Out Of My Shell

I spoke with Gabby about the creation of Reynas, creating collaborative spaces for women, trans, and non-binary cyclists, and self discovery through long-distance cycling.

Gabby’s first New York cycling experience happened when she visited her friend, Erik, in Corona and noticed that he had bikes on his balcony. “One day, we were hanging out, I looked at the bikes outside, and I was like, ‘Whose bikes are those? Have these bikes always been here?’ It was a typical balcony where you have bikes, a laundry cart, a whole bunch of shit, right? It’s like, ‘Whose bikes are those?’” Erik explained that the bikes belonged to his sister. Gabby asked whether she had ever ridden them. “He said, ‘No.’ Then I was like, ‘What if we ride the bikes right now?
What if we go to Astoria Park?” Gabby explained that Flushing Meadows was closer for a bike ride, but she wanted to go further, so Astoria Park felt like a good location.

The ride was a bit more challenging than Gabby had anticipated. “It didn’t really come to us like ‘Maybe we should put air in the wheels.’ We just got on them. We just started riding these bikes, and oh, it was a struggle. It was such a struggle. They were like two Walmart Huffy whatevers. We made it to Astoria. When we left, there was light. By the time we got there, it was dark.” They ended up taking the train back, but the sense of adventure that Gabby felt on that day has never left her. She asked Erik if she could take the bike home with her. He agreed to let her take it. “At that point, I lived in Fresh Meadows. I took the bike and I rode it to my house. That journey was something else too because that was my first time riding through highways, you know, because there’s a couple of overpasses where I live. If you’re from Queens, you know that the people who live on the other side of the Horace Harding, it’s a whole other adventure.” The experience taught Gabby the value of discovery. “I got to my house and I fell in love with that whole journey that you can have every time you get on a bicycle. Going from point A to point B, you don’t know what the hell is going to happen. It really is a blessing when you make it home from a ride.”

Gabby began to incorporate cycling into her daily life during this time. “At that point, I’m working at Queen’s College. I’m using the bike to commute to work, and then whenever I see my best friend, instead of taking the bus, I hop on this bike, and I come see him.” Gabby’s time with her first bike didn’t last for long once Erik’s sister asked to have it returned. “Maybe a month later, he was like, ‘My sister asked for their bike,’ and I was like, ‘Okay, fine.’ I returned the bike, but I was a little bitter because they were just sitting on the balcony anyway, you know?”

After returning the bike, Gabby hadn’t considered getting herself a new one. Fortunately, she was gifted one by someone she was dating at the time. “That was the most beautiful thing someone has ever done. He gifted me a bike for my birthday. That gesture changed my whole life because I couldn’t tell you that I would have bought myself a bike. His getting me that bike was really like, I felt seen, you know? I felt like he saw how much joy this brought to me.” Despite the fact that this relationship ended, Gabby recognizes that this gesture gave her the courage to pursue cycling.

Riding her new Citizen folding bike allowed Gabby to reconnect with the athleticism she had lost during college. “It was my first time going back to being in touch with my body, because in high school, I was playing soccer. I was very active, I was running. Then in college, I was like, ‘I got to graduate in four years.’ I was all academics, and I had lost that fitness. I was doing weight training here and there, but nothing compares to biking. Nothing compares to that adventure.”

After casually cycling for a period of time, Gabby’s Citizen bike got stolen. “I had one of those Kryptonite chain locks. They clicked the lock, and they took my bike. By this point, it was part of me, so I was like, ‘I’m going to buy the same bike.’ I found the same bike on Facebook. It was $130 and it was a different color. My first bike was baby blue, but the second time I bought it, it was a darker blue.” Gabby’s second Citizen folding bike was also stolen. “One day, I came home, and because I lived in Fresh Meadows, I was used to how residential it was. I left the bike leaning outside. During that time, I was still dating this guy. We both came home and we left our bikes leaning. I remember they only took my bike and his bike was still there.” Gabby explained that they searched the neighborhood for the bike but eventually accepted its disappearance. “They only took my bike, so I was like, you know, maybe it was a kid. I was like, ‘Whatever.’ Maybe it made them happy. I moved on.”

