Ride for Racial Justice is partnering with
SBT GRVL again to offer BIPOC ambassadors an opportunity to attend the SBT GRVL Gravel Race in 2024!
Program Highlights
Thank you for applying for your chance to be part of the BIPOC Ambassador Program to participate in the 2024 SBT GRVL gravel bike race! Ride for Racial Justice exists to ensure access to resources, education, and community for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) cyclists and to dismantle systemic racism so that EVERYONE can feel safe, free, and empowered to ride a bicycle. Ride for Racial Justice (RFRJ) is pleased to offer this extraordinary opportunity at one of the pillars of gravel racing globally.
The application will only be open for two weeks and will close on Wednesday, December 20, 2023 at 11:59 pm MST.
Applicant Criteria:
Black, Indigenous or POC who is age 21+ at time of application submission
Active cyclist
Active in your community as a steward (bike community or generally)
A passion for cycling and a desire to change the sport of cycling towards greater diversity, equity and representation
As part of the selection process please SUBMIT A VIDEO of yourself responding to the numbered questions. You do not have to submit your answers in writing, but you may submit your answers in writing along with the video if you choose. Please keep your video to 2 minutes in length or less.
If you have any questions or issues with the form please email us at admin@rideforracialjustice.org
If selected, participants will receive financial assistance with:
Paid entry to SBT GRVL, choice of distance with Board approval
Training plans and coaching support leading up to the race through APEX Coaching
Travel reimbursement to/from Steamboat up to $500 with valid receipts. If less is spent on travel, the differences are not payable in cash. Note: Travel is defined as round-trip flight cost and baggage costs (1 piece of luggage if not included in fare and your bicycle). Transportation to/from your home to your airport is solely the responsibility of the ambassador.
Shuttle (with RFRJ cohort) to/from Denver International Airport to RFRJ Housing in Steamboat
Paid RFRJ Group Housing (Check In Thursday Evening August 15th and Check Out Early Monday August 19th)
Paid Daily Food Stipend
RFRJ Kit (jersey, bib shorts, and socks)
****RFRJ will reimburse athletes at the completion of the SBT GRVL event****
Introducing Our 2023 Team:
Abe Alkhamees
Abe Alkhamees (he/him) is a cyclist, adventurer, and outdoor junkie. Cycling helped him lose over 188 lbs, half of his weight, and turn his life around for the better. He’s captivated by how cycling brings people together and he loves all the people he’s met and the communities he’s become part of along the way. Passing this passion on to others is one of the ways he gives back to the cycling community. Finally, of course, Abe wouldn't be here without his friends, family, and strangers; thanks to them, his stories and adventures are more colorful and meaningful than going it alone.
When he’s not riding, you can find Abe writing his next story to share on The Paperclip.cc. He writes stories about unique cycling trips, destinations, and, most recently, about a growing cycling scene in the world's hottest country, Kuwait. Abe hopes to cross paths with you soon, ride up mountains, descend into valleys, and share a meal somewhere around the globe.
Ana Herrera
Ana Herrera (she/her) was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is 30 years old and teaches English as a second language to refugee children. Being a first-generation Mexican American meant that she always had to work twice as hard and that’s her mentality going into this next adventure. Ana’s love for cycling began during a time in her life where her mental health needed the freedom and escape that riding on trails provided. It was life changing. Riding added another outdoor hobby to the list. She also loves to hike, do yoga, and garden. During Covid, Ana got certified as an Urban Gardener to really push the boundaries when it comes to women of color enjoying the outdoors. She’s honored to be representing and riding with RFRJ because it includes women of color and values those of us who go the extra mile!
Annijke Wade
Annijke Wade (she/her) is a new adaptive mountain biker, para off-road cyclist, and athlete. Annijke grew up in the town of Sonoma, California. In 2019, Annijke found her passion for mountain biking and gravel cycling. By 2020, she raced in her first enduro mountain bike race and by 2021, Annijke was slated to race 7+ mountain and gravel races in California, New Mexico, and Colorado – including SBT GRVL with RFRJ. However, in July of 2021, Annijke sustained a spinal cord injury in a horrible downhill mountain biking accident. In 2022, she was back to the sport and is learning how to live as a full-time wheelchair user. Outside of her love for riding bikes and being outdoors, Annijke is also passionate about making the outdoors and mountain biking a safe space for all.
