Community Building through Bike Education
Meet your new instructors
From March 4–6, 2022, 15 people from across the Bay Area gathered for a three-day League Cycling Instructor (LCI) training seminar hosted by Bike East Bay, The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and the League of American Bicyclists. This marked our third time offering this opportunity at the Bike East Bay office, and it was the first LCI certification we’ve offered since 2019. From group rides, to parking lot drills, to a night riding “fashion runway”, the three-day training at Bike East Bay’s office centered different aspects of bike education and community building and brought together individuals with varied experiences and interests in the biking community.
One of the main objectives of the training was to get more people of color, multi-lingual, and gender expansive individuals certified to lead bicycle education in the Bay Area. LCI candidates joined us from partner organizations such as Rich City Rides, Waterside Workshops, and Cycles of Change.
We had the chance to catch up with three of the newly-certified instructors to learn more about what led them to the training. For instructor Nancy Buenaventura, her involvement as a volunteer with the community organization Bicis del Pueblo in San Francisco brought her to apply for and participate in the training. She mentioned,
“I view biking as related to social, economic, environmental, and wellness factors. The more people we can share the joy of bicycling with, the better!”
Alex Contreras agreed when they reflected upon why biking is important to them:
“For me, biking allows for freedom of expression of gender. It’s about being a brown person, biking how they want, when they want — showing that black & brown and queer people belong in these spaces.”
We were also curious to learn more about their experiences with the training. Cristy Ortega, an instructor working in San Francisco, hopes to bring back what she learned at the certification to the Latina-serving nonprofit that she co-founded. Cristy shared,
“Now that I’ve taken the LCI training, I feel more confident and safe to be teaching my community. I feel confident in my rights, I do the signals, and even my kids are starting to learn the signals from me!” Cristy is excited to bring Spanish bicycle education to the Latinx community and to increase bicycle ridership in the Bay Area.
With the diverse backgrounds and experiences of the new LCIs, we are excited for the future of the bike community in the East Bay and beyond. If you are interested in becoming a certified instructor, make sure to stay tuned on our email listserv for updates and information about upcoming trainings: BikeEastBay.org/eNews.