These experiences informed Gabby’s choice of which type of bike she wanted to buy. Her folding bikes both had 16-inch wheels because of her shorter stature. “I felt like I needed an actual bike. Like big wheels, a regular size.” Gabby looks back on having her bikes stolen as being blessings in disguise. “What a good thing that it happened. Who knows how long I would have been riding this little foldable bike. Getting those two bikes stolen was the thing that broke the potential. It was like, ‘Hey, you’re past this. Now it’s the next league.”

At this point in the interview, I couldn’t help but tell Gabby how much respect I have for her positive outlook. “I’m also a doula. I’m a birth worker, and through that, I’ve learned that we all have a purpose when we come into birth. There’s a contract that you make when you come into this living world. We all have gifts, and I’m finding that one of mine is that I’m a messenger.” What makes Gabby’s revelation even more unique is that she currently works as a bike messenger. “I’ve played many roles in my life that have shown me that I’m a messenger, someone who is there to give to people, to deliver something. It’s chills thinking about it, but it’s something that I’ve been finding through doula work, through my spirituality. That is my role. What keeps me grounded is knowing that that’s my purpose here, is to help people ground and to give them the message.”

After Gabby got her second bike stolen, she got a Specialized Langster, a brand that she didn’t realize was highly sought after. “I didn’t know Specialized meant anything until I went to a spin class and the instructor was like, ‘Why did you leave your bike locked up outside?’ At that point, everybody had a U lock, and I thought I was safe, but he was like, ‘No, that’s still a brand that people will probably want to steal even more than what you had before.’” The instructor’s name is Jonathan, and he became a mentor to Gabby. “He was a good mentor. He was one of the few men who received me like, ‘Let me teach you the things, but let me not mansplain you the things.’ He gave me a lot of nuggets of information of hey, ‘Get a helmet, get lights.’ He was the one who introduced me to longer riding, and that’s how I got into the bike community.”

Gabby originally joined the spin studio after a breakup in an attempt to expand her interests and try new things. This decision resulted in her discovering community. “I saw that Forest Hills had a new spin studio, and I was like, ‘Let me go for this spin class.’ I invited my friends, we all went, and after the spin event, the instructor was like, ‘Hey, I’m organizing a ride to Coney Island because on Fridays in the summer, there are fireworks.’” The ride to and from Coney Island was 40 miles, which exceeded the 7-mile rides that Gabby was used to at this time. Gabby wasn’t sure about the mileage and told Jonathan that she would let him know. “I remember I went home and I was like, ‘Just go.’ You know when you go through a breakup, and you’re in that space of, ‘What do I do now? Who am I?’ Like dude, you just got invited to ride to the beach. Just go.”

Gabby had no idea what to expect for this ride and was ill-prepared to bike in the hot summer weather. “I didn’t even have a water bottle. I borrowed someone’s bottle that was at home. It was for children. Like, it had a princess on it. It was so funny.” When she arrived at the start of the ride at Spin City Cycle in Forest Hills, she realized that the other ride participants knew each other. “Although I’m very outgoing, I’m always the person that’s the observer. I’m always in the room, and I choose who I want to talk to. I’m not like, ‘I want to know everybody here.’ So, I’m there, and I’m just like, ‘What did I get myself into?’” Gabby explained that she was introduced to a whole cast of characters that day. One of those people was Charlie, who came in hot at the meeting point. “Charlie comes in, and he’s telling us a whole story of how he got hit by a car. He rolled over the windshield. They’re all telling him, “You’re crazy. You gotta be careful. Where’s your helmet?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, I still haven’t gotten a helmet.’ They’re having these conversations, and I’m just thinking, ‘Who are these people? They’re crazy.’”

