At Philadelphia Bike Expo, cyclist tells of his Underground Railroad freedom ride

Erick Cedeno with Lawson Mabry’s children, Elizabeth and Will. (Mabry is the man who hosted Erick through WarmShowers.org and showed him the historical ledgers from his family’s slave-owning days)PHOTO: Courtesy Erick Cedeno

Erick Cedeño, founder of the company Bicycle Nomad, has been car-free for five years. So when in September 2013 his bicycle was stolen in Buffalo, N.Y., less than 20 miles from the finish of Adventure Cycling Association's 2,000-mile Underground Railroad route, he was crushed.

"At first I was like, 'How am I going to get around? How am I going to finish this route?' " Cedeño says.

But he wasn't going to let his hardship prevent him from reaching his destination at the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Cliff Madell, owner of Teen Treks, a Buffalo organization that promotes adventure cycling to teenagers, loaned him a bike to finish - something Madell says was "the right thing to do."

"I kept remembering the people that walked the same path I was going," Cedeño says. "Every time I had challenges, I remembered those people. Just to have freedom, they had to face those challenges."

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/living/20141107_At_Philadelphia_Bike_Expo__cyclist_tells_of_his_Underground_Railroad_freedom_ride.html#tMxE12uC7SuQuvur.99