- [Announcer] Fleet Feet believes that running changes everything.

And we're proud to sponsor Crosscut's "Out & Back" with Alison Mariella Desir.

We host fun runs, training groups and events.

Whether you're training for your first mile or your 50th marathon, we're here to run with you.

(bicycle rattling) - All right, my baby needs some love.

- Just as if you had a car, like the maintenance on bicycles can be a lot.

(bicycle wheel spinning) - What's the diagnosis, Will?

- Yeah.

First of all, it looks great.

First of all, it looks great.

I'm really excited about your bike, because I think that you're probably gonna be able to ride it year-round, which is kind of cool.

So you want to be able to have a bike that's equipped to do it all, and like this is a great setup.

(light music) We don't often surrender ourselves to the energy of the world.

Just understanding that like we can move through the world at a different speed.

We're seeking out these natural spaces so I can get in touch with Earth, to be in lowlands, to be near the slew, to be near the river, and all those spaces.

We're not trying to take over spaces, like we've already been here.

(light music continues) (soft music) - Growing up, I loved riding my bike.

As a middle schooler, bike riding provided a sense of freedom that I otherwise lacked in my everyday life.

As I got older though, I started to notice that most people didn't look like me.

Today I'm here in Portland to meet with Will Cortez, a cyclist and advocate who's dedicated to creating intentional spaces and community for BIPOC on bikes.

So tell me, how did you get into cycling?

- Oh my goodness (laughs).

So it's a bit of an embarrassing story.

- Uh-oh.

- Yeah.

And it's okay.

Like let's go ahead and put this out there for the world.

I think I might've been 14 or 15, so I got into some trouble, okay.

It's typical- - Not you.

- No, I know.

(Alison laughing) Right, the idle hands sort of thing.

So I got into some trouble, which then required me to the local county juvenile office once a week to check in with a counselor.

Like my parents are just like pissed off about it, right, because they're embarrassed too.

Because there's also this other expectation as like an Asian in this country that you're exceeding and excelling, like at the pinnacle.

And to use like aggressive words like crushing it and killing it.

My family was not willing to drive me the six or seven miles to get to that appointment all the time, right?

So they bought me a bike as I had needed to make these appointments.

And inevitably I'm like, "Oh, I'm running late.

I need to get there."

I was like looking for shortcuts, right?

So as I'm like looking for shortcuts, I'm discovering more about the neighborhood and the spaces.

- Like your parents had no idea of the gift that they were giving you in that way, right?

- And I rode it all the time.

And I rode it till it was like worn down.

(soft music) - How did you find yourself just as a clearly non-white person in a state that written into the Constitution were anti-Black laws, has a history of a lot of racism, white supremacy, how was that for you growing up?

- In my early 20s, I realized like I really was wearing these different outfits and I was doing these different presentations of self, right?

And sometimes those presentations of self had to do with like my own physical safety or emotional or psychological safety, right?

- I totally get that.

I think about the way that I will perform for white people at times.

I find the most palatable version of myself, and it really is to protect myself and to fly under the radar, right?

- Absolutely.

Privilege is when you can carry everything with you in your backpack.

And the lack of it is like all the stuff that you leave behind about your identity, right?

So you don't get to carry your whole being into spaces, right?

Because like I'm trying to fly under the radar.

I was in this local Google group for folks who like to do adventure cycling, like gravel riding.

And there was this comment.

This person said, "Hey, I was on this local rural road," that a lot of us are familiar with.

They said, "Hey, I had this run-in with the locals."

And they had claimed that they owned the road.

The amount of folks who then started chiming in saying, yes, this is also a similar experience for me.

And while this conversation was unfolding, I said," Let's do our own thing."

And then two weeks later we had the first BikePOC ride.

- I love that, because that reminds me so much, we got the same energy, right?

- At its absolute core is really creating a brave space for Black and Brown folks.

And I'm really intentional about saying brave space.

Brave space has accountability in there.

I have this analogy where I talk about do you wanna be a butter knife or do you wanna be a sword, right?

Because swords get sharp, right, because they meet friction, they meet that hard surface, right?

Whereas butter knife, like what are they cutting into the rest of their lives, right?

So I would rather be a sword going through life than I would be a butter knife, right?

So I'm gonna lean into- - I'm a sword.

- You're a sword.

So I wanna lean into that discomfort, and that's what the brave space looks like, sort of creating brave space for people to collect and to challenge and then to grow, to feel our bodies, to feel the world, and to feel the connection of the energy there.

(soft music) (birds chirping) We are gonna get on the road here for a little bit and then head out.

And so we'll be on the street with some cars.

And then right away we're gonna get into like a sneaky space.

- This is sneaky space.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

- I've always been taught to not do sneaky stuff, right?

So that goes along with this playfulness that we marginalized folks, we deserve to also play.

Well, let's go get sneaky.

- Absolutely.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) (bicycle rattling) - Oh my God.

- It's a great spot to take a look at the river.

Sort of check this out.

It's like, how was that?

- That was awesome.

I was doing stuff I didn't think I could do thanks to you.

- Coming out here, like these authentic and real relationships come from playing and adventure and exploration and fun.

Like if we're not laughing, then we're not connecting.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Thank you for that, Will.

(light music) - [Will] Finding joy for the sake of joy.

That's the core of what we're doing.

- [Alison] We deserve to just be joyful: period.

- [Will] Joy in and of itself, like it's really freedom.

(light music continues) - [Announcer] Fleet Feet is on a mission to inspire the runner in everyone, and is proud to sponsor Crosscut's Out & Back with Alison Mariella Desir.