Gabby’s first group ride was a positive learning experience. “I remember riding and just being like, ‘Wow, we’re all doing this? Everything was different. When you ride alone, you don’t gotta tell nobody that there’s a pothole. That was so silly to me at first. We stopped along the way, people were drinking water and sharing their snacks. All those things, I started absorbing. I was like. ‘Oh. This is part of biking with people. You share snacks and ask people how they’re doing.’ I fell in love with that. I was like, ‘Wow, this is awesome.’ Thinking back now, it’s so sweet because the bike really did get me out of my shell.” Gabby admitted that the ride itself was challenging at the time, but it ultimately helped her build her love for long-distance cycling. “There’s a correlation with endurance sports and trauma. I think that’s what I fell in love with, the challenge of breaking through my own fears, my own physical limitations in the moment, and wondering, what’s next? What’s on the other side?”

After this experience, Jonathan asked Gabby if she wanted to join him for a 60-mile ride to Kensico Dam. “I was like, ‘Dude, what?’ Can I really go over there? He was on a road bike this whole time, and I’m on this single-speed. He was like, ‘Yeah, you’re so strong.’ He would call me his protege. He really saw me and was like, ‘Girl, you could do it.’” Gabby joined the ride and found herself loving the climb to the top of the dam. “We had to go up this hill, and it was cobblestone. That’s when I realized that I love climbing. I’m a good climber, too. It got to a point where I could see the top of it, but I felt like I couldn’t pedal anymore.” Gabby acknowledged that she was still getting over a breakup during this time, and giving herself affirmations helped her get over the dam. “I’m telling myself, ‘Hey, you’re beautiful. You’re worth it,’ literally trying to motivate myself to get up this hill. Then the view from there and having that perspective of, ‘Wow. Holy shit. We rode here. I made it this far. Like, that shit was hard, and I did it. Man, I was a whole different person with that ride.” On the way back, Jonathan complimented Gabby on how well she was doing in her cycling journey. “We rode back into the Bronx, and he was living in Harlem during the time. We passed by his place, and I remember we got a little drink. We had Thai food, and we were in his parking lot. I still had to ride back home. We were talking, and he was saying, ‘Yo, you’re really good at this.’ That ride from his house to my house is a ride that I’ll never forget. It makes me so emotional. Riding back over the bridge, I felt like I finally belonged somewhere.”

The next frontier for Gabby was the Transportation Alternatives Century Ride. “That was the best progression. I was like, “Alright, we do the 30, and then we do the 60, and then we do the 100. I signed up and I’m telling you, everything in your story is just what it needs to be. The more we try to control it and the more we try to manipulate the outcome, the more we hurt ourselves. Sometimes we just have to let go, and the path will be shown.”

Joining that century ride allowed Gabby to meet Chunk and Jess, two ride leaders with Thursday Night Social Ride. “I met them because I cut the bathroom line. There’s something about being short that you can’t see. Chunk pokes,l my shoulder, I turn around, I see a whole line. I’m like, ‘Dude, what is wrong with me? How did I miss this whole line?” Jess allowed Gabby to stay with them in line and told her that she should join TNSR sometime. “I went religiously that whole year. “I considered myself to be a supercommuter. I would finish work at Queen’s College at 5:30, then I would ride into the city, do their ride, wherever we would go, and then I would ride back home. I don’t know how I was doing this. You can’t even get me to go from Jackson Heights to Fresh Meadows now.” Gabby joined TNSR when it was in its infancy. “20 people was a big outcome back then. I fell in love with seeing these humans every Thursday and hearing about their week, how their birthdays were coming up, and what we were doing for the summer, where we were riding on the weekend. All of that, again, was the stuff that got me out of my shell and made me feel like I belong. I love them so much.”

