Final Literacy Narrative
Cyclist Girl
I still remember the mornings in which my mother would promptly stand by the kitchen window, reminding me to wear my helmet and sunscreen as I ran outside. Feeling the warm, tropical sun on my skin, with my bicycle at hand, I would go on brief rides around my neighborhood with my cousin Yelissa. The first bike I had was a training-wheel bike that my father had given to me as a present. As I grew and matured, he then switched my bike to one with two wheels and a bigger frame. I always thought that riding my bicycle around with my cousin was amusing, exciting, and improvident. As time progressed I left my homeland and my belongings including my bicycle. This meant no more morning rides with Yelissa.This transition made me feel as though I would never get to ride a bike again. I knew that my mother would not like to keep a bike in the house because to her, that would occupy far too much space. While I was in high school none of the sports they offered were of any interest to me, except for cycling. I remember contemplating joining cycling my sophomore year and choosing not to do it because I was too afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Challenging myself, getting out of my comfort zone, motivating other girls and developing a passion for biking were some of the aspects that I wanted to get out of cycling.
I still remember the mornings in which my mother would promptly stand by the kitchen window, reminding me to wear my helmet and sunscreen as I ran outside. Feeling the warm, tropical sun on my skin, with my bicycle at hand, I would go on brief rides around my neighborhood with my cousin Yelissa. The first bike I had was a training-wheel bike that my father had given to me as a present. As I grew and matured, he then switched my bike to one with two wheels and a bigger frame. I always thought that riding my bicycle around with my cousin was amusing, exciting, and improvident. As time progressed I left my homeland and my belongings including my bicycle. This meant no more morning rides with Yelissa.This transition made me feel as though I would never get to ride a bike again. I knew that my mother would not like to keep a bike in the house because to her, that would occupy far too much space. While I was in high school none of the sports they offered were of any interest to me, except for cycling. I remember contemplating joining cycling my sophomore year and choosing not to do it because I was too afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone. Challenging myself, getting out of my comfort zone, motivating other girls and developing a passion for biking were some of the aspects that I wanted to get out of cycling.
I finally decided to take that step and join the cycling club, ‘I Challenge Myself’, during
my last spring semester of my senior year, with one of my best friends Sheila. Sheila and I joined
the cycling club together, but sadly she did not finish the program. “I Challenge Myself” is a
program that provides public school students in NYC with opportunities to strengthen their
minds, bodies and spirits, and also offers lessons on how to ride a bike, bike anatomy,
maintenance and nutrition. This program was one of my favorite high school experiences; it was
at that time I learned to challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone, motivate others, and
develop a passion for biking. As I mentioned before, I decided to join the cycling club at the end
of my senior year of high school. I personally thought that since I was going to college soon, it
was time for me to start stepping out of my comfort zone and join a sport for the first time. I
thought that since I knew how to ride a bike ever since I was a child and enjoyed it so much, why
not join the program that was providing me with everything, the bike, my own gear, wonderful
motivating teammates and coach.
At the beginning I recall when we used to meetup to talk about our Sunday rides, my team was predominantly made up of guys. There were just
three girls in the team including myself. After the first week
my friend Sheila and the other girl stopped showing up and
suddenly dropped out. After that, I was the only girl on the
team that kept constantly attending the program on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, who continued participating on the Sunday
rides. This image was taken June fifth, 2017 at Van Cortlandt park, before our departure to
At the beginning I recall when we used to meetup to talk about our Sunday rides, my team was predominantly made up of guys. There were just
three girls in the team including myself. After the first week
my friend Sheila and the other girl stopped showing up and
suddenly dropped out. After that, I was the only girl on the
team that kept constantly attending the program on Tuesdays
and Thursdays, who continued participating on the Sunday
rides. This image was taken June fifth, 2017 at Van Cortlandt park, before our departure to
Martinez 2
Carmel, New York. It captures a few of my teammates and I with our cycling gear and our
bicycles, ready to take on a wonderful 100 mile ride. At the beginning, being the only girl was
hard because I felt like an outsider. I felt as if I did not belong in a group of boys, but as time
progressed, I started to cope with that fact and I learned how to improve my interactions with
them as a member of the team by motivating them as they motivated me, and exchanging
comments, and ideas. After seeing that the cycling community is mostly practiced by males, I
learned how to embrace being the only girl on the team by always attending and participating.
