Strengthening Teens Through Cycling Ep 14

Youth are super resilient, and if you give them a place where they can thrive, they'll just take it and go, and they'll make it their own. And one thing about our organization, I know I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but when I say we're youth-led, almost everything we do comes from the youth. So we said we want to travel long distance. The adults said, all right, we'll make this happen.

Welcome to the Find Your Edge podcast. Get ready to dive into all things training, nutrition, recovery, and more. Whether you're a new or experienced endurance athlete, a weekend warrior, or someone who just wants to improve your health and fitness, this podcast is for you. I'm Christina Fiumara Newport, founder, head coach, registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, and certified personal trainer with the Endurance Edge and the Fueling Edge. With more than 20 years experience in the fitness industry, 18 years in multi-sport, and over 10 years as a sports nutritionist. I'm speaking with athletes and experts about key actionable steps you can take to reach and sustain peak performance and health. Let's do it. All right, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am your host, Christina Fiumara Newport, and I am so excited to be here today with Kevin and Itza. From Triangle Bikeworks. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Awesome. All right. So I found you guys because I had a big old bag of cycling gear that I was like, what the heck do I do with this? And I don't particularly know if, you know, Goodwill will take this. And I really want to make sure it goes into the right hands. So I posted on a women's mountain biking Facebook group. And they said, hey, did you know about Triangle Bikeworks? So I reached out to Itza and here we are on a podcast. So tell us a little bit about who you guys are, what makes you guys unique and your mission.

Kevin was pointing at me. So I guess that means I take—

I think he was wagging his finger at you.

Okay. So Triangle Bikeworks, our mission is to strengthen the power of youth who are Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and people of color to overcome challenges, achieve audacious goals, and discover their true selves. So this really just encompasses really how we got started, which came about with Kevin. Kevin is not just our executive director, but he is one of the founders of Triangle Bikeworks, and he was advocating for youth of color in the school district, and he wasn't really making any gains that he wanted, so he moved his efforts to working directly with youth. And why cycling really is the next thing is, well, he's a part-time cyclist. He had aspirations to be a bike commuter from work, and he knew the benefits of cycling and the endless possibilities that come with it. So he started, uh, with 7 youth and did a pilot program, 60 miles, and said, here are some really heavy mountain bikes, let's go see if you can do 60 miles. And I was one of them, and we did. We were in pain, but we loved it so much that after the week we got back, we said, can we do more? What's next? and we were presented with the idea of doing a longer trip, and one of the maps was an Underground Railroad map that started in Mobile, Alabama and went all the way into Canada, and we said, from Mobile, Alabama to Niagara Falls is 1,800 miles. We divide that by 60, we can do this in 30 days. So that's where we started the idea of doing a program where we uncover history, we talk about the environment, and we just travel and explore the world.

Hang on, you rode across the country? Yes, literally.

Yeah, in 30 days.

In 30 days. And, uh, so I guess just to give listeners some, some context, so I went on a bike tour for my honeymoon people pump my tires for me, we had lunch waiting for us, we slept in a bed and breakfast. We had— so I kind of have a feeling that this was not so much like that. So how did you guys make that all work?

Oh, that is nothing like that. We even had a partner that thought it was like that, and he's like, no. Now this is, uh, bare bones. We're a nonprofit, so we try to spend our money wisely. And so think of it as a lunch while riding your bike. So we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, tuna, yogurt, and granola for breakfast. And we camp 90% of the time. We only hit hotels if it's inclement weather.

That's impressive. So living on PB&Js and camping out and you guys made it in a month across the country. I am very impressed. So I think what you had already touched on a little bit was what makes you guys unique is uncovering your— not only are you doing this for exercise and joy and fun, but it sounds like a bit of a leadership development and community and teamwork, but also this like layer of history. So tell us about that. That to me is just fascinating.

Yeah, so we do focus on untold history, the environment, conservation, but this history component, it's not just learning history through book studies and meetings with historians, which we do, but it's going on these bike trips where the youth get to travel through the historical places and really learning about it in a firsthand type of way and learning about history that is told by perspective of people of color. So this is usually the history that gets left out. So getting this dynamic view on things we've already learned about in school, but hearing the other side of the story.

So any particular examples that you can share of things that you— because you were a participant, right? I was. You did this trip from Mobile to Now, having said that, do you guys still do that trip or are your trips— I think your trips are shorter now, right?