Over the next few years, Gabby aggressively ramped up her involvement in cycling. She became interested in fixed-gear cycling, joined an amateur Cinelli racing team, and competed in alleycats and crits. She also became a bike messenger. As time wore on, she realized that she preferred road cycling. The problem was that she ditched her road bike for a fixed-gear. “I hit this ceiling when it came to bikes because I felt there was more to discover when I had the road bike.” Seeking new opportunities for discovery, Gabby found a new way to challenge herself. “It got to a point where I had done so much long-distance riding that I wasn’t tapping into that place that I did when I first got into cycling, so I started running.” Gabby ended up running the New York City Marathon.

If all that wasn’t impressive enough, a friend convinced Gabby to participate in a San Juan-based cycling event called La Vuelta Puerto Rico. “I’m like, ‘At this point, I’m already working as a messenger. I ran this marathon. I consider myself to be pretty fit, and I feel like once I get back on a road bike, it will all come back to me. I go out there, and it does. I am killing it. I’m holding up with the B group. There were maybe three women out of 500 men that were there.”

After that experience, Gabby felt compelled to participate in more events outside of the contiguous United States. She was informed about the Track Or Die races being held in Mexico. It was a three-day event that included a relay race, an alleycat, and tracklocross. Her focus for this trip was to document the experience for her Instagram page, creatorgabby. On the plane to Mexico City, Gabby bumped into Rachel Fucheck, a cyclist she knew from home. Rachel informed Gabby that she hadn’t brought a bike, but would rent one if she decided to participate. Gabby brought her bike, but only intended to participate in the alleycat. “That was something I was going to do outside of documenting. With Rachel, I was like, ‘Hey, what if we get there and find two people. Would you do the relay?’ She was like, ‘I don’t know. I didn’t really come to race. I’ll think about it.’”

Gabby’s bike ended up getting delayed, and she didn’t receive it until right before the relay event. “I go hang out with the registration ahead of time because I don’t have a bike. I can’t do nothing. I’m just a pedestrian. So, I’m hanging out with the registration, and these two girls walk in who don’t know each other, and they’re looking for teammates. I was like, ‘Wait, we were looking for teammates.’ We were actually the first people to register. Rachel was there already, and I was like, ‘Look, they’re looking for teammates, and Rachel was like, ‘Fine, let’s do it.’” The two women who joined Gabby and Rachel were named Monse and Malini. They decided to name the team Bruja’s in homage to a now-defunct alleycat called Mala Bruja. “I think the last one she did was during the pandemic. It was the only all-women, all WTNB alleycat in New York City. It was the only time that you would see numbers of up to 30 plus women, you know, 80. Like, where were they coming from? It was the only time that they would come out. Every other alleycat, you’ll never see these women.”

Gabby formed unexpected friendships with her teammates. “Me and Malini have a deep connection now. I ended up missing my flight back to New York. She opened her home to me so that I could stay for two more weeks and get a cheaper flight. Leaving the next few days was really expensive.” During this period of time, Gabby was struggling with the loss of her aunt. To combat the grief, she was riding a lot. Malini helped her reshape her grieving. “She was like, ‘You have to honor her. You ride in the memory of all the women in your lineage.’” This advice empowered Gabby to focus on the positive experiences she’s had on the bike rather than the negative. “I was like, ‘Damn, you’re right.’ I came back so different.”

Gabby also formed a connection with Monse. “She’s younger than me, and I saw how she was having a similar experience. I tried to be like, ‘Hey, stay positive. Focus on your school, finish your college, because I knew what I had done for me to finish my school. I was like, ‘Hey, don’t get sidetracked by these guys, just do your thing. Stay on your bike, go to school.’ We were able to maintain a relationship.”

Gabby’s experience in Mexico further solidified her belief that the universe works the way it’s supposed to. Although the delay in her bike was not ideal, the situation worked out so she could do the relay event and meet Malini and Monse. “I was so confident that my bike was going to make it before the race. I was bothered, but I wasn’t letting it change my experience of being out there. I was watching my stories, and I’m like, ‘Yo, there’s something about you that just trusts that the universe got you, even when it don’t got you.’ You’re like, ‘It’s going to mean something at the end, you know?’”

