Thousands bike for Alex Pretti, hundreds of rides across globe

A very cold and sunny day brought out thousands and thousands of bicyclists on a memorial ride to honor Alex Pretti on Jan. 31, 2026. Pretti was shot multiple times and killed by two federal agents on Jan. 24 as he was observing their activity on Nicollet Avenue near 26th St.

The turnout for the “We Ride In Unity” ride far surpassed what organizers were expecting, like many of the solidarity events organized in the wake of the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement’s presence in Minneapolis.
A plan to stop at Pretti and Renee Macklin Good’s memorials was changed to a “slow roll” past each area to avoid the ride getting jammed up. Cross traffic was stopped for up to 45 minutes at some intersections as bicyclists, filling up a full traffic lane, rode for eight miles past the memorials, Minnehaha Falls, and the VA hospital where Pretti worked as an ICU nurse.

Bicyclists took it upon themselves to stop and block vehicle traffic at intersections, and when bicyclists got slowed down at pinch points, they talked to each other about dragging their bikes out for the first time this winter.

A box of 1,000 reflective vests, donated by Dan Breyak, didn’t come close to outfitting the masses of people who showed up on the bitterly cold day. The vests read, “Peaceful observer, don’t shoot.”

Breyak said he printed all the vests to “get a message out there” and was donating them to neighborhoods around Minneapolis. Angry Catfish Bicycle, the organizers of the ride, welcomed the vests at the ride, too.
“I’m in a bike group, don’t know Alex, but we’re a community, right?” Breyak said.

Pretti was an avid bicyclist and a customer at Angry Catfish, a bicycle shop in Standish. Solidarity bike rides were held across the world, which Angry Catfish documented on its Instagram page.

In the wake of his death, people in Minneapolis learned he also rode in the Riverwest 24, a 24-hour bicycle race in the Riverwest neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wis. The race inspired the Powderhorn 24 in Minneapolis in the late 2010s.

“I didn’t know him, but I know what type of person our race attracted,” a founding organizer of the Riverwest 24, Steve Whitlow, said. “The kind of people that chase joy, that work to make space for collective, inclusive action. People that inherently want to help those around them. Of course he was a Riverwest 24 rider.”

A memorial for Pretti is just south of 26th Avenue on Nicollet Avenue. Federal law enforcement is still blocking local law enforcement from participating in the investigations into Pretti and Good’s killings, according to Attorney General Keith Ellison as of Feb. 12. Good was killed by a federal agent on Jan. 7 near Portland and 35th.