Every Sunday morning, we would go on rides. At the beginning we started riding from fifteen to thirty miles, but as the program progressed we would increase the goal every time we rode. May 21st, 2017 was my first bike ride to Piermont, which was three hours away biking. That day, only two teammates showed up to the ride. I was running on four hours of sleep which did not help at all. During the beginning of the ride I started becoming fatigued, because I was used to riding in the city where there were more traffic lights. Eventually every time the light turned red we stopped and that was kind of a little break to rest, drink water or get up from the saddle. While coming back from Piermont there were various hills. There was this one time during that ride where I was going up a steep hill after previously going up other hills, where I had to stop breathe, drink some water and breathe again. I was literally gasping for air at this point I felt like crying and giving up, but I could not let myself and my team down because my coach Erik and my other two teammates were motivating me. I felt like a failure, but instead of surrendering I kept pushing myself and I biked up the hill. I never thought I could do it but I did it. I learned the potential of my body, and how by staying focused one can get anywhere.
Every Sunday morning, we would go on rides. At the beginning we started riding from fifteen to thirty miles, but as the program progressed we would increase the goal every time we rode. May 21st, 2017 was my first bike ride to Piermont, which was three hours away biking. That day, only two teammates showed up to the ride. I was running on four hours of sleep which did not help at all. During the beginning of the ride I started becoming fatigued, because I was used to riding in the city where there were more traffic lights. Eventually every time the light turned red we stopped and that was kind of a little break to rest, drink water or get up from the saddle. While coming back from Piermont there were various hills. There was this one time during that ride where I was going up a steep hill after previously going up other hills, where I had to stop breathe, drink some water and breathe again. I was literally gasping for air at this point I felt like crying and giving up, but I could not let myself and my team down because my coach Erik and my other two teammates were motivating me. I felt like a failure, but instead of surrendering I kept pushing myself and I biked up the hill. I never thought I could do it but I did it. I learned the potential of my body, and how by staying focused one can get anywhere.
At the end of the program I was able to complete a one hundred-mile bike ride. We rode
all the way up to Carmel, New York, which was four hours and forty-seven minutes biking.
While I was riding, I was the only girl up front. I know how to keep my pace very well and I also
know how to use my gears which is very important when you're riding long distance. While I
was trying to race the guy in front of me, he made an unnecessary turn without communicating
or making any signals and in turn made me collide with his bike, which caused me to fall as well
as some other people that were behind me. When I fell off my bike, it was like everything
stopped. My heart dropped and I was in shock, I could not believe that I had fell. I wound up
with a scratch on my knee and another on my elbow, luckily sustaining no major injuries. While
I was down I saw a lot of people pass me and I felt a little discouraged, but as always, the
coaches motivated me to keep going and I continued going.
Becoming part of the cycling program took me out of my comfort zone. It made me develop more communication skills and helped me grow into a more social and motivated person. Noticing that there are more males than females in the cycling community makes me want to encourage more girls to join cycling and to not let the predominance of males in the community intimidate them. Instead of cycling being a challenge for me, it is now something I like to practice in order to feel liberated and to free my mind. Since cycling has been such a positive experience for me I want to continue riding my bike and progressing at it. Cycling is not just about pedaling. Sometimes it takes some mental strength to continue going, and it amazes me how my passion grew exponentially just by getting out of my comfort zone.
Becoming part of the cycling program took me out of my comfort zone. It made me develop more communication skills and helped me grow into a more social and motivated person. Noticing that there are more males than females in the cycling community makes me want to encourage more girls to join cycling and to not let the predominance of males in the community intimidate them. Instead of cycling being a challenge for me, it is now something I like to practice in order to feel liberated and to free my mind. Since cycling has been such a positive experience for me I want to continue riding my bike and progressing at it. Cycling is not just about pedaling. Sometimes it takes some mental strength to continue going, and it amazes me how my passion grew exponentially just by getting out of my comfort zone.
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