How does biking help you feel liberated?

El Puente Cycling Club is a group of youth between the ages of 13-21 living in Brooklyn, NY. We are urban youth-of-color and attend a small, public, Title I school in the Los Sures community of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, (El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice), and meet at El Puente Leadership Center. Since 2013 our bike club has worked with community youth to gain independence, reduce our carbon footprint, relieve stress and go on adventures on bikes. As part of this program we attend the Annual Youth Bike Summit every year and present a workshop to our peers from other cities. This year we are conducting surveys and interviews with members of our community to find out how bicycling leads to their liberation.

These are some of our own responses:

When I'm bike riding I feel free. I feel like biking helps us communicate more, be united, and create a change for the greater good. Biking is not just riding, it is also making a way to have peace in our minds as young people, because struggle comes to every human life and we feel like we want to get away from all those thoughts. For me bike riding is a way to do that. Liberation does not just come from words it also comes from actions that we as young people want to make.

Biking is freedom because when I ride I forget about my problems. I like the wind hitting my face and feeling the cold air when it's winter. I love seeing the sky while I'm going really fast. I like observing the change of scenery and how different it is each time I ride. It makes me feel free.

I like bike riding because it helps me think and it also helps me relieve stress. It's interesting as well because I go to places that I’ve never been in the city and it's different from being in a car because I'm more active and I get to see my surroundings at a closer distance. I like riding with my friends because I can enjoy the outdoors with them and also spend more time with them biking, which we all enjoy.

Everyone must have a way in which they can feel free, be themselves and liberate all the stress or heavy thoughts in their heads. For me biking is one of those escapes. When I'm riding my bike I feel like everyone else: we are all in the same place, no matter race, age or gender. It helps me to concentrate more on my thoughts and what they mean. I feel free because biking is one of the things in my life that I can actually control, something that I enjoy and helps me both mentally and physically.

Thanks for your support!

Ashley, Christian, Dashley, Emily, Karla and Tristian