Let's Ride, Cov

Hello all,

Let’s start with the basics. My name is Joe Koehl, I’m an NKY native, I work at Red Bike, and I am the President of Ride the Cov. I think that about covers the basics. Let’s move on.

I love Covington, Kentucky. And I don’t just mean I Lov the Cov (which I do), I mean this place is my home. I live on the northernmost edge of the Mutter Gottes neighborhood, I ride my bike or walk to pretty much everywhere in this city, and I say hello to its inhabitants when I pass them on the street. This community is as much a part of me as I am part of it. I have friends who are fortunate enough to both live AND work, AND play in Covington, and while I love what I do at Red Bike, I am envious I only get to live and play here. (Red Bike does have six stations in Covington, so technically I could claim I work here, too…)

Both for myself and for my friends and neighbors, I want to see our city become more bike-friendly. I am fortunate enough to be young(er), healthy, and I enjoy riding a fast, road-style bike. Keeping up with automobile traffic is neither daunting nor difficult for me. But I am in the minority of bike riders. Most people who ride for transportation do so because they don’t have a choice, or if they do have a choice, don’t want to be as aggressive about it as I am, and that’s wonderful, too. As long as a person is on two wheels and is self powered (we’ll talk about e-bikes another time), I believe they deserve respect and accommodation on our streets and trails. That’s why I am proud to serve as president of this wonderful, motivated, talented group of individuals who call themselves Ride the Cov. I’m relatively new to the world of civic engagement, but I know bikes, and I know that what we are striving to accomplish will encourage more people to ride bikes more often, and to do so with more confidence and in a safer environment.

More bike riders will empower us to implement more improvements, and more improvements will empower more riders, and they will bring about more improvements, and those improvements will get more people on bikes, and the cycle will continue. We are here to facilitate that cycle, and we won’t be able to do it without your help.

So, what do you say? You want to ride with us?