Hi Antonio! First of all, I want to say that when I arrived at your Boy Scout Troop meeting the other night to take some photos, even in the 15 minutes I was there, I found myself inspired by the dedication and focus your Scouts gave to the meeting. Does that move you every time, or are you used to it?

It’s definitely what keeps me coming back. I’ve been blocking out my Fridays for the last 18 years. I mean, I’m used to it, and those are my expectations at this point—but every once in a while, when I need to ground myself, I do appreciate it. It does take a lot of dedication. None of those kids have to be there. It’s completely volunteer based, and those scouts are arriving in full uniform every Friday by choice. That’s what makes the program that much more powerful.

 

Awesome. OK, so I have some questions for you.

Lay it on me, brother.

 

How did your involvement with Bike New York begin?

It started back in 2010, as a request by one of my Scouts. He asked, “Why don’t we do something athletic, some type of activity besides hiking or backpacking?” I asked him what he had in mind. He said, “Well, they have marathons … I don’t know about that. There are also bike tours.” That kind of intrigued me. We signed up for the Five Boro Bike Tour as participants for the first year. It was me and two other Scouts. We wanted to beta test it. Approximately 50 miles later—we tack on another 10 at the end because we want to prove to ourselves that we can ride all the way back home—we were wrecked, as you can imagine.

 

 

Of course.

For a bunch of Boy Scouts, we did very little preparation, and underestimated what we were getting ourselves into. Nonetheless, we all agreed that it was something we wanted to do as a regular event, but we wanted to figure out a way to turn it into service. Then I saw that you guys recruit Marshals and other Volunteers, and I was like, “Wow, perfect. This works hand in hand with what we do.” We were hooked up with Team Vernon, which is stationed along Vernon Blvd. in Queens. We brought a crew of at least 10 scouts that year. And ever since then, we’ve been going back, and it’s been great. Our group has been growing. We’ve actually taken over Vernon Blvd. There are four or five others, and the rest is Troop 729. They crowned me Captain of Vernon a couple years ago, which was pretty cool.

 

 

I’ve heard from our Events Department that you’re some of our best volunteers.

Awwwwww. Well, I know it’s cliché to say, with them being Boy Scouts, but they’re just prepared. Year ‘round, they’re learning First Aid. We teach them how to repair flats, how to adjust brakes, derailleurs, and how to do basic maintenance on their bikes, so that they can do that for others at the Tour. They repair countless flats, and they’re the first responders when they wait for the paramedics or EMT to show up. And they’re enthusiastic! Just the thrill of having 32,000 riders going by is pretty intense. They’re in it, and they get a kick out of it. They’re making sure the people are riding safe. It’s impressive, how a 15 or 16 year old can really step up to the plate when they’re being asked to be accountable to thousands. We’re talking about inner city kids, who, for the most part, others might write off as not useful in those situations, but I would argue that that’s not true. One thing that any teenager from any background wants is to be given the chance to be responsible for something, and we get surprised all the time. It’s a long day of volunteering; our volunteering starts the night before. In order for us to successfully arrive on time, they all have to come and stay at my place. All 25, 30 people, they cram into my apt. The parents cook lasagna and heavy pasta so that for the next day they’re burning all those carbs and protein. So it’s all great, man. It’s tradition at this point. To not have the bike tour would be awfully wrong. We’ve even joked that there can be a blizzard, and we will still go stand on Vernon Blvd. during the bike tour. We’ll do it. We’re that determined.

 

 

 

It’s tradition at this point. To not have the bike tour would be awfully wrong. We’ve even joked that there can be a blizzard, and we will still go stand on Vernon Blvd. during the bike tour. We’ll do it. We’re that determined.

And then you ride the rest of the Tour when your shift is done…

The only time we’re taking any mode of transportation is the Staten Island Ferry, and that’s ‘cuz you guys force us to. Otherwise, if you gave these Scouts the chance, they’d ride back over the bridge.

 

So was the Tour your main intro to biking?

The bike tour is the reason that I have a whole room full of bikes at my apartment. I’m not a collector—I have to store bikes from some of my scouts, and in March and April we start building and repairing bikes, and then we do the Tour. It was our intro to cycling. Also, your bike tour is the reason my Scouts can earn the cycling merit badge, which is one of the toughest merit badges to earn. Because of the distance and the amount of training and the preparation, they walk away with the merit badge just by virtue of doing it. The Tour is ideal because it prepares them to not only ride efficiently, but also maintain and care for their bikes. It’s a great opportunity to teach them an entire lifestyle.

 

Did any of your Scouts learn how to ride a bike from Bike New York?

Oh yeah!

 

 

I heard you’re looking for a sponsor to pay for uniforms for the Tour.

That’s been on my list for the Tour. We’d like to have a sponsor to outfit us or hook us up with some bikes. We do a lot of grant writing, but sometimes the grant writing can only cover so much. So we try to find sponsorships or big donations from organizations and companies. Its not a primary goal—I think we can manage bikes for this season, but in the long term it’d be nice to have a company or a component company that’d be willing to sponsor us. I want the Scouts to ride proudly. These boys are deserving of that. We usually get secondhand bikes and we build them up and make sure they’re ready for the Tour … but we’re ok. We don’t have to have the fanciest stuff. I’m teaching them to be humble and to work with whatcha got, you know? Not to go into a sob story about me, but I came from a single parent household with three children. My father was never in the picture. But I didn’t allow that to become an excuse or a determining factor for who I was going to be as an adult. Today, I run a successful NYC Scout troop, I run a multimedia production company, and I travel the world all the time. I can’t complain. And I want to give them the tools that they need to get that for themselves. For me, it goes beyond running a traditional Scout unit, it’s a philosophy of life, and a tradition. It’s my way of giving back to a community that did so much for me.

 

 

 

One thing that any teenager from any background wants is to be given the chance to be responsible for something.

You guys have a trip to Japan coming up.

Yeah, and we just came back from South Korea a couple months ago. We’ve been doing international things for the last couple of years. We’ve been to Scotland and England, and we’ve been to Canada five times. We’re going to Japan this summer. It’s for the World Scout Jamboree. It’s the largest Scout gathering on the planet, and it happens every four years. It’s an old tradition that’s been around for close to a hundred years. What’s really amazing is that there has never been a contingent from Washington Heights, the South Bronx or Harlem that’s attended any world Jamboree in its history. What we’re doing is unprecedented. We’re taking 22 people from these neighborhoods to this event where the only people expected to attend are the affluent. It’s a big deal, and because it’s a big deal, it’s also a huge challenge that I’m willing to meet head on.

 

Do you ever find time to ride bikes when you’re on these trips?

I just found out there will be opportunities to on this one! There are mountain bike trails and loops for cycling. You know I’m gonna Go-Pro that, bro!

 

Send us the footage?

I’ll hook you guys up.

 

 

To learn more about Antonio’s troop and how you can help send them to Japan, check out their website.