Shelby Glow Roll offers free, fun community ride

In June, Shelby Spice and Boost Bike Shop teamed up to offer the first Glow Roll community night bike ride.

The second is planned for Friday at 8 p.m. at the Bobby Bell Pavilion at 126 W. Marion St. in Shelby.

Duncan Blount, owner and founder of Shelby Spice, a handcrafted hot sauce company , said when he and his wife were living in LA, they were at Venice Beach one evening when traffic was stopped to let a massive parade of people go by on glowing bicycles and wearing glow in the dark clothes.

Blount said he found out it was a community night ride. He said he asked his wife, Alyssa, can you imagine if something like this happened in Shelby?

"She said, 'I think it could,'" he said.

When Duncan and Alyssa Blount and their two children moved back to Shelby last year, he said he started a campaign to not only bring good, local hot sauce to town, but to spice up Shelby in other ways.

He said he wanted to bring unusual, fun events to the city to people who wanted to participate.

Blount said he wanted to not only serve hot sauce, but bring people together.

The first glow ride was a success beyond what he had imagined, he said, and when he expected maybe 15 people to show up, there ended up being more than 100.

He said everyone gathers at the pavilion at 8 p.m. and are given a free bike light, and then they cruise through Shelby with lights and music followed by pizza and Capri Suns.

"We give them out and go for this great bike ride and at the end we meet at the Bobby Bell Pavilion and then give out free pizza," he said.

If people are interested, they can buy hot sauce at the end.

Blount said he thinks people miss some of the activities of the past and are looking for things to do and ways to connect.

"All we need is a little bit of leadership and planning," he said. "We have a really beautiful main street so let's have some fun with that."

Boost Bike Shop is a co-sponsor of the event and assists with safely leading the ride through town.

The goal is host a ride every third Friday for the duration of summer, and maybe beyond depending on how things go.

"There's something about seeing kids riding their bikes that fills me with so much nostalgia," Blount said. "When I think of summer time as a kid I just think about the abandon of hopping on a bike. I might stop at a friends house, I might not, then I get home and slurp up a Capri sun."

He said when he walked into the pavilion at the start of the first ride and saw around 120 people gathered, he got goosebumps. The countless hours of putting up posters, sending out emails and marketing the event had paid off.

"It's like people were waiting for an invite and waiting to be asked," he said.

People only need to bring a helmet and a bike, and everything else is provided. A headlight is recommended but not required.

"Come out and experience community," Blount said. "We might be a small town, but we can be big in energy."

Find more event information on ShelbySpice Facebook page or call Duncan Blount at 310-504-4347 with questions.

Reporter Rebecca Sitzes can be reached at rsitzes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Shelby Glow Roll offers free, fun community ride