2021 Seminar and Event Schedule

Sunday March 9th, 10:30 AM

Seminar room: 124 (Atrium Level)

Presented by Pamela Murray

Pam will share her experiences of how she has incorporated biking into her life. 

Every day is an adventure on bike.  Whether you’re running errands or traveling by bike.  And everything in between.  Build the ride you want to ride.  In your town or city.  From your front door.    Tools, tips and strategies including route planning, publicity, lights, and group ride management. Leave with a few ideas of ways to help build a biking community and how to host a social ride. Create the community you want.  

Pam is an avid bicycle rider in Charlotte, NC. She has ridden over 80,000 miles on her Rivendell Betty Foy (from group cross country rides, daily errands or joy rides with friends). She has  hosted a weekly urban evening social bike ride year round, rain or shine in Charlotte for 11 years now.

Sunday March 9th, 10:30 AM

Seminar room: 123 (Atrium Level)

Presented by Jay Kinsinger, Sojourn Cyclery

BMX was in its infancy in 1973. My friends and I were early adopters. I traded labor at a local bike shop for parts to convert my Schwinn Stingray into a BMX bike. I was eventually employed at the shop and worked my way through high school and college as a bike mechanic. Inspired by the 1976 celebration, my kid brother and I decided to pedal the TransAmerica Bikecentennial (now American Cycling Association) Trail in 1981. I pedaled a lugged steel bike that I built from a Proteus kit. The endeavor ignited a passion for cycle-touring and frame building that continues today.  In 2010, I was taken by a picture of a wooden bicycle. That inspired me to integrate another passion, woodworking, into my bike building avocation.  I married these two passions and created my first wooden bicycle. My vocation is a professor of engineering at Cedarville University. Over the next few years, field testing as well as laboratory testing by my students validated the efficacity of this transition. Come and learn why wooden bikes are not only rideable art but are the gold standard for a smooth ride. Also see a wooden bike building workshop in progress.

Sunday March 9th, 10:30 AM

Seminar room: 125 (Atrium Level)

Presented by Cyrille Vincent

More than a hundred years ago, when bicycle races drew crowds that filled Madison Square Garden, the biggest draw of all was Marshall W. Major Taylor. As a superstar athlete in the most popular sport of his era, 1899 world bicycling champion Major Taylor saw his racing victories well chronicled in mainstream newspapers as well as cycling publications right as the bicycling industry was starting to boom.

In a post-Civil War era governed by Jim Crow laws in the South and overt racism nationwide, Major Taylor managed to be the first Black champion of the world in cycling and one of the first black world champions in any sport. His fame grew not only in America but in Europe and Australia as newspapers around the world reported his triumphs. The Boston Globe labeled him ‘‘The World Beater’’ in a headline in August 1899.

The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World is an engaging presentation that traces cyclist Major Taylor’s meteoric rise to become the first Black international athlete super-star. Dubbed the “Black Cyclone,’’ Taylor’s legacy lives on as an inspiration to both aspiring and professional athletes and more broadly to anybody facing unfair barriers erected by society.

This presentation is the by-product of four years of research by documentary filmmaker Cyrille Vincent who is producing a groundbreaking documentary film about Major Taylor and the men who helped him achieve worldwide fame. The presentation blends rare unpublished archives, contemporary imagery, compelling commentaries and behind the scenes of Whirlwind, the Major Taylor upcoming documentary he is producing.

Ky Plaskon, 2023 President of the Truckee Meadow Bicycle Alliance said of the presentation that:
”The audience for Cyrille’s presentation was delighted to not only be entertained but also provided valuable feedback for his upcoming and much-needed documentary film on Major Taylor. Bike and historical groups nationwide and around the world should be scrambling to support this important story and the passionate producer behind it.”

Sponsored by Niner Bikes

Presented by Erick Cedeño aka Bicycle Nomad

Sunday Oct. 30th, 10:30 AM

Seminar Room 125 (Ground Level in hallway behind bike valet)

Riding the wave of popularity and utility sparked by the creation of the “safety bicycle,” The Bicycle Corps aka the Iron Riders were commissioned in 1892 by the U.S. Army with the purpose of traveling throughout the country, collecting geographic and topographic data, documenting road conditions, sources of supplies, and other information that could be useful to the military.

