friend of his.

“I actually started with a friend of mine where he just wanted to start riding, so he did after work and started spreading the word, and this was probably 16 or 17 years ago, somewhere around there,” said Ben.

The bike club has continued to grow and continues to include members of many different skill sets. They currently have two routes, an advanced ride and an intermediate ride, with their fastest riders going between 40-50 miles per hour.

“Really, anyone just has to show up and need a helmet, need a bike, and that’s about it,” said Ben. It’s typically for road bikes. Casual bikes probably just won’t be able to keep the pace, but that’s about it. [All you need is] a good attitude and ready to have some fun.

Bikers who participate in the bike club receive physical benefits but, it also helps build a sense of community.

“Really, it’s that community, so just creating the relationships. We ride here, and what’s cool is new riders will come, and then little rides will spurt out throughout the week or different weekends outside of these rides. So the groups are kind of creating some other friendships too, which is kind of fun,” said Ben.

If you are interested in joining, the bike club has a Strava group called the St. Cloud Cycling Club where they post their routes, as well as any sort of cancellations or changes to the routes that may occur.

They meet every Wednesday at Scheels starting at 5:30 pm from April 2 until August 27.