2023 for Annijke is about advocating for BIPOC and para-athletes, developing her on the bike skills, and having a good time outdoors and on the trails.
Armando Luna
Armando Luna (he/him) lives and rides in Portland, Oregon. As one of those "weird" kids who rode a bike to high school, he’s enjoyed riding bikes all his life. After visiting Portland in 1996, he fell for the bike culture and has been living here since.
As much fun as bikes are, there's also a responsibility to riding them. Armando uses a lot of his free time volunteering for several biking organizations. Two years ago, he became part of a newly formed group, BikePOC PNW. BikePOC PNW is a group that is "actively creating intentional space for bike riders of color in our region". Since joining this group, his perspective on cycling has widened. Being a Mexican American in one of the whitest cities, he has always tried to represent as a person of color in the cycling community in the hopes of getting other folks involved. BikePOC PNW takes this to another level by offering a safe space for many. Armando enjoyed riding with and helping to organize many of the events BikePOC PNW has made happen.
Although he’s participated in organized rides such as the Swift Summit 100/200 and CycleOregon’s GRAVEL rides, his favorite time of the year is summer in Portland when Pedalpalooza happens! Pedalpalooza has hundreds of social rides with whatever theme the ride leader wants. Last summer, he was fortunate enough to co-lead the kickoff ride, with thousands of bikes parading through Portland!
Brando Rockers
Brando Rockers (he/they) is 25 years old and was originally born in South Texas. He is of Black and Mexican heritage. Brando currently lives in Fort Collins, CO where he trains as a member of Blitz Crew Racing as well as Bike Ride for Black Lives. He enjoys criteriums and MTB races.
He is new to cycling, but enthusiastically welcoming any opportunity to get in over my head. Cycling has fulfilled that for him (and then some!) by affording him an unparalleled sense of community and belonging as well as just being plain ol’ fun. While not perfect in its inclusiveness, he’s never one to shy away when met with challenges in an endeavor that he’s passionate about—biking notwithstanding. Building equity and diversity in this sport is an integral part of this challenge that Brando’s ready to meet head on.
Care to join him on this journey?
Brianna Hurt
Brianna Hurt (she/her) has spent the majority of her life in the Northern VA/DC area. She attended undergrad at Howard University and graduate school at American University, in Washington, DC where she studied accounting. After several years of working, Brianna decided to change careers and went back to school, at Elon University in NC, to get her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. She is now a licensed PT in the outpatient orthopedic setting.
Brianna has always been active and adventurous but was first introduced to cycling when she started doing triathlons in 2016. She has completed races of varying distances from sprints to half ironman. Gravel cycling is new for her. Brianna got her first gravel bike when she decided to combine her love for camping and cycling and did a bike packing trip from PA to DC. Since then, she has competed in cyclocross and gravel races and has joined a BIPOC gravel cycling team, Melanin Base Miles. Outside of cycling, Brianna still enjoys triathlons but also camping, hiking, snowboarding and several other outside activities. Most recently, she has combined her PT knowledge and love for bikes and started doing bike fittings in early 2022.
Cauvin Mo
Cauvin Mo (he/him) is a Cantonese American, born in Houston and spent most of his life living car-centric in Cincinnati, Ohio. His interest in bicycling peaked six years ago in Ohio, when he participated in 'National Bike to Workday' and experienced commuting to work by bicycle for the first time. After that, Cauvin started to regularly commute by bicycle and looking into living a car free lifestyle. His growing desire to have a less car-oriented lifestyle prompted him to move to a city with better bike and transit infrastructure so he relocated to Seattle, Washington and he has been car free for almost three years.
Since moving to Seattle, Cauvin has been able to meet new friends and explore the city and surrounding areas through cycling. Making connections with people and being able to share knowledge, experiences, and group ride together inspired him to start the Seattle Cycling Discord, which allows new and seasoned cyclists to connect. It's a place where we make sure all people feel welcomed and can ask questions, share knowledge, gear, events, and build a closer-knit community without having the elitist cyclist stereotype.