Back in New York, Gabby had been hosting group rides and events, but felt motivated to plan something on a global scale. She reached out to Monse and the two collaborated to create a race exclusive to women, trans, and non-binary folks. Inspired by Mala Bruja, Gabby reached out to the organizer, Caro, to ask whether they could expand the Mala Bruja brand. “I was like, ‘Hey, Caro. You haven’t organized this in a while. Does it interest you to take this global, because maybe we can work together to build the brand that you already have?” Caro told Gabby that she ultimately didn’t want to reshape Mala Bruja, which Gabby understood. “Whatever she built, that’s her baby. That’s her thing, you know? I don’t want to give it a different meaning. So, I was like, ‘You’re right. Nevermind. I’m gonna come up with something else.’”

The group that Gabby created is called Reynas. “Reynas just came up because I believe that women are divine, and they do have this role in which they shape everything because we all come through them.” Part of the idea behind Reynas is to give WTNB cyclists the same opportunities Gabby experienced. Planning these races in different parts of the world casts a wider net for WTNB cyclists worldwide. “I’m starting with the places that I’ve already been, so Mexico. Colombia will be next. Then I’m thinking, Berlin and London. The goal is to be able to carry these events in all different places and connect with women. Then, through my own creative ways of organizing things, be able to sponsor women and fly them out to attend these events too.”

For the first Reyna’s race in Mexico, Gabby got help creating the flyer from NYC cyclist, Karen Walker, while Monse and a Mexican alleycat racer named Alé secured sponsorships. “23 women came out to race.
Women who people there didn’t even know of. To me, it was just like the spirit of Mala Bruja. Like, that’s what it’s supposed to do.
It’s supposed to bring out all these women who probably never come to other events, but come to this because they feel like it’s a safe space for them. People want this. People want to see themselves reflected.”

Beyond the races, Gabby has had the opportunity to host exhibitions as well. “Arc’teryx allowed me to organize a gallery event, an exhibition in one of the stores. It was called Bike Liberation and it was only WTNBs. I did have men submit, but it was photos of women, and it was so beautiful because my main thing was that every time I go to anything cycling-related, it’s always men on bikes. You’ll see a handful of things, but that’s the majority. You walk in, and that’s what you see. I was like, ‘I want it to be where you can see all these women and all walks of life on bikes.” There was one written submission in particular that deeply moved Gabby. “There was this one person, I don’t know their name, but they wrote a piece about how they transformed their bike, putting on different handlebars and stuff like that, at the same time that they were transitioning. That connection that they made throughout that story, Oh, my God. I cried at the end of that. That story, this is what I want. This is what people need to read about.”

Another way that Gabby has used Reyna’s to give WTNB people a platform is by planning forums. For events like these, she doesn’t publicly advertise, but she plans on making an email list in the future. “It’s an internal thing of how can we bring each other together? How can we keep each other safe? How can we check in on each other to make sure that we’re okay? We can sit at a table and have a conversation.” Gabby has held one of these events already and feels that it was successful. “That night, I was very intentional. I set up the space, and I made tea for us. A lot of the stuff from my doula work is what kind of bleeds into this work. I was amazed at how we were able to hold space for each other. It worked out, and it was interesting to see the feedback that I got out of that.”

Moving forward, Gabby has many aspirations for Reynas. She wasn’t originally planning another event in Mexico, but some comments from last year’s participants may have changed her mind. “A lot of people were like, ‘Oh my God, next year is going to be bigger.’ I was just like, ‘Damn, I wasn’t thinking about doing it again.’ Seeing how much it got people excited, both men and women, because even men were like, ‘Wow, I’ve never seen this many girls racing,’ or like, ‘Wow, this was a really good event,’ I was like, you know what? Yeah, why not? Let’s do it again. And let’s have it be even bigger.” Gabby hopes to make this a two-day event, one for an exhibition and another for an alleycat race. “That’s kind of where I am now, where I’ve become more of an organizer, more of a curator of things. These are the types of events that are going to be created on the Reynas.”