Yeah. So we did 3-month-plus-long trips. And so that was the Underground Railroad, the Path of Lewis and Clark, and the Buffalo Soldier Trails. And then a trip we called Blues, Jazz, and the Big Muddy, which was from New Orleans to St. Louis. Oh, that's so cool. Those were all month-plus-long tours. Since then, we do 2-week tours, and so we've condensed them. And so now we do the Cherokee Trail of Tears from Tennessee out to Tahlequah, Oklahoma. We are doing the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor tour this summer, which we're starting in Durham, North Carolina, making our way out to Wilmington and down to St. Augustine, Florida, learning about the Gullah Geechee culture. And the environment and stopping at different national parks on the way there.

So what were some of the things that stuck out to you on, on some of the trips you've done? Because now you're leading them, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

So I was one of the original 7 from the original pilot ride and graduated, came back. I'm now the program manager. And I think the biggest things that have stuck out to me is just really getting this bigger picture of what things look like. So in school you hear about the Underground Railroad, and I never understood how long this journey would take somebody. It took me 30 days on a bike, and I was traveling during the day. And while we were out there, we were really listening and hearing the stories of people who made this trip, and it could take 365 days or longer, and they're traveling on foot, and they're only doing a couple miles at night. And so while during the day I'm biking, during the day they were hiding, and while it was nighttime, I was sleeping, and they were trekking through unmarked territory. So I had a nice paved road, they were going through the woods, swamps. Like, it was completely different. So Being out there and kind of being able to see firsthand, like, if I look into that untouched forest, like, that's where people were traveling. So you get more of an idea and more of a perspective of what people experienced. The other big thing that stuck to me was in 2015 when I was on the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor and we stopped at this interpretation site and we were listening to this play that we got to also be a part of. And it was one of the first times that it hit me that the Atlantic slave trade was intentional, strategically planned. There was no, there was no, this just happened out of nowhere. It was something people had been planning. People specifically knew what they were looking for. And so growing up, going into my history classes, I always read, and we always talked about how people were kidnapped and put on this ship and shipped over to the Americas. And I always thought it was you're at the wrong place at the wrong time, like it had to do with luck. One of the things I learned was people knew the tribes in Africa, they knew what their skill sets were, and this became a place where people said this tribe knows how to do this, they went to look for that tribe and they removed these people. And so it was not an unlucky situation, it was very much thought out and pre-planned. So those are some of the things that have really just impacted me and made me realize like we're not getting the full story when we are sitting in history class, and there is a lot that we can do to just broaden our understanding of the history we're taught.

Do you feel like in the sort of— and not that I want to make this a political question at all— but do you feel like the way that race and culture has been more in the spotlight over the past year, do you feel like what you guys are doing and what you're unearthing in part of your travels, do you feel like that's different now, or do you feel like this is something that you've kind of always wanted to unearth and everybody who wants to join can explore this with you too? How do you feel like that may or may not have changed things for you?

So I will say that, um, uncovering untold history has been a part of the start of Triangle Bikeworks. It's always been something that the youth, myself back then, we wanted to focus on. Now, I think we've taken as an organization more of a lead to inviting the community into what we do. Since 2020, we started hosting virtual bike tours. We call them our Lunch and Learns, and we invite the entire community to come in here and engage with us and learn a little bit about what our participants are learning on. Learning about when we're traveling through these different tours.

Very cool. Very cool. I love that. So what is something that you wish more people knew about cycling, about history, about youth, about your organization, about all those types of things? And what are some of the things you guys have learned along the way?

I'm waiting to see if Kevin's going to take it.

I know she's like, tag.

Wow. What is something we wish people knew about Triangle Bikeworks? One is that everything we do with the youth are free. We don't ask the youth to pay for their participation. I mean, we do ask them to raise funds. We are a nonprofit, but they're not beholden to raise those funds. It's just, you know, you don't want to give anybody anything free You want them to have their own agency in their endeavors. Another thing is anyone can bike and discover more about themselves and their world. I had a joke that I got, you know, that cycling is a healthy way to get youth outdoors to appreciate the environment. It's easy once— I mean, you ride a bike, there's joy in riding a bike. Most people have a fun memory unless they had some horrible instructor. That taught them how to ride a bike, everyone has a positive memory of a bike. That's your first taste of freedom. And that always brings back memories of joy, you know, from riding a block away from my house to riding 4 blocks to 6 blocks to, you know, 1,000 miles. It always brings a joy.