This year will be his second year in a row attending SBT GRVL (Black Course) and he’s hoping to beat last years’ time.
Chanel Mitchell
Chanel Mitchell (she/her), aka Tsunami to her St. Louis Regulator Cycling Club, is a community mental health provider in St. Louis, MO and a professor turned cyclist. Raised in Portland, Oregon and a lover of the outdoors, she returned to enjoy the outdoors during Covid and has since found her freedom. SHE RIDES TO FREE OTHERS OF SYSTEMATIC OPPRESSION, racial inequity, and social justice. Chanel brings to paved, gravel, and rocky terrains fun and joy!
Chris Berry
Chris Berry (he/him) is an artist and educator. He is proud to serve as the Arts Director at Penumbra Theatre. He received his BFA in Acting from North Carolina A&T State University (‘08) and his MFA in acting from Brown University/Trinity rep (‘11). He served as the President of the Black Theatre Network. Chris has also served as the Director of Education and Humanities and the Program Director of the Black Arts Institute at the Billie Holiday Theatre. As a dialect coach, he has had the pleasure to work for the Signature Theatre's production of The Hot Wing King and the television show P-Valley. As an educator, he has served as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Florida A&M University. He is a member of the Cannonballs Cycling Team in Charlotte NC, Minnesota chapter of the Major Taylor cycling club, and Mineola Bicycle Club.
Devanté D. Tate
Devanté D. Tate is a long-time resident of East New York, Brooklyn. For the past 10 years, Devanté’s work is rooted in Advocacy and Social Work. Having been directly impacted by the criminal justice system, he felt it was his duty to help advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. Social Work allowed Devanté to help heal those in need, create safe spaces for wellness and release, and much more.
He is the co-founder of a grassroots organization called Afrikans Helping Afrikans and is also the Head of Operations and Founding Member of a NYC based cycling club called Century Plus Crew.
Devanté started his road cycling journey in 2020 and hasn’t looked back since. Having done more than 20,000 miles since then, he is committed to making this world a better place one century ride at a time.
Em Bhoo
Em Bhoo (they/she) is a bike commuter-turned-racer living in Alexandria, VA. Em traded road slicks for gravel racing during the pandemic and has learned to enjoy longer days in the saddle and eating tons of carbs. Em is an inaugural member of Melanin Base Miles, a BIPOC gravel racing team based out of Washington DC. Representation is important to Em—feeling like “the only one” can feel heckin lonely! Therefore Em continues to lead rides and coach clinics.
Em loves exploring new roads, climbs, and coffeeshops, but also isn’t afraid to lock onto the trainer for some intervals on the weekdays. SBT GRVL will be the first time Em leaves the East Coast to race bikes and they are so stoked to be doing so with Ride for Racial Justice!
Enzo Moscarella
Enzo Moscarella (he/him) is an artist and maker currently living in Queens, New York. The Colombian immigrant first began his cycling journey in 2020 after he purchased a steel frame single speed off Craigslist. The first series of rides at distance were through the participation of the rides organized by Street Riders NYC during the Black Lives Matter protest and call for action around police injustices. Since then, Enzo has found riding as a form of therapy, exercise, and creative stimulus.
In 2021 Enzo was selected as part of the inaugural team From The Ground Up, to participate in training and riding the Leadville Trail 100 with no mountain bike experience. The program and companion video documentation has led Enzo to dive fully into cycling, further pursuing the sport and his role in it. Over the last year, Enzo was fortunate enough to participate again in the second iteration of FTGU, finishing the 100-mile race at Unbound but due to a training injury the sophomore attempt, the Leadville race was not in the cards. Instead Enzo focused the time off the bike to write and illustrate an inclusive children's book, I WANT TO RIDE MY BICYCLE, around different kinds of bicycles and the many diverse people that can use them.
Although the journey into cycling and advocacy for Enzo is in the early stages, this newfound passion in the sport has exciting prospects. Looking forward to further combining his background in the arts and making with this appreciation into cycling and community, Enzo is excited to join fellow FTGU alumni at SBT with their teams including All Bodies on Bikes and SBT ambassador program. It is an honor for him to be selected and represent Ride for Racial Justice in 2023.
