'Slow Roll' works to revive neighborhoods

CHICAGO (AP) - As Oboi Reed and Jamal Julien wove their bikes around parked cars and potholes recently in the Chatham neighborhood of the city, a woman on the sidewalk called out, "Y'all are riding in the street?"

Julien chuckled.

With no place to lock up a bike on that stretch of 79th Street - much less bike lanes or a Divvy station to rent a bike - he could see why the woman would find it odd. The two avid cyclists remember biking out of necessity as children in their South Side neighborhood, but it wasn't until decades later, once they had moved, that they were reintroduced to biking as a hobby.

"It's not viewed as transportation, it's viewed as entertainment, like something that kids do," Julien said.

Reed, 41, and Julien, 39, are determined to bring recreational biking to neighborhoods like Chatham, so they planned to lead Chicago's first "slow roll on a recent Saturday," a growing biking movement in which groups of bicyclists leisurely coast through struggling communities before rallying to support a local business.

The phenomenon began in Detroit in 2010 as a way to buck negative perceptions of neighborhoods while encouraging revitalization. Reed and Julien hoped to begin bringing the same energy to the city's South and West sides when they recently had a soft launch of Slow Roll Chicago at Fleck's Coffee Co.

"The perception on the outside is that (in Chatham), it's bullets whizzing past your head," said Reed, a Roosevelt University student who lives in the South Loop. "But when you get over here you notice these are just regular people who shop, go to school, raise kids, just like anybody else.

"We want people to turn these neighborhoods into livable communities where they feel safe walking, biking, enjoying the neighborhood without the feeling of, 'If I go outside, I'm not going to be safe.'"

Reed and Julien planned to hold two additional rides on the third Saturday of the month. Each roughly 10-mile, two-hour slow roll will follow a route to showcase neighborhood art projects, community gardens, architecture, historic locations and other hidden gems before riders meet up at a local restaurant or bar.

"We want to promote the communities that we're riding through," said Julien, a real estate managing broker who lives in the South Shore neighborhood. "We'll be looking at coffee shops, mom-and-pop restaurants and small retailers. And if there is a historical venue, we can stop and talk about it."

For their first ride, Reed and Julien chose to start at Fleck's Coffee, a minority-owned business that has been open a little more than a year. Owner Olga Turner said that although she had never heard of a "slow roll," she's already a supporter.

"I think it's ideal if you're off the beaten path," Turner said. "We've been trying to bring something to the community that hasn't been here for a while, so it's always a help for us any time we can have an influx of people.

"We'll have the coffee on and the muffins in the oven."

Reed and Julien said they hope to rival the enthusiasm they have seen in videos of Slow Roll Detroit, where people of all ages cruise together.

"They had custom bikes with lights and beach cruisers," Julien said. "We thought, 'Wow, that's awesome.' We already have cyclist communities, but we could bring those to urban enclaves in Chicago and incorporate in diversity and building community."

Seeking help to start a local chapter, Reed and Julien reached out to Slow Roll Detroit founders Jason Hall and Mike MacKool, whose weekly rides with smaller groups of bicyclists four years ago has evolved into a procession of more than 4,000, as seen in one of their latest cruises.

"How could we imagine it would grow from five people to 4,500?"

MacKool said. "It's been a pretty wild ride, but all we're doing is giving people a platform."

Their idea has spread globally, as official Slow Rolls have kicked off in nine cities from Cleveland to Sweden. People from more than 100 others cities have reached out in hopes of bringing a Slow Roll to their hometowns. Slow Roll Detroit recently was featured in an Apple commercial and a Swedish documentary.

MacKool said he's confident Chicago will make a good 10th site.

"I think Chicago is a great town," MacKool said. "It still has that Midwest compatibility. There's always been a connection between Detroit and Chicago, so it's (only fitting that it will be) the first major city to do it."

Though Hall and MacKool weren't able to attend Chicago's first slow roll because of obligations with another biking event, they said several volunteers from Slow Roll Detroit would participate and help with biking safety during the launch of the program.

"It's all people who love to ride," MacKool said. "They will do the same in Chicago, instill that same type of pride and show how to interact with motorists."

Other Chicago groups have already begun pushing the biking frontier outside the North Side and downtown. A few months ago, Reed rode with Critical Mass, a group vying for biker equality on roadways, when it led a large crowd from downtown to the city's South and West sides.

And Red Bike & Green, a group aiming to promote cycling in black communities, recently held a ride from the South Shore neighborhood to the Englewood, a notoriously volatile neighborhood.

"I'm 100 percent that some of them, if you would've (said) ... 'Come take a trip with me to Englewood,' they would say 'Heck no!' " Julien said. "But you wouldn't believe the people. You would think we were in the Macy's parade the way they were waving and honking horns.

"It's certainly a different perception of the community when you're not in the car listening to the radio. You can hear the beat of the community."

Julien said their goal is to bring cyclists together for monthly rides until November. Once they gauge the interest, they hope to start weekly rides next spring.

"We ride because we believe the more people that ride in our community, the better we stand an opportunity of our communities being improved," Reed said.