LCI Profile - Miriam Martin

I didn't have a bike as a kid, but when I was 21 on summer break from college, circa 1974, my first bike ride was 1900 miles. It's a long story but a fascinating one of unknown African American history, still, briefly, I was one of 11 black students re-enacting the all-black 25th Infantry Bicycle Corp, who in 1897 cycled from Missoula, Montana to St Louis, Missouri, to test the feasibility of cycling for military purposes. It was one month of my life that I treasure to this day and it is now African American History.

It was 55 years later when I joined the Major Taylor Cycling Club of NJ did I get on a bike again. The Science of Cycling has advanced considerably. I look back at pictures during that month-long journey and none of us had on helmets, had front or rear lights, and clipless pedals hadn't been invented yet. I've since ridden with MTCCNJ, South Jersey Cycling Crew, and Black Girls Do Ride, yet I didn't know anything about cycling until I joined the League of American Bicyc