Imran McGrath
Imran McGrath (he/him) is an alleged "bikey boi" born in Indonesia and currently living in the occupied Duwamish territory known as Seattle, WA. Though he grew up here, it was through the triathlon club at UC San Diego that he was introduced to cycling. When Imran moved back to Seattle and looked to start riding more, he connected with Ampersand Bikes Club (&BC). The group was founded after the Atlanta spa shootings in 2021 as a way for ANH/PI folks to be in solidarity through bikes, food, and more. As a mixed-race person who connects to their culture through food, he loves their "ramen rides” where they bike to a park to cook and share food. &BC has also empowered him towards many firsts, from his first cyclocross race to riding the Seattle-to-Portland Classic with over 30 other cyclists from local BIPOC bike orgs. If he’s not biking around town with friends, catch Imran reading, cooking Indo food, or sweating over a repair stand trying to learn bike mechanics.
Imran knows we need resilient communities to tackle issues of racial, environmental, and transportation justice. This year, he’s looking forward to helping organize bikepacking trips, group rides, and events to build strong community. Groups working to lower the barrier of entry in cycling and triathlon got him into those sports - let's build more ladders as we climb. Honestly, his biking journey has just begun, and Imran’s honored to be a part of the change with RFRJ!
Jennelyn Tumalad Bailon
Jennelyn Tumalad Bailon (She/Her/Siya) is a Filipinx American immigrant currently growing roots with her husband in unceded Chumash land, Oxnard, CA. Jennelyn comes from a background as an arts and culture program manager and received degrees from the University of Washington and Pratt Institute. It was through experiencing the harsh truths in higher education and working at renowned cultural institutions such as the J. Paul Getty Museum and Whitney Museum of American art where she found her calling as an activist. Personally, and professionally, her mission is to challenge the dominant culture and to advocate for communities that have been historically exploited, misrepresented, and erased.
In 2020, Jennelyn learned to ride a bike. Before then she felt shame, embarrassment, and excluded from typical childhood milestones. To her, learning to ride a bike is more than gaining a new skill, but is a way to challenge what she's been told, and to rewrite how she sees herself: Women can take part in competitive physical activities, it’s ok to be out in the sun and get dark. It's ok if your childhood looked different than others.
In only two years Jennelyn went from learning to balance on a bike to completing her first bikepacking trip on the PCH. While training with the Ride for Racial Justice team, she's excited to grow her community, experience her first race, and learn technical bike skills.
Jeremy Gomez
Jeremy Gomez (he/him) is from the Dominican Republic, raised in New York City, and now residing in Portland. He loves to shred mountain bikes, track bikes, bike polo, and skiing. He is obsessed with cyclocross and the stoke that riding bikes brings!
Jim Labayen
Jim Labayen (he/him) is a first-generation Filipino American who grew up in Washington.
For transportation and independence, Jim adopted biking, but was held back by his bike that eventually broke. Through observing, tinkering, and breaking, he learned how to fix it. He then dedicated much of his life to helping others achieve independence and self-sufficiency on bikes. He works at Bike Works Seattle, a bicycling non-profit. Jim also helps to support two BIPOC biking groups — NorthStar Cycling and Ampersand Bikes Club.
To Jim, bicycling represents physical and mental health, and connection to the earth and other people. He honors his ancestors through selflessness and perseverance. Jim feels at his best riding long distances, eating ice cream, and playing with his puppy!
Photos by The Radavist, John Watson, Josh Weinberg, and Spencer Harding
Kevin Frias
Que lo que mi gente! Kevin Frias (he/him) is a Dominican cyclist born in the Bronx, NY, who was raised in Jersey, moved to Iowa to play baseball, and now lives in Minnesota! He loves gravel biking, road biking, and mountain biking PLUS almost any other outdoor activity!
Kevin is driven by the goal of making the face of the outdoors a few shades darker. He wants to inspire and equip all people to get outside and experience the life-changing force that is the outdoors. Being outside has permanently changed his life and he hopes to share that stoke with everyone around him!
Khristopher Nicholas
Khristopher Nicholas (he/him ) is a Trinidad-born, Florida-raised lover of all things two-wheeled. Born with severe bilateral clubfoot and having had many corrective surgeries, he feels the most freedom doing adventurous (read: occasionally reckless) things on bicycles and motorcycles.
