WE Bike to DC: Photo Set
All photos by Ayesha McGowan
It has been a year since Ten women from five organizations (and a journalist) set out to ride 262 miles on bicycles from New York City to Washington, DC to represent their communities at the nation’s largest annual bicycle advocacy event, the National Bike Summit on March 3, 2014
It was definitely an adventure, a very cold adventure, and sometimes it wasn't a very fun adventure, but I learned that I am way stronger than I give myself credit for. On occasion i'll find myself doubting my abilities, my self worth, and my courage. What I learned on this journey is that there is not a thing in this world that I am not capable of if I really put my heart into it. Sweet baby Jesus knows I do not do cold. Even today, I chose to ride on my trainer instead of going outside, but when I said I was going to ride to DC at the end of February, I meant it. So every morning I layered up, got on my bicycle and gave it my all. I will always be proud of that.
While I have been focusing my energy on developing InTandem, I'm still very proud of the work being done over at WE Bike NYC and encourage women in the area to check them out if you're looking for a cycling home. I wouldn't be the confident bike leader I am today if Liz Jose hadn't showed me how to put trust in people and utilize everyone's skill set to create something amazing.
Thank you so much to Liz, Casey, Laura, Kristina, Mary, Katie, Kaelin, Lesley, Nelle, and Karen for sharing this experience with me.
Super duper thanks to our sponsors: Kelly and Michelle from Womantours, we couldn't have possibly done this without y'all. Thank you to Pearl Izumi for the rad jackets, swift for the killer panniers, Velojoy, InTandem, Bike New York, Transportation Alternatives, Bicycle Times, and all of you individual donors who made this dream a reality. Y'all are truly the best.
Enjoy the photo gallery, It was much too cold to do too much snapping. I tried to get a little bit of every day of our trip. I also decided not to add captions, but if you have a question, leave a comment! I'll fill in the blanks where needed.
Bonus Gallery: Nelle Stretches!
