WE'RE CANCELLING THE BLACK FARM TOUR THIS YEAR
Two weekends, back-to-back, Black cyclists will be filling roads, hotel lobbies, bike lanes, and breakfast spots across the Triangle. The Major Taylor International Cycling Association will hold their annual conference here, June 4th weekend — with record registrations. I love to hear the word "record" attached to a Black cycling event and it makes me feel genuinely proud. Then Black Girls Do Bike will roll into Raleigh for their National Meetup, June 11–14. Hundreds of riders. This region.
These things don't happen in a vacuum. People show up here because this region earned it. You helped earn it.
But here's what I have to tell you.
Lisa and I have been sitting with this one for over a week. It's not a complicated story, even if it's a disappointing one. We looked at the registrations — running about half of what we saw at this point for the last two years — and we ran the numbers on what a strong late push realistically looks like. Because we strive to have an affordable event, even optimistically, projected late and onsite registrations don't get us past expenses. The Black Farm Tour is one of Triangle Bikeworks' primary fundraising events. That's not a small sentence to write.The real story is two extraordinary June events. A cycling community growing faster than any one organization can contain. And a ride — the Black Farm Tour — exists because people believed in what we're doing long before it had a track record. That belief doesn't go anywhere because we had a hard year.
Let's not have the silence around this decision fill in its own story.
Let me be direct about something: the conference and the meetup didn't cause this. I actually think the opposite is true — that Black cyclists are showing up to this region in record numbers because the ground was already fertile, because organizations like ours helped plant something worth showing up for. That said, June got crowded fast. Some folks had to choose where to put their energy and their dollars this season. That's real. I understand it.
The real story is two extraordinary June events. A cycling community growing faster than any one organization can contain. And a ride — the Black Farm Tour — exists because people believed in what we're doing long before it had a track record. That belief doesn't go anywhere because we had a hard year.
We'll be back. I mean that the way I mean most things — not as reassurance, but as a plan already in motion.
If you registered for the 2026 Black Farm Tour, you will receive a full refund. Please watch for that communication within the next 5 business days.
Questions? Reach me directly at ride@trianglebikeworks.org.
The work continues. So do we.