There is a phrase, “Better late than never.” Shamar really pushed that one to the limit this time. A group of us from Back Alley Bikes returned from the Youth Bike Summit in NYC about 3 months ago. We asked the youth to share their experiences with us. You can read both Omari’s and Ian’s write ups. It took Shamar 3 months to get something to us, but you can’t say he never did it.
I did some light editing to Shamar’s work, but did not change what he had to say. Also, the links and bold text to emphasize his points are mine. It is also worth noting that Shamar references when he was hit by a truck at MLK and Woodward last October before we went on the trip with us. But without further ado, here is the 2014 Youth Bike Summit experience in Shamar’s own words:
Valentines day weekend was in motion as I was approaching New York with pretty high expectations. That means road trip! My former co-workers (Duane, Ian, & Omari) and co-bosses (Heather & Jason) is who the trip consisted of. Along the trip we made a few stops as anyone else would making nice discoveries in various places on the trip. We arrived in The Big Apple roughly around 7pm on Friday night and my co-workers and I were in awe. There were tons of people, cars, businesses, and what not. We all made observations on how different Detroit and New York is quickly.
After about half an hour of traveling in New York we were at the place of registration for the Youth Bike Summit which was the main focus of the whole convention. We were late so we caught the end of it but I met some people from Philadelphia whom were still there. They gave brief description of how their organization operates and also their city. We exchanged the same information with them. We all were intrigued by the various differences amongst us although we shared one main focus: bikes.
We then went to our hostel and prepared for rest. I stayed up to interact with people and visited the nearby neighborhood along with Ian. It is amazing to see how active the city is at all times! The next day we went back to one of the buildings from the school we registered at. We had an orientation that allowed people who made the event possible to be recognized and also a couple people who were, what I felt, excelling in helping their local community. It felt a bit inspiring to have the chance to meet these people. We also met a bike racer who won quite a few major races overseas. That was definitely inspiring considering that he also endured poverty growing up.
We then had a parade that led us to another building. Here we had various events and workshops that we could attend. It was honestly hard to choose from! I went to one where they taught us how to use batteries and LED lights and make different light patterns for yourself or bike. Then we had a lunch and brief discussion. We carried on with more events afterward. I bounced around during this time since it was all so interesting! I saw bike parts used to make clothes and accessories which was very fascinating! I never thought of ever using bike parts as part of my attire! Afterward, there was a bike themed fashion show that I ended up deciding to pass on.
I went back to the hostel to rest a little along with Omari. We then proceeded to explore the city once we felt recharged. We visited Times Square and I was deeply astonished! I saw thousands of people in such a big place at once. We explored various stores and attractions along the way. We got lost quite a few times because the subway system was a little hard to understand right away. We got home after a couple hours of detours. Our phones ended up dying so we had to rely on pure maps and people. It wasn’t too hard though. I quickly went to sleep after eating due to the excessive walking.
The next day was the final day, Sunday. I woke up a little late from staying up late trying to see stuff. Even still, we all made it to the event in decent timing. As one large group, all the participants from around the the country, we discussed different innovative ideas to improve bike culture such as more bike lanes and potentially bike stop lights. I discussed my bike collision that had happened recently with everyone and this made people want to act toward it more. It felt good that it was people ready to take action about it. We have some ideas that may actually happen with effort such as harsher penalties for drivers that are reckless and bike traffic signals. We proposed several ways on how to launch these ideas.
After that we regrouped and talked about future events that were happening which all sounded interesting to attend. Especially next year’s summit in Seattle. Sunday was shorter so we used the rest of the time to explore. Omari, Duane and I all went to Times Square and checked out a lot of stores and places. After, I took a short trip to Brooklyn’s museum and then returned to the hostel.
During this trip, I was proud to have met this guy from Philadelphia. (I forget his name unfortunately). He was a great guy from the moment I met him when we first arrived. He talked to me about his experiences with bikes in Philadelphia and I shared my experiences from here. We made comparisons to our hometowns and some stuff was surprisingly different yet the same. He and his organization have bike rides like we do at Back Alley. We also wanted to possibly do a ride together amongst our organizations.
To sum it up, my favorite moment of the summit was the beginning of Saturday when we met the Olympic medalist and others with their stories that all sound not too dissimilar from others including me in biking and it made it seem unified although I have never met them before. This trip has changed my outlook on Detroit and what I have been doing with bikes a bit. I feel now I should also try to help make things even better through bikes and use it to allow others to feel the same unification feeling I had.
As far as Detroit vs New York I feel that they are more advanced with bike culture than we are and I also see how Detroit very well could be like that with effort of mine and others. We should do this in other places that can be improved upon including New York itself. It’s not perfect, but I can see that it is better than here in various ways. Seeing New York makes me feel different about Detroit as a whole though. It’s transportation system is better and more reliable. They have a subway that runs 24/7 as well as a bus system that runs 24/7. Our buses here stop at various times leaving us stranded if we don’t go home at a certain time. When the buses are active, they tend to be slow or crowded sometimes which can be irritable to do often. In New York the buses run faster, have a bench at nearly every stop that is well lit, and also has a subway system for faster traveling. New York is booming compared to Detroit but I feel that we CAN achieve that if we are to push for it enough.
I would also like it if Detroit could get as many businesses that New York has. With this all being said, I actually want to try and change things. I’m honestly uncertain exactly where to start since it’s such a huge task but I’m willing to help the cause to help Detroit become better economically and for us bikers that deal with a lot of crap from drivers! Detroit, I feel, has the power to become a good city like New York again with time and patience. Detroit is not doomed if we just give a little effort together. I feel the most important step for this to get done is to get the word out so I have started telling people my experience to New York and how I feel about the differences here and there. After telling enough people, I should get enough attention to get people to side with it and help as well. Then Detroit will be bike city instead if motor city!