Richard Hearne is on a mission to make cycling a more welcoming, inclusive space for LGBTQAI+ people through PRiDE OUT, a grass-roots organisation that welcomes everyone regardless of their gender identity, sexuality, ethnicity, age, body shape, bike or ability.

Developed as a cycling group and safe space for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, intersex, queer and ACE/asexual people (LGTBQAI+), PRiDE OUT offers group rides and a community, and that’s just the start of what Richard hopes to achieve. But it began just over two years ago with a Facebook group and that first group ride.

“The very first ride was a bit of a moment for me. We had six people – we had a trans person, we had different ethnicities, we had men and women. Then the next ride we had 16 people – I had to do a double-take when I arrived because 16 people on bikes look like a lot. I was taken aback. I thought ‘we’ve created this!’. It was such a highlight, seeing so many people with bikes in this group!”

Like a lot of people, Richard had a bike as a kid and loved riding it. “I have very fond memories of summer evening rides and riding to the shop to buy fizzy drinks and sweets” he smiles. But also like most people, he stopped riding in his teenage years. “I had my bike stolen when I was about 15 I think, which kind of ended my cycling.”

There was the occasional dabble with a second hand mountain bike from his Dad in his late twenties and early thirties, but it wasn’t until he turned 38 that life presented a catalyst that switched things up a notch.

“I was running a gas utilities business and it was really stressful. I was having sleepless nights, drinking more wine than I should and eating a lot of Domino’s pizza. I wasn’t feeling great, and I was on medication for anxiety. I’d had a period a few years earlier when I’d been going to the gym regularly and got in good shape, but I just couldn’t get back into it – I didn’t want to be stuck in an indoors room – so I knew I had to do something I loved. My dad was into cycling, so he gave me a bit of a push towards that.”

So Richard went all in and purchased a shiny new road bike. That was in 2015, and he hasn’t looked back since.

“It was the best thing I’ve ever done! It changed my life! Within a month or so, I did my first 60-mile ride from Manchester to Blackpool. It was brutally hard, but I had a huge sense of accomplishment. I think that’s when the bug sets in,” he explains, “when you achieve more than you thought possible.”

And while cycling alone certainly has its pleasures – “I feel like it’s meditation” – ultimately it was a search for friends and community that brought PRiDE OUT into being.

“I thought I’d join a cycling club, but found it a bit daunting. I did try one ride with a local group and they were friendly enough, but they were mainly all older white men and I would have loved to have been with more of a mix of ages and genders, and I was slightly nervous about my sexuality.”

“As a gay man, you don’t really just introduce yourself as a gay man because it’s not really relevant. But obviously, people will usually presume you’re straight, and then that will translate into questions or presumptions about girlfriends or wives, which can then put you in a slightly difficult position. Do you just change the subject, or smile and don’t say anything, or lie, or tell the truth in which case you don’t know if it’s going to be awkward?”

“If you’re not part of the LGBTQAI+ community, this probably isn’t obvious and that social barrier can be intimidating.”

Richard started hunting for LGBTQAI+ cycling groups and discovered to his surprise that there weren’t very many at all.

“I found one club in London, and obviously while I was living in Manchester that wasn’t good for me. And I found a group called Outdoor Lads which is probably one of the largest groups of its kind in the UK; they do all sorts of outdoor activities like walking, hiking, kayaking and cycling, so I joined them for a few years and made lots of amazing friends that I still keep in touch with.”

Richard become a ride leader, and while he really enjoyed it, he noticed that it was usually the same familiar faces at each ride despite living in a city that has an LGBTQAI+ population of around 200,000 people. He realised that if he wanted to grow the riding community he was looking for, he’d have to roll up his sleeves and help create it.

“I knew there was a big gap for LGBTQA+ people in cycling because I know the population is large. There are currently no exact figures on the number of LGBTQA+ people in the UK, partly because it hasn’t been included in the census until this year, but the figure often used is 10%. With 65 million people in the UK, that’s 6.5 million LGBTQA+ people, and a lot of people ride bikes at least at some point in their lives.”

“So yes, I wanted to make some more friends, and wanted more people to cycle with – that’s how PRiDE OUT started.”

“It started off as a Facebook group in 2019, then once we reached 250 members we put on two rides, and got media coverage. As more people have heard about PRiDE OUT, we’ve started to get lots of requests for rides, so next, we’re aiming to get funding so we can get regular rides going in more towns and cities across the UK.”

Community and group rides form the core of PRiDE OUT, but his experience of bringing it into existence opened his eyes to other challenges.

“First and foremost I want to get more LGBTQAI+ people cycling and feeling healthier and happier. When I started PRiDE OUT, I thought equality was pretty good, but then I started to realise that in fact there are some big issues within sport and cycling.”

Richard discovered that there were no reliable statistics for LGBTQAI+ people participating in cycling; there are regular reports from groups such as Sport England covering gender, ethnicity and disability. Richard rightly points out that a lack of statistics mean it’s very hard to identify if there’s an issue, and if so, campaign for better access to resources and fairer funding.

“Through PRiDE OUT, I feel I’m starting to become a campaigner for LGBTQA+ equality, and I’m also aware of my privilege as a white man in a societal context that often treats women or people of colour or trans people less favourably. So I feel it’s my duty to create a space where we welcome all parts of the community.”

“And we welcome allies. We will never turn anyone away, and that’s very important because we don’t want to box ourselves off. It’s about creating a safe space for everyone.”

“We did a virtual National ride in June 2020 called #OurPrideRide and I think we had at least 400 people take part! I’ve been leading most of the rides, but I want to get more ride leaders trained up. We need more funding to get more rides happening in all the places we’d like to because I’ve got a list as long as your arm of requests! We’ll have to take it step-by-step, region by region, so we can have a regular calendar of rides outside of the Northwest of England.”

Want to get involved in PRiDE OUT or find out more? The first port of call is to check the PRiDE OUT website to see what’s coming up and follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.