{"id":524157,"date":"2026-01-18T02:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/524157\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T02:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:40:14","slug":"inaugural-freedom-bike-event-draws-more-than-100-riders-promotes-safety-and-empowerment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/524157\/","title":{"rendered":"Inaugural \u2018Freedom Bike\u2019 event draws more than 100 riders, promotes safety and empowerment"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 The East Side celebrated its inaugural \u201cFreedom Bike\u201d event Saturday morning, drawing more than 100 riders for a fundraising race through Martin Luther King and South Side Lions parks.<\/p>\n

Black Girls Do Bike: San Antonio and Ghisallo Cycling Initiative collaborated to host the ride event ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. March.<\/p>\n

The ride had four, eight and 15-mile routes to Southside Lions Park and back to MLK Park. A less-than-half-mile Freedom Loop route that went through MLK Park.<\/p>\n

Cristina Solorzano, a member of Ghisallo, said the strong turnout showed the community coming together.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat brought me out here was the community,\u201d Solorzano said. \u201cHaving people come out on a really cold morning and just showing up and being here is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the ride, organizers offered free bike-riding lessons for children and adults, focusing on safety and road awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we do at Ghisallo is empower people with education,\u201d said Alexis Rodriguez, a program coordinator with Ghisallo. \u201cCyclists have rights to be on the road; they are road users just like vehicles, so they have rules to follow as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodriguez said the event kept a strong focus on helmet fit and overall safety.<\/p>\n

She added that hosting a free event on the East Side helps remove barriers and build confidence for new riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are really fun events,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201cYou visit stations, you gain community riding with other people, and you feel a sense of empowerment being out there in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Freedom Bike event was one of several activities leading up to the 39th annual MLK March on Monday.<\/p>\n

For those planning to attend the annual event, click here<\/a> to learn more about the route, weather and other details.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/b><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 The East Side celebrated its inaugural \u201cFreedom Bike\u201d event Saturday morning, drawing more than 100…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":524158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,28196,221187,9734,219347,2824,7202,7203,358,1072,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-524157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-black-history","tag-dreamweek","tag-east-side","tag-mlk-march","tag-outdoors","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-things-to-do","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115913793456884803","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}