Happy June, I hope you are doing well and keeping cool during a hot summer! With Pride Month and the latest federal holiday, Juneteenth, June offers a time to celebrate and reflect on diversity within our communities. As we have discussed in previous blogs, biking has been historically dominated by white male bikers but there are organizations pushing to make biking more inclusive to all communities. Many of them, like NYBC, are youth-fueled. I had the opportunity to talk with one of those organizations, Pittsburgh Youth Leadership (PYL). Specifically, I talked to 8 riders who were currently on a 500-mile trip from Queensbury, NY to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts. Almost all of them were young, black, and from lower economic means and were not attempting long-distance bike trips before PYL. Yet, they had just finished their 6th day and had already done around 220 miles.
PYL is a nonprofit organization that gives inner-city, low-income, at-risk youth access to biking through all-expenses-paid bike rides across the country – we’re talking about hundreds of miles. They have also been to 49 states, with Hawaii being the exception and they have proof. John Harris (this was his 4th trip with PYL) showed me the “home base” van that has a bumper sticker from every place PYL riders have been. So how did they do it?
Morrell Rogers (2nd trip) described the intense training they do to learn bike safety techniques, how to pass correctly, change gears, and get a taste of long-distance riding. Usually, they are around 40 miles. Caleb Freich (5th trip) says that PYL definitely helps him get and stay in shape with Caiy Whim (1st trip) adding that the training rides increase your strength, endurance, and stamina by forcing everyone to face and surpass their limits.
Anthony “AJ” Evans (1st trip) heard about PYL from a school friend and, when he became old enough, was recommended by his school to join, all riders must maintain a 2.0 GPA. He and all the other riders said that what the PYL teaches you is not just physical ability but mental strength. As AJ put it, “You always find a way to push through, you have to persevere,” because once you get started you can’t turn around. Cenire Scott agreed, through PYL he learned that biking is a lot harder than you think, you can easily burn out if you haven’t trained hard enough, but he now knows how to persevere through the burn.
Landon Pickett (1st trip) told me that they ride on both trails and next to roads, rain or shine. Unfortunately this trip there was some rain on rocky terrain, making it the hardest day so far. Everyone seemed to doubt whether they or their bikes would make it through, but as Morrell told me thanks to the perseverance they have built up they were able to pass through.
This is just one of many trips that PYL offers this year with most riders planning to go on as many trips as possible. PYL really stands out to me because of how it is able to transform the idea of biking and include more people in the biking community. One thing they left me with was that you only need to go on one ride to totally reframe your mindset not just in terms of biking but in what your limits are and how you can surpass them.
As I learned from Morrell, Caiy, Caleb, AJ, Moneaz, Landon, Cenire, and John biking introduces you to a community that not only strengthens your physical health but also your respect for yourself and the world around you. I want to shout out PYL this month for doing so much to bring the world of biking to more people and to the PYL riders for persevering through! Good luck with the rest of your rides!
This has not been the only time we have spoken with young people from PYL, Joshua, another Council member, had the chance to bring Desmond, another PYL rider, on a Council Chatcast. Once again, during that conversation, Desmond mentions how being included has changed his life as he has traveled with PYL and experienced things through a new lens on a bicycle and over tons of miles!
The longest trip I have ever done was 250 miles and I cannot imagine doing any more than that. What about you Brian? What is the longest bike ride you have done? How does riding backward change the experience? How do you think we can get more people on bikes?
If you want to find out more about PYL check out their website here, if you are with an organization like PYL, consider hopping into the YB Hub!