After completing a bachelor’s degree at Columbia University, he foolishly said to himself, “self, what’s a bit more school” and obtained a PhD in global nutrition from UNC Chapel Hill. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University where he researches how on earth to keep warm in the winter. Khristopher is grateful to have had many amazing cycling experiences: mountain biking up (and then down) a volcano in the Galápagos Islands, exploring the rolling hills of Emilia-Romagna, Italy, bikepacking the length of Florida in 1-week, dozens of adrenaline-pumping criteriums, hundreds of miles of gravel races across the Southern United States, and even delivering food for UberEats. When not on a bicycle, Khristopher is likely cooking curry chicken, reading science fiction, eating sardines, or indulging his spoiled kitty, Leona.
Lisa Gillespie
Lisa Gillespie (she/her) is a RN and professor of nursing and a New Yorker from Harlem. She learned her bike skills riding/racing NYC streets with NYC messengers in the 80s and 90s. As a former mountain biker, she discovered road riding about seven years ago and never looked back. She is a Shero of Black Girls Do Bike NYC (BGDBNYC), a group that champions and advocates for BIPOC and black women (who are the most underserved group) in cycling. Currently, she’s working on various rides and training for the group as well as helping expand the group’s gravel riders. BGDBNYC even has a team of 4 women from NYC going to SBT gravel!
She says living and riding in NYC is a game of hypervigilance and she wants more NYCers to experience the joys of car free gravel. She participated in NJ Gravel Grinder and Unbound in Kansas last year. She’s a triathlete and loves challenges. In 2022, she placed first in her age group for Escape the Cape triathlon where you jump off a boat and race to shore. This year, in addition to SBT, she’ll be racing in the NYC triathlon and will be questioning why she agreed to race in the Hudson River. Have you seen the Hudson? LOL!
Makesi Duncan
Makesi Duncan (he/him) is a Trinidadian born, Brooklyn raised cyclist and a proud Occupational Therapist, husband, and father. He’s found his passion for cycling has given him so much joy and peacefulness, and he strives to share that with the world. Makesi hopes to show that anyone at any time can participate and become a great cyclist no matter their circumstances.
He found cycling in early 2020. It gave him the ability to get outside and compete with anyone on a bike but mainly with myself. In December 2021, he broke his arm and wrist. Once his cast was off, the only exercise Makesi was cleared for was Zwift. Cycling became his stress relief on a whole new level! Now it pushes him to be better than he was on the last ride every single time. Makesi may have only been a road cyclist thus far, but he admires the courage and fearlessness of gravel riders. He looks forward to this new challenge!
Maxx Aguilar
Maxx (they/them) is a passionate advocate for the Black community and creating equitable access to cycling.
As the Founder of the Black Transport Project (BTP), they’ve spearheaded an initiative to fix used bikes and distribute them to Black transgender individuals in the Chicago community, distributing over 60 bikes since 2020!
After volunteering at a local community shop as a youth, Maxx has been wrenching for the last 5 years as a professional bike mechanic. Along the way, they picked up a few metal-working skills and create accessories out of found objects in the bike shop. Servicing bikes for countless cyclists across the city, they currently work at a nonprofit bike shop and remain committed to supporting marginalized communities through their expertise.
Maxx first got introduced to riding gravel in 2020 after completing a season of cyclocross in the fall of 2017. As an adult, they’ve begun to take their training more seriously and can’t wait to crush SBTGRVL this August while representing their teams Ride for Racial Justice and Chicago United.
Merli Estime
Merli Estime (she/her) is a first-generation American citizen born in Belgium to Haitian immigrants.
As a full-figured woman, she sought to find a way to stay healthy during the pandemic while having fun and meeting people entering cycling. In 2020, she got her first road bike and began to see the world differently on two wheels, 100 miles at a time with the Century Plus Crew as a founding female committee member and Communications Manager. She is also a Bike New York Ambassador and member of KRT/QRT Cycling Team based in Philadelphia.
