About PRiDE OUT
It all started in May 2019 when PRiDE OUT was established as an LGBT+ cycle group in Manchester, unbelievably for the first time ever; We failed to understand why there had never been such a group before, especially considering Greater Manchester has an LGBTQ+ population of more than 200,000 people. It was even stranger when you considered Sport England's 2019 report that of those exercising more than 150 minutes per week, cycling is the 4th most popular activity after walking, fitness activities, and running or athletics. We asked ourselves why had there never been a group for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (trans) or queer cyclists which was open to everyone and decided to do something about it. So... PRiDE OUT was born;
And we quickly attracted cyclists from Cheshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Yorkshire and beyond.The next chapter started May 2020, when we officially became a cycle group affiliated with Cycling UK and they published an article. PRiDE OUT started to attract interest from all over the UK; from places like London, Bristol, Birmingham, Scotland and elsewhere. People started asking if we put on bike rides in their area and we initially politely said 'not yet'. But then we started thinking... rather than turn people away, we can do better than that. Given there has never been a national LGBTQ+ cycling in the UK, we decided we would tentatively and cautiously start laying some foundations to become just that. But we decided we would only do it in such a way that meant we deliver reliable and professional events that are good quality and enjoyable experiences.
To help get the conversation started we set up 10 regional Facebook groups; see the list on this page.
In the near future we plan to start putting on trial bike rides in each area, region by region. We are so excited and hope to see you on a ride sometime soon!