News & Updates

Summary

Every Thursday from April through November, hundreds of cyclists gather in Oklahoma City for Hide & Go Bike—a free, inclusive community bike ride founded during the pandemic and now led by local organizer Danny Vo. What started as a socially distanced hide-and-seek game with bikes has evolved into a beloved weekly 10-mile ride that promotes bike commuting, local business support, and lasting friendships.

If you were downtown on April 10, you may have noticed more than 350 bicyclists gathered to ride around Mesta Park and Downtown Oklahoma City enjoying the spring weather and building community.  

Just a week before Hide & Go Bike kicked off its first ride of 2025, Danny Vo, who runs the group, sat down with NACOK to share his story. Vo has managed social media accounts for Downtown OKC Partnership and has also worked for the Asian District Cultural Association’s board. However, he is most known around town for running Hide & Go Bike, a weekly community event focused on building community and commuter visibility through bicycles each Thursday from April through November. 

Danny, 32, is a lifelong OKC resident and son of two immigrants who grew up near Belle Isle Library and went to Classen SAS for middle and high school. Vo currently resides in Classen Ten Penn, a vibrant community and one of the city’s first Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, south of the Plaza. 

“I have a really deep love for Oklahoma City, even though I feel like you can be highly critical, and still you know love your city so passionately,” Vo said. “I think sometimes, those criticisms are what makes it able to be loved a little more because, you know, where it could grow and really succeed, and you can champion it.” 

And Danny does champion Oklahoma City. He told us how Hide & Go Bike grew his love for the city, and how he’s using the ride to share that love with others.  

Hide & Go Bike was formed during the COVID-19 pandemic by two of Vo’s friends, who have since moved out of state. He got involved at the ground level in what he describes as an “administrative role.” Since then, his role has grown exponentially, and he now acts the face of the organization.  

“So, I hopped on when the group rides were kind of just forming. And we were kind of in the tail end of the pandemic, depending on when you want to classify when that ended,” Danny recalled. “It was originally a hide and go seek game… You would take a picture of your bike somewhere in the boundaries of Oklahoma City; someone would go find it, take a picture of their bike at that spot, and send it in. If you were the first one to do it, you got to move the spot. I think, because of the nature of the pandemic, it allowed the game to really thrive and take off because everyone was just outside, not really hanging out with one another. And as the numbers during COVID started to come down a little bit, we saw a need to for people to gather.” 

Those simple games of hide and go seek have turned into a weekly 10-mile ride which brings hundreds of people from all over the metro together with stops along the way at local businesses.  

“We roll at a very leisurely pace.” Vo said. “We’ll go three or four miles, stop, go three or four miles, stop, and then three to four miles and end… I tell people all the time, ‘if you came to hide and go bike, and all you wanted to do was go to the store and go home.’ By all means, what it is, that’s really the ride. The ride is come and go. It’s do as much or as little as you can… But now it’s like, 300 people. That’s really cool.” 

While speaking with Danny, his love for Hide & Go Bike was palpable and at times, he even got teary telling us about the impact the ride had on his own life and community. 

“I feel like making friends as an adult is really hard, and I don’t think that people really prepare you for that. My story is not unique in any particular way, but I feel that during the pandemic a lot of people lost friends, and you know weren’t able to keep in touch and whatnot,” Vo mentioned, while recalling how even he felt lonely during the pandemic. “People thank me for Hide & Go Bike all the time, every week. And I tell people like, ‘hey, I needed this as much as you’. During the pandemic, I felt so alone.” 

Vo was able to find community the simple action of Hide & Go Bike, and mentioned “it wasn’t until I just started riding my bike around town and playing this little game that I felt so connected with other people… Every year, I get to see so many people make some of the best friends of their life. And even though Hide & Go Bike only operates from April through November, these people ride through December. I met my best friends there, and my girlfriend of five years. It’s done a lot for me. And I would just hope that it’s offered just like, a fraction of what it’s given me to other people.” 

Hide & Go Bike is for everyone, for riders of all ages and across OKC. Danny told us the data pulled last year showed many riders were between 24 to 27 years old, with a recent large influx of older residents who have begun participating.  

“They love riding bicycles, they come in full Spandex because that’s what makes them feel fastest and most comfortable while riding,” Danny said. “Might have been riding in other groups, but those groups have limitations on speed, like ‘hey, you need to be this fast to go on this ride.’  There’s no community for them. But my ride is open to everyone.” 

Vo has a deep passion for transportation alternatives to cars, with bikes at the center of his work. He is selective about the routes Hide & Go Bike takes, making sure they only ride on streets with bike lanes or have been deemed as a bicycle route. Riders can expect to see little green signs to signal they belong on the street. 

“While I am this believer that the streets were meant for people long before the car was ever invented, I do believe that there are some streets that just bike shouldn’t be on, and Classen is one of them… I think if you can just show people on a weekly basis where in what streets are the best bet to use, you really kind of instill it in their head and it becomes second nature. If they’re having fun on Thursday with 200, 300 people, they should be able to do the same route any of the weeks the other six days out of the week, and they shouldn’t have to fear for their life to get to ‘Point B.’ I tell people ‘You don’t deserve to die if you just want to explore the city, if you wanna go visit a loved one, if you want to just commute to work, you shouldn’t have to gamble your life away.’ And I think that’s important,” Danny told us. 

On top of everything Danny does for Hide & Go Bike, he does it with no budget-meaning it’s completely free to the community. Above all, Vo wants Hide & Go Bike to be accessible to the community. To aid this, the group tries to do regular helmet giveaways with the help of community partners. Danny has truly created a community for everyone. 

“My ride is open to everyone.” He told us, “All bikes welcome. Whether you have a bike that you pulled out of your garage for that’s been there for ten years, or whether you walked into a bike shop earlier that day and pick something up, um, it it’s for everyone. And when you go, you’ll see all types of bikes. You’ll see, you’ll see a $10000 bike, and you’ll see a bike that looks like it’ll fall apart, leaving the park.” 

Overall, Danny has a heart for his community. From organizing community bike rides to giving away safety gear, food, and clothing, he is committed to doing good and hopes others will make the same commitment. 

“I think everyone is capable of doing good,” Vo Said. “And I don’t actually think it requires as much work as people think it does.”