On Saturday, November 8th at 3pm, Erick Cedeno will give a presentation about his most notorious ride to date. No stranger to extensive expeditions, Cedeno has previously bicycled from Vancouver to Tijuana as well as from Florida to New York. The Underground Railroad took Cedeno from New Orleans, LA to Niagara Falls, NY on a ride measured not only in miles and but in history, too. The route followed the network of meeting points, secret paths, safe houses and assistance provided by abolitionist sympathizers.
Cedeno based his course on a trip developed by the Adventure Cycling Association, that maps directions from a slave song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd.” Trailing the North Star, the path, follows waterways from Alabama to the Ohio River. Trailblazing rough terrain and often alone he believed he was experiencing what it was like for slaves to find liberation. Cedeno stopped ten hours each day to rest whenever and wherever he could, just as slaves would have done on their trek to freedom.
The trip took Cedeno to the locations of former slave markets and plantations. He stopped at safe houses with underground tunnels and secret rooms. At one point, he was hosted by the a family in Clarksville, Tennessee, who showed him accounting ledgers from the 1840’s and 1850’s- the grim evidence of their slave-owning past.
“It was a test of liberation for me, too,” says Cedeno.. “On the way, my only method of transportation was stolen. Stripped of all material possessions and faced with the potential of not being able to finish the ride, I was forced to question my state of mind. I discovered an internal sense of freedom and appreciation for humanity.”
Cedeno’s presentation is one of many offerings on the event schedule at the 2014 Philly Bike Expo.
Philly Bike Expo
November 8th & 9th
Pennsylvania Convention Center
1101 Arch St.
Philadelphia, PA 19107
www.phillybikeexpo.com