She puts on two tank tops, a short-sleeved t-shirt, a long-sleeved fleece jacket, and a cowl to pull up around her face if necessary. She made sure to lay out her clothes the night before and sit out other necessities like her water bottle. Angela Stamps knows she has to be organized.

The 51-year-old grabs her bicycle and heads out for an 8-mile ride.

In Flint, Mich., she’s known as the bike lady. Any given year, Stamps puts at least 1,500 miles on her bike despite the harsh Michigan weather. She rides all year round.

Stamps didn’t intend on becoming what she calls an urban cyclist. Her dream was to be a hairstylist for Los Angeles celebrities. But after years of working in the LA area, she hit a financial hurdle in 2006 that led to her car being repossessed, changing her life forever.

Angela Stamps, 51, rides through a Flint, Mich. neighborhood. Any given year, she puts an estimated 1,500 miles on her bicycle. (KT Kanazawich | Black Like Us)

She started walking and catching the bus until her then-boyfriend gifted her a bike. The bike became her primary mode of transportation, where she would sometimes bike 18 miles a day to go to work, the grocery store, and other errands.

“I use my bike for everything,” said Stamps, who now runs a program introducing Flint-area youth to bicycling properly at a local community center. “It’s funny how something can just transform your life. In that moment, I had no idea I would be here.”

In 2010, after living in California for 17 years, she moved back to her hometown of Flint. Two years later, she was working with Flint-area youth teaching them bicycle safety and how to navigate the city. She would also launch Kentakee Athletic and Social Clubs, a nonprofit focused on providing teenage athletic and educational opportunities.

Flint, Mich. Angela Stamps rides an estimated 1,500 miles a year in her hometown of Flint, Mich. on her bicycle. She launched a program at Berston Field House, a community center on the city’s north side, in 2012 sharing her passion for biking with Flint-area youth. (KT Kanazawich | Black Like Us)

“I just know the benefits of cycling. The road that it’s taken me on, all the people I’ve met, all the miles I’ve traveled,” said Stamps, who launched the Berston Bicycle Club in 2012. “It’s a self-confidence builder, a self-esteem builder. It’s just so many benefits to it. I just could have never imagined prior to me getting on a bike that I would be here doing this.”

So far, she has introduced biking to an estimated 250 Flint-area youth through her program.

“I think the ultimate gift of love is to teach kids how to survive in all this,” said Stamps. “Because we are not going to be around forever, and we need soldiers. I see a lot of those parents … where they just hover over them, and they pretty much do everything for them. When they turn 18 or 19, they want them to just get out of the nest and fly, but you really haven’t been teaching them how to fly.”

Angela Stamps, 51, heads out on a bicycle ride with a group of students enrolled in her youth program at a local community center in Flint, Mich. Since 2012, she has introduced an estimated 250 Flint-area youth to biking. (KT Kanazawich | Black Like Us)
Angela Stamps reviews a map of Flint, Mich. before she heads out with a group of students enrolled in her youth bicycle program at Berston Field House in Flint, Mich. Stamps launched the Berston Bicycle Club in 2012 introducing Flint-area youth to biking. (KT Kanazawich | Black Like Us)

In addition to the youth bike riding program, Stamps also trains adults, and she organizes a program through “Black Girls Do Bike” through Kentakee.

For more information on Angela Stamps, you can visit her Facebook page, Angie’s Bikes, or her website, www.kentakee.org.