Yvonne Rucker spends a lot of her time around bikes, but if you ask her what she’s most passionate about it’s not cycling.
“I believe in developing the whole child. And I believe that the greatest resource we have in Detroit is our kids. They’re our future. And we have to invest in this future,” she says.
And when she says invest, she means that literally.
“I had an epiphany. Most my epiphanies happen in the shower. So I got out of the shower and I said ‘You know what? This is your dream and this is your program and you’re going to have to take the plunge.” And that’s when I started going into my 401k,” explains Rucker.
After she retired, Rucker founded Bike Von. It’s the only competitive cycling team made up of minorities in the city. And it’s become her full-time passion. Kids like Jimmy Capela are reaping the benefits.
“She really supported me, and now I really support her. She’s a great person and she brought me into this sport,” says Jimmy.
Bike Vonn practices four days a week, with some of those practices held at the velodrome in Bloomer Park. They have a free youth program there that includes all the bikes and equipment the kids need. What’s not free is getting the kids from Detroit all the way up to Rochester Hills week after week.
“We’ve tried several modes of transportation, but they all round out to be about $345 per trip. And our season is comprised of 67 trips,” explains Rucker.
Rucker drives kids in her own vehicle but she can only fit 4 kids in her car. For a lot of the Bike Von kids, cycling at the velodrome is the only real opportunity they have to ride.
“When you ride in the neighborhoods, you can barely go anywhere because of the way the streets are made, the way in looks right now. My neighborhood… it’s split in half. It’s like certain people that don’t like doing things, they’re violent. And there’s half of the people that actually care and they want to do other things other than just be violent,” explains another Bike Von rider Daniel Arnold.
“I’m teaching them how to advocate for cycling that’s in their community. Do you know my kids have been working with the League of Michigan Bicyclists gathering signatures for ‘Share The Road’ program? They can articulate the principles about that. They care about what’s happening in cycling in their community and that spreads out to other things,” says Rucker.
“Now some of my kids can’t even ride their bikes in their neighborhoods because of the blight and the crime. When we start our winter season, we’re going to sit down and go through… How can we change our neighborhood? What can we do to get the city to, you know, tear down some of these abandoned houses. We’re going to go through that process together, and maybe they might have to speak at a town hall meeting or something but that’s why I say I’m more than just cycling. I’m giving them ownership in their communities.”
To donate to Bike Von or see how you can get involved,visit their website.
