Chicago Century Club cyclists celebrate community, Black-owned businesses

Xaver Walton is the founder of the Chicago Century Club. Saturday, October 18, 2020. | Brian Rich\Sun-Times

Chicago Century Club founder Xaver Walton wanted to start a bike club amid the COVID-19 pandemic with the purpose of changing the narrative surrounding Chicago’s marginalized communities.

“This past summer I found some people riding bikes and I did rides with them, and on Thursdays in the month of July and August, I started putting together what we will call ‘unofficial rides’ with friends,” said Walton. “We were visiting different ice cream shops in the city of Chicago on Thursdays, and Black-owned businesses.”

While the group’s membership rises by the week, Walton, an educator and AAU basketball coach by trade, curates ride themes — cycling to the stadiums of Chicago’s six major sports teams, for example — with a central topic in mind: empowerment.

“We want to try to arrange a neighborhood ride and visit some of the various neighborhoods in Chicago because I want Black people to see people biking that look like them,” says Chicago Century Club coach/founder Xaver Walton.

“I started thinking: ‘OK, this is good — I started getting a lot of people showing up, and then I came up with the idea at the beginning of August to see if people want to try to venture off and do 100-mile rides,” said Walton, who says the group has 103 members who’ve successfully completed 100-mile rides. “For me to have seen so many people of color buy into it gives me chills.”

Members of the Chicago Century Club often take to social media posting photos of themselves in front of wherever their 100-mile ride ends, such as Kenosha, Wisconsin, and Wilmette’s Baha’i House of Worship, among other locations.

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Congrats on that mile ride. #chicagocenturyclub #chicagobikes #centuryride #100mileride #chicagocycling #chicagocyclists

A post shared by CHICAGO Century Club (@chicagocenturyclub) on Sep 24, 2020 at 7:55pm PDT

As the Chicago Century Club gains notoriety via social media and word of mouth, they’ve procured a sponsorship with Trek Bicycle Chicago Wicker Park, where club members receive discounts for Trek gear and access to the store as a possible starting or stopping points for rides, along with stopping in to recouperate and rehydrate.

“I got an email from [Walton] last week, and he was telling me about how they started this group out, and basically they’re their goal is to try and build this community about going out and riding 100 miles,” said Trek Bicycle Chicago Wicker Park manager Julius Lietuvninkas. “We’re all about building that community, and his organization is really focused on that. I met with them [recently]. They had tons of new cyclists who were going to be riding 100 miles for the first time.

“For me, it was a no brainer working with a group that’s building such a positive community, and working together to succeed and reach this goal of riding 100 miles. If you’re on their Instagram page, it shows how that community is built — the community aspect more than anything, honestly.”

Chicago Century Club heads out on a recent bike trek.

Chicago Century Club member Georgiana Davis lost her job amid the pandemic and was looking for something to help her stay in shape mentally and physically. She had been riding to help her battle depression and anxiety when she met Walton while participating in an unofficial ride.

“Someone I met was like, ‘Hey, there’s a group of a bunch of Black and Brown folks, and then Coach [Walton] was mentioning a ‘century ride,’” said Davis. “I used to cycle to commute back and forth to work, the gym and yoga. I don’t have a car, so my bike is my car; it means a lot to me.”

Davis, a Humboldt Park resident, says the Chicago Century Club provides “the journey” she has been looking for amid the pandemic.

“It’s quite the journey. I feel like there are a lot more people outside cycling now,” said Davis. “Cycling is a mental escape from everything that’s happening. You just get on the bike and ride, and listen to music and roll with different people and not have to think about the fact that there’s a pandemic and people literally dying.

“The fact that it’s filled with so many Black and Brown folks; I am a multi-racial being, and it’s been nice to be able to do fitness and support Black businesses at the end of our ride with a bunch of other Black and Brown folks.”

Chicago Century Club member Georgiana Davis

Walton, a Morgan Park High School alumnus, says he aims to continue the rides while expanding the club’s brand.

“We want to try to arrange a neighborhood ride and visit some of the various neighborhoods in Chicago because I want Black people to see people biking that look like them,” said Walton. “So it’s something that they may want to be interested in and get comfortable with. But it’s also mental motivation and that reminds you that as humans we can do whatever we put our minds to. It may not be easy at first, but we can do it if we put our minds to it.”

Members of the Chicago Century Club meet up for a recent ride.

How to buy the right bicycle for your needs:

Julius Lietuvninkas, Trek Bicycle Chicago Wicker Park manager, offers these helpful tips when shopping for a bicycle.

“The three basic questions I ask are:

— Do you know where you’re riding?

— What are your goals?

— What type of riding are you looking to do?

“It really does depend on how they answer their questions, honestly; it’s such a dynamic aspect of selling a bike. Those questions can vary based on how they answer.

“If somebody is looking to ride off-road on the Des Plaines River Trail, for example, that would lead us toward something like a gravel bike where that river trail road is a little bit more “routey” — a bit more off-road orientated. Figure out what their goals are, where they’re riding mostly, and how they picture themselves on their bicycle.”