This summer, a group of girls has cycled their way around Charlotte, navigating bike lanes, greenways, and even the light rail to enjoy the city’s natural and cultural offerings. They’re part of Charlotte Bike Camp’s Melanin in Motion program, which helps foster a cycling community for young people of color.
Over a dozen girls gathered in a church parking lot near the Plaza Midwood neighborhood wearing colorful helmets. They cycled in a line, calling out different maneuvers they would make once they hit the road.
Carsyn Chunn, 11, has been riding with the group for three years. She’s found a community here.
“Normally, we are always underestimated being a girl in America, especially being a Black girl. So, riding with people who understand is just a fun experience,” Chunn said.
The rides help her unwind and truly take in her surroundings.
“Not being in a car where there’s music playing over everything. You just get to ride around not having to care about stuff and just be exploring,” Chunn said.
The girls, along with a camp leader and several adult volunteers, cycle through the city to places like the Mint Museum and Harvey B. Gantt Center.
Charlotte Bike Camp launched the Melanin in Motion camp three years ago to help nurture a cycling community for girls of color.
There are weeklong sessions for girls learning to ride and for more experienced ones like these. There’s also now a Melanin in Motion camp for boys.
On this day, the girls’ route took them uptown and through the University area.
Saundra Lewis, the camp's program director, shouted for the campers to "stay in the bike lane" as final instructions before they set off. She directed the girls onto one of the city’s few protected bike lanes, which starts around Central Piedmont Community College. People smiled at them from cars as they cycled by, and a child stopped to wave at them.
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The girls rode to the Blue Line light rail, where they hopped on — partly to save time and introduce many of the girls to a new experience — but also because a large part of Charlotte isn’t easy to navigate on a bike.
For many of the girls, it was their first time exploring the university campus and greenway. Lewis is an avid cyclist who, during the school year, works as a behavior specialist at a Charlotte-Mecklenburg school.
“To see them in this element is totally different," Lewis said. "They don’t have a care in the world. They are motivated by the other girls around them.”
The camp helps build leadership skills while teaching kids to ride safely.
“There are some girls that have probably never been on a bike, and they essentially learned how to ride with us, but now they are just riding all the time," Lewis said. "There’s several, maybe three or four, that ride their bikes to school daily now.”
Alana Steele, 14, is a camper training to be a counselor with the program.
“It brings me joy,” Steele said. “I like meeting new people and being able to help out. So, it makes me really happy that I can do this.”
In a day, the girls can cycle anywhere between 10 and 30 miles.
“It's pretty empowering that we're all doing something together as a minority group, being able to ride around and celebrate that we're all similar,” Steele said.
The camp plans to expand soon. So, if you’re around uptown or on a greenway, there’s a chance you may see a group of Melanin in Motion riders.