Always being a lover of bicycles but never having access because of her upbringing in the NYC foster care system, her work is twofold. To advocate and create access and education for all skill levels of BIPOC cyclists in underserved communities, and equity around cycling equipment and gear that historically caters to only a certain archetype of people. She seeks to break that mold while putting Black women of full-figured stature to the forefront in the cycling world.
Outside of cycling, Merli is a full-time makeup artist and Visual Arts teacher in NYC. A mental health and foster care advocate sharing her personal story to create better resources, and legislation for those who are in those systems. She looks forward to her first gravel race representing RFRJ at the SBT GRVL Race this summer.
Mike LaValle
Mike LaValle (he/him) is a loving husband and father of two whose passion for cycling started after his eldest daughter learned how to ride her bike. Mike started following his daughter on her bike by jogging behind her and after she quickly developed her skills, jogging was no longer an option, and he was forced to find a bike to ride to keep her company. Mike, who lives in Northern Virginia, began to enjoy cycling for its fitness and therapy benefits and quickly learned how big and diverse the cycling community was in the DMV (DC, Maryland, and Virginia) area.
Mike rides with many clubs in the DMV as they all offer a different and unique experience. Mike enjoys his social paced city rides with Streets Calling Bike Club located in Washington DC whose mission is to not only to promote fitness but also give back to the community. When he wants "the smoke", Mike rides with GoodFellas Cycling Club, located in Bowie MD, that is comprised of like-minded men who value their families and fast paced rides. Lastly, Mike rides with Reston Bike Club and participates in the Trek Leesburg Shop rides that provide excellent company and routes that take advantage of Northern Virginia's beautiful scenery and over 300 plus miles of gravel roads.
Mike, who is also an active member of Alpha Phi Alpha, is excited to join the RFRJ team because he believes this is another outlet to help spread awareness of Racial Justice which is something he holds dear to his heart.
Niky Taylor
Niky Taylor (she/her) grew up in New Mexico and moved to Santa Cruz, California in 2017. She fell in love with recreational biking in 2019, when she decided to ride a solo tour up the Big Sur coastline on a whim. Since then, her relationship with bikes has grown to include road, gravel, and mountain biking. Her favorite part about bicycles is their capacity for adventure and exploration.
In 2022, Niky started exploring road, cyclocross, and gravel racing and joined Alto Velo, a team based in the Bay Area. She also started the Gay Asian Bike Emporium (GABE for short), a small community organization that aims to create a safe space for LGBTQ+ folx to ride bikes. Her hope is to help center other queer and POC riders and share the joy, freedom, and opportunities biking has brought her.
When she’s not biking, Niky works as a Geographer for the United States Geological Survey and studies relationships between water color and water quality in the San Francisco Bay. She enjoys doing creative projects in her free time and makes digital graphics for GABE and Alto Velo on Instagram.
Photo by Jeff Vander-Strucken
Pratik Prajapati
Pratik Prajapati (he/him) is a first-generation Indian American raised in rural KY and is currently located in Madison, WI. He started cycling while attending college at Indiana University where riding and racing bikes is serious business. He struggled to find a group where he felt welcomed and comfortable as a BIPOC rider. 20 years later, he still shows up to races, events, and local group rides as one of a few, if not the only, BIPOC rider.
As a cyclist, Pratik finds that riding provides him endless joy, increased confidence, and a deep connection with the natural world. He enjoys a wide variety of riding including gravel, road, mountain biking, and bikepacking. Last year, he started racing and completed several gravel and cyclocross events. Most weekends, you can find him riding around town frequenting local coffee and bike shops.
As part of the RFRJ program, he hopes to gain the inspiration, knowledge, and skills to build a community of BIPOC riders in Madison. His vision is to create a place for people like him, including his two children, to be free from any barriers to experience the health, happiness, and friendship a bike can provide. Pratik’s goal this year is to finish the 103-mile Blue Course at SBT GRVL.
Richy Yin
Richy Yin (he/him) lives in Minneapolis Minnesota and has been biking all his life. He got into gravel cycling a couple years ago. He works full time at City Running in Northeast Minneapolis and St. Paul. He rides for exercise and for the community but can get in the competitive spirit! The twin cities bike community has done so much for him, and he wants to give back to it in return. The groups he rides with give him the confidence and strength to show up to events, even if he finishes a little slower back. They’re their supporting him and he wants to be able to do that for other cyclist, especially BIPOC athletes. Richy is so excited and honored to be doing SBT GRVL with Ride for Racial Justice!
