Spoke on CBS Colorado, and One More Big Saturday

Well… this is pretty cool.

Last night, Spoke was featured on CBS Colorado.

Reporter Spencer Wilson spent some time riding with us earlier this month and talking with Spoke and Building Hope Summit County about something we've been trying to put into words since this community started:

Sometimes a bike ride is about a lot more than riding a bike.

The finished story is five minutes about bicycles, yes, but it's really about loneliness, mental health, friendship, belonging, and how surprisingly difficult it can be to find meaningful connection as an adult in a mountain town.

Watching someone outside of Spoke tell that story back to us was pretty surreal!

WATCH + READ THE CBS COLORADO STORY

Bikes Are the Vehicle. Connection Is the Point.

Summit County is an incredible place to live.

We have mountains outside our doors. Trails everywhere. Bikes, skis, rivers, races, adventures and more ways to move our bodies than most people could ever ask for. However, having endless things to do doesn't automatically mean having people to do life with.

That distinction is a big part of why Spoke exists.
From the beginning, we've wanted this to be an easy doorway into community.

You don't need to fill out an application.
You don't need to be the strongest rider.
You don't need to already have a group of friends.

You certainly don't need to walk into a room and announce that you're lonely, struggling or just trying to meet somebody.

Sometimes you can simply show up with a bike.
Someone says hello.
You ride together.
You learn a name.
Maybe you exchange a phone number.
Maybe you come back the next week.

That's it.

Connection doesn't always have to begin with some enormous vulnerable moment. Sometimes it starts with another pedal stroke.

This Story Is About You

Seeing the Spoke name on CBS is exciting.

There's something much more important about this story:
It doesn't exist without all of you.

Spoke isn't a logo.

It isn't an Instagram account.
It's the person who invited a coworker.
It's the ride leader who volunteered their time.
It isn't one person standing at the front of a group ride.
It's the rider who turned around to make sure somebody hadn't been dropped.
It's the person who showed up alone for the first time even though they were nervous.
It's two people who met through Spoke and now ride together without us organizing anything at all.
It's the conversation that started in a parking lot and continued long after everyone put their bikes away.

That's the stuff we're trying to build.

CBS may have told the story.

You are the people creating it.

That is pretty badass.

Thank You, Building Hope

This story also gave us another opportunity to talk about something we've been exploring with Building Hope Summit County throughout this season.

Mental health support doesn't always begin in a therapist's office. Sometimes the first step is simply finding somewhere you feel like you belong.

A cycling group isn't therapy, and we're never going to pretend that it is, but community matters.

Having a reason to leave the house matters.
Having someone to ride next to for an hour can matter.
Having somebody notice when you aren't there matters.

We're incredibly grateful to Building Hope for helping us continue that conversation and to Spencer Wilson and CBS Colorado for taking the time to understand why this community is about more than bikes.

Now Comes the Next Chapter

The timing of all of this is pretty wild. Patrick is away guiding this week, which means he'll miss both Tuesday's Social Ride and Thursday Night Thunder.

That's okay.
Actually, it's important.
From the beginning, the goal has never been to build something that only exists when one person is standing in the middle of it.

Spoke needs to belong to the people who are part of it.

So while Patrick is out of town this week:
Ride.
Show up Tuesday.
Show up Thursday.
Invite somebody.
Take pictures.
Introduce yourself to the person you haven't met yet.
Thank the person who stepped up to lead.

Help make the ride the kind of place you would want to walk into alone.

This week is a little preview of something Spoke is going to experience much more of over the next couple of months, but we aren't quite there yet.

Patrick will be back in Summit County this weekend!

One More Big Saturday

This coming Saturday will be Patrick's final regular Spoke ride of the season before spending most of September and October out of Summit County.

So we're not exactly planning on going quietly.
We'll have our regular Saturday Social at 9:00 AM, and we'd really love to make this one a big one.
If you've ridden with us all summer, come out.
If it's been a few weeks, come back.
If you've been watching from the sidelines and telling yourself you'll join us eventually…this is a pretty good Saturday to make “eventually” happen.

There may be a little something extra happening around the Saturday ride too.

More on that later this week.

😉

This Week With Spoke

Tuesday - Social Ride - Frisco Marina 5:30pm
A relaxed after-work ride and an easy way to meet people and get some miles together.

Thursday - Thursday Night Thunder - Dillon Amphitheater5:30pm
Our spicier road ride for those looking to push the pace.

Saturday - Saturday Social - Frisco Visitor Center 9:00am
No-drop. Community first. And this week, one we'd really like to fill.

Check the Spoke calendar, Strava and WhatsApp for ride details and any updates.

Keep Showing Up

One of the things Patrick says near the end of the CBS story is that success for Spoke doesn't necessarily mean becoming some enormous organization.

Success might be much simpler.
Someone shows up.
They meet someone.
They leave with another person's phone number.
Now they have somebody they can call.

That's the whole thing.

So yes, seeing Spoke on CBS Colorado is a milestone we're going to celebrate.

We're proud of it.
We're grateful for it.
We're probably still processing how surreal it is.

Tomorrow, we're going to do the same thing we've been doing all summer.

We're going to ride bikes together.
This was never really about getting on television.

It's about creating a place where somebody can show up and hear:

Hey. Ride with us.

See you out there.

- Spoke