How to Find Electric Skateboard Group Rides (and Why St. Pete Is a Great Place to Start)

Most people buy an electric skateboard to get somewhere. A few weeks in, a lot of them figure out the commute isn't the best part. The best part is the Thursday night ride with forty other people, the rider who shows you a route along the water you never knew about, and the person who has the exact hex key you need when your truck comes loose.

Group rides are how electric skateboarding goes from a gadget to a hobby. If you haven't found yours yet, here's how I'd go about it.

Start with your city's name and "esk8"

The esk8 community doesn't live in one place, so search a few. On Facebook, try "[your city] esk8," "[your city] electric skateboard," and "[your city] float" or "e-ride." Facebook groups are still where most local rides get planned, and the post that says "meeting at 7, leaving at 7:15" is almost always there.

Reddit is good for starting the conversation. Post in r/ElectricSkateboarding or your city's subreddit and ask who rides locally. The esk8 forums, esk8.news and Electric Skateboard Builders, both have local meetup sections where riders post rides by city. Instagram hashtags like #esk8 and #[yourcity]esk8 will show you who's posting ride clips near you.

Don't skip the shop counter either. Board shops, e-bike shops, and scooter shops usually know exactly who's riding and when. And the simplest way still works: if you see someone on a board at a stoplight, ask where they ride.

Don't limit yourself to skateboards

Some of the biggest group rides around aren't skateboard-only. They're mixed rides with electric skateboards, Onewheels, electric unicycles (EUCs), scooters, and e-bikes all rolling together. If your city doesn't have an esk8 group, look for Onewheel or EUC rides. They're usually happy to have boards along, and they tend to ride at a pace a board can keep up with.

The Tampa Bay and St. Pete ride scene

If you're around Tampa Bay, you're in luck. It's one of the most active personal electric vehicle scenes in the country, and there's a ride almost every night of the week.

The best known is the St. Pete Float Fleet, a weekly Thursday night ride in downtown St. Petersburg. It started with Onewheels (the Tampa Bay Times covered it in 2021) and grew into a mixed ride of unicycles, scooters, boards, and e-bikes. Rider posts on the Electric Unicycle Forum put the meetup at Vinoy Park at 7 p.m., with around 100 riders on a typical week.

Across the bay, the Tampa Float Krewe rides on Tuesday nights, and that same forum thread lists regular rides in Largo, Palmetto, Lakeland, and Tarpon Springs. Tampa's electric skateboarders also have their own Facebook page, Tampa E Skate: A Salt & Battery Club, and local riders on the Electric Skateboard Builders forum have pointed to Bayshore Boulevard, the Tampa Riverwalk, the Courtney Campbell Causeway trail, and Vinoy Park as favorite places to ride.

Times and meetup spots change, so check each group's Facebook page before you head out.

Know the rules where you ride

This matters more than it sounds. In October 2025, WFLA reported that St. Petersburg police stopped more than 50 Float Fleet riders and wrote 24 citations after complaints about the group blocking traffic. The same report noted that a St. Petersburg ordinance classifies motorized skateboards as motorized toys that aren't allowed on city streets.

Riders pushed back and said most of them follow the rules, and I believe that. Either way, the takeaway is the same for anyone riding with a crew: learn where boards are actually allowed in your city, and ride like the group's reputation depends on you, because it does. My group ride etiquette guide covers how.

Your first ride

Charge your board the night before and know your real range, not the number on the box. Wear a helmet, and bring lights if the ride runs after dark. When you get there, find whoever's organizing and tell them it's your first time. Every group has people who remember being new, and they'll usually keep an eye on you. Ride in the middle of the pack until you know the route, and don't try to keep up with the fastest person there.

Can't find a group? Start one

Every crew out there started with somebody posting "anyone want to ride Saturday?" Pick a short, legal route that starts at a park or coffee shop, set a time, and post it in your city's groups. Keep it chill. If the first ride is fun, people come back and bring friends.

Ride when the roads are wet

Florida rides don't wait for dry roads. Afternoon storms leave puddles everywhere, and on a group ride every wheel ahead of you is throwing water. If you ride a Meepo V5, Skate Flaps fenders catch that spray before it hits you or the rider behind you.

Photos via Unsplash. Ride times and locations come from public rider posts and may have changed.

I'm Caleb Leach, and I make Skate Flaps, fenders for the Meepo V5 electric skateboard. Know a group ride I should add? Email me at SkateFlaps.com@gmail.com.