“I was thinking. Let’s go on a cycling trip together,” Lynn, my partner said to me one rainy Atlanta afternoon. “Nothing too drastic, though,” he said, with a look that made it clear he wasn’t interested in joining my usual style bikepacking trip.
I have been cycling for over a decade. My brother built me my first single speed bike in 2011, when I lived in DC and wanted to start commuting. At first, it was a way to get around. But after a breakup in 2018, I doubled down on cycling, seeking a sense of community.
I moved to Atlanta in 2015, where my first bikepacking trip took place-Along the Silver Comet Trail, out of town-Everything changes. I set out with a few friends using borrowed gear and a USD$90 Craigslist bike. It was challenging, fun, full of emotion-And I did the hardest work physically.
Cycling gave me a sense of freedom. The physical act of pedaling to a place that seemed far away, yet easily accessible by bicycle, felt limitless. I suddenly had the opportunity to see my city and surrounding nature through a different lens. It provides accessibility to the trails around me and showcases the beauty of my backyard; Revealing nature as this beautiful, healing place in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I wanted more, but the cost of a gravel bike and all the associated kit was a huge financial barrier as a queer black woman and lifelong nonprofit activist.