That's awesome. Very cool. I love it. And Itza, you're not off the hook. What's something that you wish more people knew about either your program or about cycling or about Because I remember you and I had a conversation about how people were surprised that you as quote unquote youth rode 60 miles. And then of course you did it and you rode 1,800. You know, they're sort of shocked, like, wait, you didn't just like ride around the block a couple of times. So I don't know what, what's something that you wish more people knew about your organization or your, uh, the youth's ability to, to ride or. Or what? So you're not getting out of it, you got to answer.

Well, Kevin covered a lot of it. Um, what I wish people knew about, about us— youth are super resilient, and if you give them a place where they can thrive, they'll just take it and go, and they'll make it their own. And one thing about our organization, I know I mentioned it a little bit earlier, but When I say we're youth-led, almost everything we do comes from the youth. So we said we want to travel long distance, the adults said, all right, we'll make this happen. We still to this day love to hear their voice and they have the biggest say in what is happening. So I always constantly am asking, what do you want to do? What do you want to see? Recently had someone say, I want to go to an art exhibit, and planning a day trip to go to see an art exhibit in Raleigh. So it is something that we don't take for granted, the voice of our participants. We, we put them on a pedestal and we let them lead.

And say another thing is that right now there's, um, an awakening or an awareness of social-emotional learning, and we've been doing that from the start. It's always been giving the youth agency over what they are wanting to do, listening to them, and, you know, guiding them, but not— when we say we go on cross-country bike tours, the youth lead. Everyone takes a ride, you know, it takes a time at point. There's not like an adult always saying, this is what we're doing. You know, this is a leadership development. You're going to break out of your shell. I mean, it's a— when she first started, I'd throw her in front of large organizations saying, hey, throw the pitch. This is what we got to do. And I can't be there because I'm somewhere else. And her or sister or anyone else in the organization, they had to step up. And get over that fear factor of speaking in large groups. And that's how they grow. Everyone grows by doing something that stretches their boundaries a bit.

And I have one last thing. So not everyone who comes to Triangle Bikeworks loves cycling off the bat. We've had youth come in who have never biked. They're 18 years old, never learned how to bike. So different people come for different reasons, whether it's I love to cycle or whether it's I just want to make some friends, I just want to be outside. You talk about the environment, I kind of want to talk about that. I love history, you guys talk about history, I kind of want to do that. Some people just join because they want to get out of North Carolina. I know that was one of my sister's main reasons when I invited her. She said, we get to travel? I said yes. She said I'm in.

That's pretty—

that's awesome. So no matter what their reason for coming in, they usually find something else. This is a place where you kind of start exploring and learning a little bit more about yourself and what you're personally passionate about.

Very cool. So many different opportunities in this organization. So what generally are the age ranges of, uh, the youth who come to work with you guys? And also, how do they get involved?

Yeah, so the age ranges are middle school and high school youth, so that's usually around 11 to 19 years old. And you just— to get involved, you just go to our website and you register for wanting to be a part of the program. At that point, I get your registration and I shoot you an email and we set up a time to talk and we get you involved. It's really easy. It's really that easy.

And you guys also do some through, like through COVID, you've been doing some things virtually, right? So tell us about that.

So all of our programming used to be in person and we have our, I call them team meetings because not all the time we're on the bike. And so now we've actually changed it to having virtual team meetings, which we do the like educational components or team building. Book study. It's done virtually once a week, and then on the weekends we get together and we bike in person.

Where do you guys meet?

Um, right now we're meeting in Durham, North Carolina, but we usually meet out of Carrboro, out of our office space, out of YouthWorks.

So is there any requirements? Like, do people have to have a particular type of bike, or do you have them But yeah, so you're shaking your head. Tell, tell us.

You, you really just need to bring yourself. You just need to be able to get yourself to practice and that's really about it. You don't need to bring a bike. We'll give you that. We provide bike shorts, bike jerseys, bike gloves, glasses, really anything you need for the sport. We, we got you covered. So as long as you can bring yourself, We're good to go.

That's fantastic. Which I think is a great segue to our little drive we're doing here for you guys. So the entire month of May, because it is National Bike Month, we are taking gear and we'll— what do you guys need? Tell us what you need. And, and then let's talk about where the drop-off locations are.

