The Bicycle Thief

I attended the Youth Bike Summit, an international conference and brainstorming event about youth bicycling, programming and advocacy.  This year there were several great presentations about youth cycling programs.  The presentation that stood out most for me was given by Spoke ‘n Revolutions.  The Spoke ‘n Revolutions group develops youth leadership through cycling adventures, and is based in North Carolina.  This past year, the group took nine high school students and rode over 1800 miles following the Underground Railroad from Mobile, Alabama to Niagara Falls, New York in just over 30 days.  Beyond the great physical challenge of distance and terrain, retracing the historic route used by escaped slaves as they made their way north was deeply symbolic and historically significant for the youth participants, all of whom came from minority and historically marginalized groups.

The organization not only fosters physical development through an active lifestyle, but incorporates educational achievement and youth leadership skills as well.  The cycling events the group organizes are historically salient to participants and include educational components, so that participants are learning as they pedal.  The program includes academic tutoring, where the high-school aged participants are matched to younger students and meet with them to provided tutoring and academic support.

I took away a lot from their presentation, including some easy ways to include academic enrichment components into a youth cycling program, as well as developing bicycle routes and destinations that are meaningful to the participants as a way to engage them in larger historical, social and political discussions about the world around them.

This year I joined the Century Road Club Association 2012 New Year’s Day Ride.  It’s a full century (including two laps of Central Park to make a full 100 miles) from Central Park to Bear Mountain via 9W and back along the same route.  Today we couldn’t ask for better weather: sunny and in the 40′s.  About 70 riders from the club participated.  It was all in all a great ride, and a great way to start the new year.

Start of CRCA New Year's Day Ride 2012

Welcome to my new blog!  Here you’ll find all kinds of stuff on bicycling and racing, vegetarian cuisine, youth programs and advocacy, and maybe some really really really geeky stuff about Markov Chain Monte Carlo (or, maybe not….).  In any case, hope you have a Happy New Year!  Best wishes for 2012!