Cycling comes to the inner city

As a 15-year-old, Sam Cowans knew that cycling through the hardscrabble streets of West Philadelphia in high-tech tights would invite plenty of hoots and hollers.

Now, three years later, some of the same kids who wondered why Cowans had become enamored of such a strange sport rather than basketball or football go to his races to watch the Mastery Charter School senior compete.

"At my school, I was the first one on the team to put the spandex on," Cowans said with a thousand-watt smile. "There were a few chuckles, but that's because they didn't understand the sport."

Cowans had just finished a training session Wednesday at the Cadence Bike Shop in Manayunk with six of his teammates from Mastery Charter. He is one of 140 kids involved in the Cadence Cycling Foundation, a program that makes cycling accessible to inner-city youth. They represent 13 schools, and they will have their own race during the TD Bank International Cycling Championship on June 5.

Cowans is one of the Cadence Cycling Foundation's several success stories. The foundation is about more than just cycling. It's also about teaching the value of education, a healthy lifestyle, commitment, discipline, confidence, and how to set goals. Cowans has been accepted at Bucknell, where he will join the cycling team. He wants to be a veterinarian. But that's his backup plan.

"My goal is to be a pro cyclist when I'm 23," said Cowans, who hopes to take a big step toward that goal by taking part in a training camp this summer in upstate Pennsylvania.

Leroy Hayes, a classmate of Cowans', is another success story. Hayes couldn't attend Wednesday's session because he is in California at a training camp.

"I remember at the beginning of his sophomore year, Leroy came to me and asked if he could join," said Ryan Oelkers, a former pro cyclist and the foundation's senior director of operations. "At the time, he was 5-foot-6 and weighed 280 pounds. He's lost 100 pounds, and he's now 6-1.

"Imagine what that does to your self-esteem and confidence. His grades picked up after he got on the cycling team. He got into the University of Vermont. He's going to race in college. It's a sport for everyone."