The Bicycle is the Best Cultural Bridge Ever Created

The St Augustine’s University HBCU cycling team at a cyclocross race in North Carolina. I worked with the team for a couple years.

In my travels on bikes over the last few years, I’ve been lucky to connect with many different communities: Black, white, Latino, men, women, non-binary, straight, gay, older, younger, heavy, skinny, European, American, etc. I’ve been doing sports my entire life — skiing, surfing, triathlons, running — but cycling is what has connected me to all of these communities.

The bike is one of the best bridge building tools ever built, and I’ve developed a working theory as to why cyclists in particular find each other and congregate. This applies to other types of bike use cases, like commuters and eBikes, but it’s particularly true of people who are really into bikes for recreation.

If you really, really like bikes and if you identify as a cyclist of any kind, you probably possess these four personality traits:

1. You like endorphins, because fitness is involved.
2. You like adrenaline, because bikes go fast.
3. You like gear, because these are…well, bikes.
4. You like community, because that’s an important part of bikes for most people: riding with others, having coffee on the ride and going to events.

Based on these personality traits, when you meet another bike person, it’s like a dating app match: while they may be of a different age, ethnicity, nationality or sexual orientation, you already have a lot in common. And once you connect on these things, it’s easy to be friends. When I go to a cycling event, even when it’s in another country and there may be 1,000 people there I’ve never met, I still think, “These are my people, and I theirs.” That’s because we are connected by these common aspects of our personality

And when you become friends with someone, as you do with bikes, it’s really hard to dislike them. If you have any kind of prejudicial bone in your body, it usually goes away when you are physically in their presence, and especially when it’s someone you have things in common with. I believe bikes have as much potential as anything to break down cultural barriers, reduce racism, increase tolerance and generally make the world a better place to live.

While cycling is traditionally a very white male sport, that’s changing. And it’s in all of our best interest to make all kinds of cycling more diverse. If nothing else, it’s just much more fun to be out on your bike when you feel like “everyone else” is out there, too.

Here are a few examples from my travels of the last few years:

My new friends Mirna Valerio and Bethel Steele at the Rebecca’s Private Idaho gravel event in 2021

With English cyclist Matt Plested on a group ride in London last year

Transportation planning and policy specialist Tamika Butler. We met on a shoot about the HBCU team.

A group shot from the annual All Clubs event in Long Beach. One of my favorite cycling get togethers anywhere.

With my friend Rahsaan Bahati at UCI cyclocross world championships in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

I’ve learned a lot from cyclist Molly Cameron (who identifies as female) about the transgender community.