After only a year, Hutto woman cited for her bicycling passion
Camille Baptiste wins $1,000 in essay contest that goes to Bike Hutto support group.
Camille Baptiste learned how to ride a bike last year when she was 38. Within several months, however, the Hutto resident was so passionate about encouraging other female bike riders that she wrote a story about it that won a $1,000 prize.
“Our judging panel selected Camille’s story because it perfectly captures her passion for cycling and community,” said Mary Hetrick, a spokeswoman for Saris, a bike rack manufacturing company in Wisconsin that awarded the prize last month.
The company is giving prizes to bike support groups across the country for stories people write about positive biking experiences. It is part of a six-month campaign the company started to give away a total of $6,000.
The prize that Baptiste won will be given to a bike support group called Bike Hutto to create children’s bike safety programs and also search for possible locations for a bike rack in the city, said Jessica Romigh, the group’s founder.
Baptiste, who is a member of Black Girls Do Bikes, Austin Bike Chicks and Bike Hutto, said she grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., and learned how to roller-skate but never rode bicycles because “boys did bikes.”
She became interested in climbing on a bike in 2014 after she couldn’t keep up by running alongside her two sons and husband in Hutto while they were biking, she said.
After she learned to ride, she said, she wanted to be able to travel long distances to raise money for breast cancer after her sister-in-law died from the disease.
Her prize-winning story came from an experience she had while on a 36-mile group training ride Aug. 1 in the Pflugerville area to prepare for an upcoming charity event.
Baptiste said she expected to see exotic wildlife being raised on farms. Instead, she saw a lone rider. She caught up with the female rider, who said she was riding by herself because she couldn’t keep up with some other bicyclists, Baptiste said.
“She was kind of feeling down,” Baptiste said. “I said, ‘I will ride with you,’ and we started laughing and talking.”
Baptiste said she rode the last seven miles of the training ride with the woman she knew only as “Sally.” “A lot of ladies don’t like to be riding out on country roads by themselves. It’s a typical sentiment,” Baptiste said.
Baptiste, a real estate advisor, said she wants to encourage other female riders.
“Cycling is very male-dominated,” she said. “I’m not trying to be feminist, but I’m just saying. ‘Hey lady cyclists here in Central Texas, every time I go out on a bike I have an adventure.’ During a lot of group cycling, I have met the most amazing people and been in places that I didn’t even know about.”
Romigh said Baptiste is “a great coach and cheerleader for anyone wanting to hop on a bicycle.” “Despite her ability to ride long distances,” she said, “Camille often leads rides that are shorter and welcome all abilities.”