Yeah. So gear donations to me, that includes bike shorts, jerseys, gloves. Garmin bike computers, bike lights, and then if you have a road or mountain bike that you want to donate to us, we'll take all of it. All sizes on the road bikes or mountain bikes are welcome because all people are different sizes.

Anything that you're not taking?

Huffies.

Huffies, okay. What about helmets? Like maybe a gently used helmet for like a year or two, or do those have to be new?

It's hard to say. I mean, when you ask the opinion of some safety person, I wouldn't say some safety person, but if you ask the opinion of a safety person, there's no way for us to know if there's cracks in a helmet. We have bike helmets donated to us. We're still in supply of a number of bike helmets that came from, gosh, wow, 6, 1 that came through NICA organization, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. So we wrote a grant for them and they supplied us with helmets. So we still have some helmets on the shelf. So we're good on helmets. It's just helmets are a tricky thing. I mean, you're already passing off bike shorts, right? That's—

Yeah.

Yeah.

Passing off underwear. We're passing off helmets that we can't see the crack in it, right?

So, so speaking of— and Eats is giggling over there. She was telling me that, Kevin, you do some really good dad jokes. So you might, you might be put on— I'll let you think about that one. And, uh, maybe you can— maybe we'll end on a good bike or dad joke.

Oh yeah, I don't consider them dad jokes. They're just more sarcastic puns that, you know, that aren't biting.

Okay. All right. So maybe we'll end on one of those.

All right.

So let's reiterate, what main things do you guys need and also drop-off locations?

So main things we need: bike shorts, jerseys, gloves, Garmin bike computers, bike lights, road and mountain bikes of all sizes. Drop-off location, one is in Carboro, at the Clean Machine. And the other one is, is Triangle Aquatic Center in Cary.

So I will make sure to link both addresses and you can drop them off anytime that they're open for the entire month of May. If somebody is listening to this and they are not local, how can they donate?

They can mail their donation to us. We've had a couple of people do that. So you mail it to our office. That I can give you the address and we can link it there too.

Yep. So I will link to that. What if they would prefer to do a monetary donation?

Monetary donation or even wanting to volunteer, head over to our website at www.trianglebikeworks.org.

Okay, perfect. So we'll make sure to link to that. And we're also, uh, doing a little promo, so As the owner of the Fueling Edge, which is a healthy meal service in the Triangle of North Carolina area, we have been searching for a good fit for an organization with which we can partner with and do some donations. So we had spoken prior to this podcast, and I think some of our like cereals that can go with you guys onto your trips are good fits and maybe even sending you off initially with some protein bites and our energy cookies and things like that. So if you go to our website, thefuelingedge.com, and you are a new customer, you've never ordered before, and you enter the code Triangle Bike Works, we're doing 25% off your first order. And for every new— every time that code is used for the entire month of May, we are donating a meal or a snack to Triangle Bike Works. So there are lots of opportunities here for, for you guys to help out this organization as listeners. So, uh, thank you ahead of time for donating and let's, let's end on a good note. So we definitely need a joke or a pun, Kevin. And then what are, what are one or two other things that you want our listeners to take away?

I would say 98.8% of the people enjoy biking and those that don't, just don't know it yet. So that's one thing. COVID has reminded us that self-care is important and giving is a part of self-care. So if you want to give to Triangle Bikeworks, we would definitely appreciate it. And I heard a joke just recently and I thought it was funny. And I don't know if the kids would think it's funny. I did laugh. So the joke is knock, knock.

Who's there?

I'm an owl.

I'm an owl who?

Job's done.

Mic drop, folks. All right, so one more time, uh, trianglebikeworks.com. Check them out. You can make a donation there, and I will make sure to link to all of the places that you can mail a donation, all the places that you can do some, some other things with. And Kevin is asking, what you got?

It's trianglebikeworks.org.

Oh, yes.

Nonprofit.

Don't pay attention to me. Pay attention to Kevin. trianglebikeworks.org. We got it. So this fantastic organization located right in the Triangle that helps youth uncover all kinds of amazing things and get fit at the same time and develop their leadership skills. Amazing. I'm so excited to have talked to you guys, and I'm glad that this organization exists, and hopefully we can continue to support you guys.

Absolutely.

All right, thanks for having us.

Awesome.