This summer Erick Cedeño, aka Bicycle Nomad , embarked on a journey to uplift the truth behind the monumental ride of the 25th Infantry Buffalo Soldier Bicycle Corps. On June 14th, 2022, Erick retraced the journey of the 20 Black soldiers that formed one of the four regiments known as Buffalo Soldiers in the U.S. Army. In 1897, the 25th Infantry was tasked with testing the feasibility of bicycles for military operations. 2022 marks the 125th anniversary of the Buffalo Soldiers’ 41-day, 1,900-mile bicycle expedition from Missoula, Montana, to St. Louis, Missouri. Erick used his ride as an opportunity to acknowledge the role Black soldiers played in our nation’s history by retracing their journey. Erick again used his bicycle as a conduit to another era, drawing upon curiosity and a desire to surface stories that have yet to be told.

Sunday Oct. 30th, 10:30 AM

Seminar Room 123 (Ground Level in hallway behind bike valet)

Presented by Dawn Piech, Inspyrd Movement, Monica Garrison, Founder Black Girls Do Bike, Celeste Adams, Black Girls Do Bike SHERO: Chicago Chapter and Major Taylor Cycling Club Chicago.  

Every March 8 is International Women’s Day. The first International Women’s Day was celebrated in 1911, eight years before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote in the United States. It began to campaign for women’s rights around the world and has evolved into a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is a rally for worldwide gender equality. The theme this year was Break the Bias. Additionally, this year celebrated the 111th year of this impactful day that began in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

Francis E. Willard, a nineteenth century leader of the women’s reform movement describes how, at fifty-three, she learned to ride a bicycle in her book A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, With Some Reflections by the Way, the best-selling book that chronicled her experiences. She stated, “A reform often advances most rapidly by indirection.” She had a popular “Do Everything!” slogan, which was meant to encourage women to lobby, petition, preach, educate, or generally do whatever it takes to change the world. Suffragettes like her, Susan B. Anthony and Kitty Knox recognized that the bicycle could give a woman a taste of freedom. For the first time, she could get farther than walking distance without a man to drive her, to get a horse ready, or without a chaperone breathing down her neck. Francis stated in her book “I also wanted to help women to a wider world, for I hold that the more interests women and men can have in common, in thought, word and deed, the happier it will be for the home.” She realized it’s about cultivating a sense of independence and freedom. It’s a feeling of going places in life. It’s about getting up after you fall, doing things that scare you, and always finding a new ride to challenge you.

This ride is for everyone to participate in. We would like to share this event with the Philadelphia Bike Expo community and invite everyone to participate in the fourth year in March 2023.

Sunday Oct. 30th, 10:30 AM

Seminar Room 124 (Ground Level in hallway behind bike valet)

Panelists:

• Ed Chang, Co-Owner and COO of Varlo Sports
• Reggie Waller, USA Triathlon Level 2 Certified Coach and RRCA Endurance Running Coach
• Andrea Berger, Aquatics Operations Director at the Fitness Alive Pools, and Open Water Swim Coach at ETA Coach
• Kathleen Medley, PBE Squad Member and All-American USAT Duathlete
• Saadiq Stewart, member of Tri Dawgs Multi Sport and a founding member of KRT Cycling

Thinking about dipping your toe into multisport? Join our panel of distinguished USA Triathlon and USA Swimming Certified Coaches and experienced multi-sport athletes for a no-stress chat to discuss how to train for your first duathlon or triathlon.

Join us for an open discussion, and bring all of your questions. No question is too small or too big! We are here to support and empower you in conquering your goals of tomorrow! 

Topics will include:

• Hear the journeys of our diverse panel of multisport athletes. 
• Training advice for the swim, bike and run. How do you balance training between the different sports?
• Never swam before? How to go from donuts to a sprint distance swim (~400m)
• Avoiding over-training and preventing injury.
• How to prepare for race day including what to pack and what to wear. 
• Tips on gear you truly need. 
• Advice on the best local races, training groups and resources. 
• Open Q&A — no question is too small or big, ask away!