Robin Wilkins
Robin Wilkins (she/her) has worked in the financial industry for over 40 years, while living and working in St. Louis as a loan administrator. The CEO surnamed her a Disruptor and expects her to be a conduit that causes radical change in their industry. She values that her time, talents, and tithes is an expansion of who she is and not only what she does. She uses a positive attitude to create sunshine in encounters and loves to open space in advocacy for women to hone their aspirations. These exchanges afford her an opportunity to empower others in the liberation of life and cycling.
Athletic endeavors have varied for her, yet no activity compares to the holistic experience of cycling. She assisted in hosting clinics for children in marginalized areas to introduce more girls to cycling. She constructed a route of Black Historic Sites in St. Louis and plans to host those cycling segments this year. Robin is dedicated to every endeavor she starts using the mantra, “I don’t compete, I complete!”
Robin’s personal cycling endeavors have motivated more women of color to cycle through representation. Her inspiration to be present was awakened when she saw a portrait of a little girl modeling herself after Michelle Obama. This visual stirred her grandparent’s instructions to practice the Ministry of Presence. “…represent yourself, your people, and your God, wherever you are. Your life is the message!” With intentionality she expects diversity in thought and action through inclusion in every facet of life. Her hashtag #thisissomegoodlivin!
Samuel Díaz
Samuel Díaz (he/him) is a first-generation Mexican American born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up messing around with mountain and BMX bikes, but really grew a passion for bikes when he began commuting with track bikes in Chicago. In recent years, he has grown a strong interest for gravel and adventure cycling. He has started to explore cycling outside Chicago and traveled with his bike around the Midwest and Pacific Northwest to different events. In 2022, He joined Chicago United, a BIPOC cycling team based in the Chicago area. This team has introduced him to a new community of amazing people all working towards more representation in the cycling world.
Outside of cycling, he is a public policy wonk. He works as a performance auditor for the City of Chicago. He evaluates city departments and programs to help promote effectiveness, efficiency, equity, and integrity in local government.
Sobeyda Valle-Ellis
Sobeyda Valle-Ellis (she/her) has been a social rider for over 10 years. She got serious about cycling during COVID when she bought a gravel bike in April 2021 and joined the cycling club Black Girls Do Bike, BGDB NYC. She is currently training with CIS Cycling. In 2021, she did the Unbound race in Kansas with the Brownstone Gravel Grinders. The rain and mud made for a treacherous ride and was down and dirty. That was her favorite part, a sign of an adventure.
As an older cyclist who is also a beginner, she is excited to mentor and support other riders, old and young alike, into the joys, adventure, and physical/mental gains of cycling. She is thrilled to be on the RFRJ team who represent and inspire underrepresented cyclists of color.
Sobeyda is a marriage and family therapist, MFT, who lives in Queens, New York. She was born in Honduras and immigrated to NYC with her family when she was 9 years old. She is married and has four adult children and one grandson.
Terrelia Owens
Terrelia Owens (she/her) is an LGBTQ+ woman in Tech and a Dallas native who has clutched her passion and carved a difference in the world around her; including being highlighted as a Community Leader by Wilson Volleyball in 2022. Wilson recognized her authenticity and ability to create and organize an inclusive sand volleyball community in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex that not only has a great time but learns and excels together. Volleyball isn't the only arena in which she created this type of space - the same can be said for her local cycling society as she has recently become an avid cyclist.
She is a dedicated Black Lives Matter activist with a clear vision for racial justice, and the endurance to push through the challenges; community is always at the top of her priorities. Her friendships are bonded by love, support, accountability, fun and fitness! Mix in travel and outdoor adventures and you've got her heart.
Walking in an array of shoes, from LGBTQ to BIPOC to cycling shoes locked into her pedals, Terrelia is committed to spreading love, awareness, and positive change. From her perspective, "being active is more than a stress reliever for me. Being active empowers me to work harder towards my goals, connect with people and show up as my authentic self".
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