We were lucky to catch up with B Steele recently and have shared our conversation below.

B, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?

Queer+ Bikes invites queer folks and allies who are committed to upholding safe space and welcomes all bodies, experiences, and genders on bikes! We strive to reduce barriers to cycling through our free gear closet, community events, resource sharing, educational opportunities, and monthly multi-surface (bike path, pavement, and gravel) no-drop group rides. We value creating community just as much as we love riding bikes.

When Lauren and I first started talking about running a “gravel series”, a monthly bike ride during the Fall and early Winter months in 2022, we really just wanted to make friends. We didn’t have any grand ambitions, but that gravel series led to a gear swap which led to an ongoing gear closet and monthly social hours and rides. Two years after that first series, we continue to have monthly meetups and have added other community-driven events, like harvesting seeds from native plant gardens with the City of Fort Collins. We are also members of the team that creates our local gravel race, the FoCo Fondo where we work towards greater inclusion and accessibility within the sport of gravel racing.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Queer+ Bikes is a grassroots community group based out of Fort Collins, CO. While B Steele (he/they) and Lauren Mehl (she/her) are the organizers of this org, Queer+ Bikes is really all the folks who show up to our events.
– We host monthly socials and group bicycle rides (averaging 10-12mph moving speed and a few distances per month, usually on mixed surfaces like paved roads, paths, and gravel roads).
– We partner with community organizations for both on-bike and off-bike events in the Front Range of Colorado.
– We host mechanic workshops and offer 1:1 mechanic meet-ups so folks can feel more confident on their bikes.
– We offer a free gear closet containing many items for your body or for your bike to reduce the barrier to entry within the sport of cycling.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

Lauren and I met during the pandemic in 2020. We were both sober and navigating the pandemic and friendships/relationships. We both deeply enjoyed riding bikes, but not the “commute to work” type of bike ride, the spend-a-whole-day-riding-a-bike kind of bike ride. We quickly hit it off, rode bikes every weekend, and daydreamed of hosting our own bike ride because the groups in our community were either too fast or didn’t vibe with the members. A few years into our relationship, we started Queer+ Bikes! Turns out we weren’t the only ones who had a similar experience to us and we are now able to fill a gap in our community.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Lauren is our social media rockstar. Since she works in communications and marketing (amongst other things), she took the helm of our social media. Every time I open Instagram, Lauren is reposting content from our community and beyond. I think she is someone who really “knows the pulse” of gravel cycling in our area and the community work that is being done throughout the region. I think the reason that we’ve been able to grow our audience on IG is because of how active she is with sharing other organizations’ posts and how she is able to create engaging posts on our account.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://bio.site/queerplusbikes
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queerplusbikes
• Other: B Steele: https://www.instagram.com/besteele
  Lauren Mehl: https://www.instagram.com/lo.n.bhold/