How A Minority Biking Group Raises The Profile Of Cycling : Code Switch : NPR

How A Minority Biking Group Raises The Profile Of Cycling : Code Switch : NPR: Flip open any cycling magazine and you might think only skinny, good-looking, white people ride bikes. But increasingly that doesn't reflect the reality. Communities of color are embracing cycling. And as a fast-growing segment of the cycling population, they're making themselves far more visible.

There's a story that Veronica O. Davis likes to tell about why she started a cycling group for black women. She was pedaling past a public housing complex near her Washington, D.C., neighborhood one day when a young black girl shouted to her mother, "Mommy, mommy, it's a black lady on a bike."

"At first I was like, 'Why is she so excited?' And I realized I'm probably the first cyclist that she saw who looked like her," said Davis.

That one small experience led to a Twitter message, which then led to a Facebook group. Two years later and now 800 women strong, Black Women Bike: DC is a full-blown cycling movement. And it's not alone.