This bike riding group for Black women goes at its own pace

If you’re looking for a fast-paced, competitive biking group, Black Girl Joy Bike Ride is not for you.

On the morning of Sunday, Aug. 11, Black Girl Joy Bike Ride members rolled through Fairmount Park at a smooth cadence for their twice-monthly meetup. The group of Black women gets together for stress-free rides where they bump music on speakers, talk and network, and, of course, get some exercise in, too.

“It’s so joyful. I feel so happy that I’m able to create a welcoming space for women to show up. They’re there doing something good with themselves. But we’re also doing something that’s an act of community care. You never have to do anything by yourself,” said Iresha Picot, the founder of Black Girl Joy Bike Ride and a mental health professional.

The group usually follows one of two loops on either side of the park — from Parkside Avenue through Belmont Plateau, or along the Boxers’ Trail. Picot posts the location and time for each ride on her Instagram page, @ireshadahoodtherapist, ahead of time. Each ride lasts around 45 minutes to an hour, including a water break, and moves at an easy pace. Some riders have their own bikes, but many use Indego passes that Picot provides. She said she wants the barriers to entry to be as low as possible.

“It’s free of charge,” she said. “They just have to show up and bring themselves.”

Picot grew up in rural southern Virginia, where her older sisters taught her how to ride a bike when she was a little girl. Everyone rode a bike to get around. But after she moved to Philadelphia nearly two decades ago for graduate school at Temple University, Picot rode less frequently. She became a SEPTA commuter at first, and then her bike was stolen. A few years later, she got a car.

She started biking again during the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic because it gave her a reason to get out of the house and start seeing people from her West Philly community again.

“It felt so free. … It just felt so good to be doing something that was bringing me a lot of joy,” she said about getting back on the bike after so long.

When Picot started asking her friends to join her on rides, she noticed a pattern.

“A lot of my friends who are Black women, they either didn’t know how to ride a bike … or they found there to be a barrier to owning a bike or even [using] an Indego pass,” she said.

Some of her friends never had the space growing up to learn how to ride, or were worried about their safety riding bikes through the traffic of Philly streets. Others thought bikes were too expensive, or if they were open to riding bikes in a group, they were nervous they’d get left behind for going too slow.

In 2023, Picot decided to form a group so other women could feel the same way she did about bike riding. Picot received a grant from Penn Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia to pay for Indego passes, and Better Bike Share Partnership donated helmets.

Nia Pettis of West Philly found the group through one of Picot’s Instagram posts. She said she appreciates that they keep to shorter distances and a slower pace than the average biking group. The free cost makes it easier to participate, and she’s become one of the group’s regular riders.

Pettis said that building community with other Black women through the group has been “really encouraging and inspiring,” and she’s even joined a book club hosted by one of the other riders. One of her favorite parts about the group is the support they get from other people as they ride by.

“There could be a lot of people sitting outside on their porches and they’re cheering us on as well. And I love that. It’s just a good time. And it encourages other people when they see us on those bikes. They’re like, ‘I’m gonna do my exercise [now],’” she said.

For Shauna Johnson of Southwest Philly, participating in Black Girl Joy Bike Ride is an act of self-care. She said that Black women in their 40s, like her, tend not to prioritize themselves as much as they should.

“It’s just a great experience. I’m so grateful to be a part of something so positive.”

“I operate a small family day care, and at times I don’t get time to myself. So having that one day just to meet up with the ladies and ride is great,” she said. “Just being with the ladies, it’s very good self-care to network with different people.”

Through that networking, Johnson met someone who was able to make some calls to help her with enrollment issues at her day care. Johnson usually stays at the back of the group, helping less-confident riders keep going.

“It’s just a great experience. I’m so grateful to be a part of something so positive,” she said.

Picot is looking to expand Black Girl Joy Bike Ride. She said her goal is to find more funding so that the regular riders can get their own bikes, allowing them to practice on their own and join other biking groups. She doesn’t plan to change the substance of the group; she said she just wants women to continue to feel “empowered” on bikes.

“They tell me all the time, they’re grateful that this space has been created,” Picot said.

“Last time we had a newbie come, and she sent me a message and she said, ‘I don’t think I’ve ever felt more welcome in a space.’ That was really big.”