BSpoke – A BIPOC Community Cycling Project
Mission: To uplift BIPOC cyclists in Alaska through grassroots community organizing and the development of deep meaningful relationships.
Vision: Our vision is community-driven cycling spaces which uplift the voices, goals, and autonomy of the BIPOC cycling collective in Alaska. These spaces provide abundant access and support for riders to feel safe, empowered, and celebrated today and into the future.
Contact: Follow us on Instagram @b.spoke_ak and stay up to date with our events, or reach out via email to b.spoke.ak@gmail.com if you’d like to connect!
Our Story
BSpoke started in the late summer of 2022; six passionate cyclists gathered around beers and coffee and dreamed of the BIPOC cycling community that we wanted in Alaska. Group rides, gear libraries, social gatherings, skills clinics, information sessions and many more ideas made up our collective aspirations. Our original founding members included Dev Pedacito, Charlotte Levy, Christina Grande, Sofia Petroni, Oliviah Franke, and Celia Denton.
In October we hosted our first gathering, sharing food and laughter in AK Cycle Chic. We shared about the different pathways that had deepened our respective love for cycling and our dreams of how to shape cycling spaces into the future. We hosted our first group rides in winter, convening small groups to bike snow covered trails in east Anchorage and bond over hot cocoa, pizza, and parking lot dance parties. By spring 2023, we came up with our name, BSpoke, and grounded into a mission and vision we collectively agreed on. We also started our Instagram!
We have hosted rides most months since then, showcasing the various greenway trails in Anchorage and developing a network of relationships to help support the folks that ride with us.
Our rides are inclusive; always designed to be approachable for cyclists of all skills and experiences. We share access to free rentals from the Trek Store in Anchorage for our BIPOC cyclists to borrow a bike if they do not one. Additionally, we have incredible white allies that support us in many ways, whether helping transport bikes, lending out personal e-bikes, or bringing snacks and drinks to the end of rides.
Oliviah Franke and Celia Denton lead our team, supported by our advisory board: Mat, Sabrina, Syd, and Rebecca.
We are excited to continue developing deep relationships, fundraising to increase our capacity for storage space and gear, and building more collaborations with our community. We will continue to work toward opening the door for BIPOC folks, empowering a relationship to self and land through cycling, and living into the just and equitable future that we dream of.