To Honor the Spirit of Their Ancestors, They Rode 1,100 Miles on the Underground Railroad

It’s late afternoon in Alabama, a comfortable 70 degrees. Five Black men ride their bikes on the side of Highway 21, a two-lane road, heading north. John Shackelford and two others are in the lead; two more riders are about a half mile behind them. Shackelford is hewing close to the median when he receives a call from one of the stragglers: Slow down. He stops and turns around as a giant SUV whips past. When the guys bringing up the rear finally catch up and describe what happened, the group cements a new rule: Don’t leave anybody behind, ever. This could have been a nightmare. The stragglers explain that as they were riding, the aforementioned SUV had darted from the left lane and stopped on the shoulder, between them and the riders up ahead. A middle-aged white man climbed out of the SUV’s passenger seat and started walking toward them, reaching for something at his hip. Your mind goes places when you hear that, places unarmed Black people can’t avoid, places you go when being Black and minding your own business is taken as an existential danger. Shackelford had organized this 1,100-mile ride, this tracing of the Underground Railroad from Alabama to Washington, D.C., as a goodwill attempt to inspire his community. But there on Highway 21, it morphed into an uneasy scene tinged by the anxiety of a culture still inflamed over the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Shackelford thought of the four friends he had dragged with him into this mess. Were his good intentions about to add five more names to the struggle? [View in Browser]( [Bicycling]( [SHOP]( [EXCLUSIVE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [To Honor the Spirit of Their Ancestors, They Rode 1,100 Miles on the Underground Railroad]( [To Honor the Spirit of Their Ancestors, They Rode 1,100 Miles on the Underground Railroad]( It’s late afternoon in Alabama, a comfortable 70 degrees. Five Black men ride their bikes on the side of Highway 21, a two-lane road, heading north. John Shackelford and two others are in the lead; two more riders are about a half mile behind them. Shackelford is hewing close to the median when he receives a call from one of the stragglers: Slow down. He stops and turns around as a giant SUV whips past. When the guys bringing up the rear finally catch up and describe what happened, the group cements a new rule: Don’t leave anybody behind, ever. This could have been a nightmare. The stragglers explain that as they were riding, the aforementioned SUV had darted from the left lane and stopped on the shoulder, between them and the riders up ahead. A middle-aged white man climbed out of the SUV’s passenger seat and started walking toward them, reaching for something at his hip. Your mind goes places when you hear that, places unarmed Black people can’t avoid, places you go when being Black and minding your own business is taken as an existential danger. Shackelford had organized this 1,100-mile ride, this tracing of the Underground Railroad from Alabama to Washington, D.C., as a goodwill attempt to inspire his community. But there on Highway 21, it morphed into an uneasy scene tinged by the anxiety of a culture still inflamed over the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Shackelford thought of the four friends he had dragged with him into this mess. Were his good intentions about to add five more names to the struggle? [Read More]( [Alternate text] [Here’s Just How Fast Ian Boswell Went During His UnBound Win—and How It Compares to the WorldTour]( [Here’s Just How Fast Ian Boswell Went During His UnBound Win—and How It Compares to the WorldTour]( What does it take to win the arguably biggest, most prestigious gravel race in the United States? 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