On a July morning, the cyclists start arriving at Brooklyn鈥檚 Prospect Park before dawn, the pavement still wet from an overnight downpour. More than 300 people are registered for the second race in this year鈥檚 Lucarelli and Castaldi Cup, a fixture in New York City鈥檚 cycling circuit. Competitive cyclists in the city are finally releasing the pent-up energy of a year without bike racing, waiting out the pandemic.

Daniel P茅rez, founder of the Sanba Cycling Team, lines up alongside 25 of his teammates in their blue, white, and pink kits. At 36, he has the slight, efficient build of a competitive cyclist. The final stragglers hurry to pin on their numbers and join the ranks. Then the whistle sounds, and the race is off.

The Sanba racers include Rafael, who commutes 40 miles round-trip every day to his construction job in Long Island; Antonio, who fits in training rides around his food delivery job; and Edgar, a line cook and lifelong soccer player giving cycling a chance. Off the racecourse, these Guatemalan and Mexican immigrants work long hours and navigate life in neighborhoods hit hard by the pandemic. But for this moment, they can ignore all that. In this moment, they just want to win.

In , several Sanba riders position themselves at the front of the pack. They race 17 miles鈥攆ive laps around the inner loop of the park鈥攁t more than 20 miles per hour. A Sanba rider gets a flat and returns to the start line, dejected. Then another.

But after the final lap, Sanba team member Maynor Tuc crosses the line in third, and Augustin Yaxon follows in fifth. A handful of friends and family鈥攁nd one team member recovering from a broken collarbone鈥攃heer them on, shouting 鈥�Vamos Sanba!鈥�

For many team members, the July race was their first competition. P茅rez hopes they are infected with the same passion he felt more than a decade ago, when, as a young Mexican immigrant in Brooklyn, he started racing. After working hard to break into the local cycling scene, P茅rez set out to create a space where Latin American immigrants like him would feel at home.

Sanba Bicycle Shop is on Fifth Avenue, the main drag of Sunset Park, a neighborhood on the western edge of Brooklyn. On a Friday afternoon, two team members are hanging out at the shop after a ride, taking advantage of the air conditioning. Three teenage boys come in, debating animatedly in Chinese. When one asks about a fixed gear, P茅rez nimbly darts through the narrow shop to give them advice on tire size and gear ratio. In a lull between customers, he momentarily perches on a stack of crates in the crowded shop to begin his story.

P茅rez named both the team and the shop after his hometown of San Bartolom茅 Tepetlacaltechco, Puebla, Mexico.听His love affair with bikes began at ten years old, when his uncle Artemio let him tag along to Artemio鈥檚 job as a bike mechanic. On weekends and during school vacations, P茅rez learned to clean bikes and patch tires. A clever apprentice, he could build a wheel by 12.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 just learning to be a bicycle mechanic,鈥� P茅rez says. 鈥淚 was falling in love with bikes.鈥� The town organized races where men competed on singlespeed bikes known as turismeros. He knew little of races like the Tour de France, which was not broadcast in Mexico at that time. P茅rez laughs, 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have a television anyway.鈥�

The population of San Bartolom茅 Tepetlacaltechco is less than 2,000. The Nahua people originally inhabited the region before Spanish colonization. P茅rez鈥檚 grandparents were the last N谩huatl speakers in his family.

The family鈥檚 humble house was frigid in winter. On windy days, it felt like the roof could blow off. After middle school, P茅rez started working full-time to help his parents build a new house.

P茅rez was still a teenager when he followed his uncle to New York City, which had become a prime destination for migrants from Puebla. His first jobs were as a dishwasher and a delivery worker, working from 9 A.M. to midnight. He diligently sent money back home. 鈥淏ut I was thinking about bikes all the time,鈥� he says.

Eventually, a Brooklyn bike shop hired him as a mechanic. Then, one summer day in 2006, while biking at Prospect Park, he met Miguel Flores, another Mexican. Flores invited him to a race that afternoon at Brooklyn鈥檚 Floyd Bennett Field. 鈥淭hat was the opportunity that I was looking for all my life,鈥� P茅rez says. 鈥淚 was very nervous. But then, in my first race, I won.鈥�

From 2006 on, P茅rez raced frequently in Brooklyn. He was not on a team, and when he was starting out he saw only a handful of Mexicans at the races. While P茅rez is now bilingual, he says language is a main barrier for Latin American immigrants to join cycling teams.

P茅rez noticed discrimination against Latino immigrants, both in bike shops and at races. Shop employees would help the white guy with a nice road bike ahead of the brown guy who used his bike to get to work. 鈥淎ll the cycling teams of New Yorkers, if you wanted to join one, they were very exclusive,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e a food delivery guy, there aren鈥檛 a lot of teams that are going to notice you.鈥�

The Sanba riders are both competitive cyclists and working cyclists, who use their bikes as a means of employment, including deliveries.听Racial and class inequities exist among both groups in the United States. Groups including the and, more recently, , have pointed out that working cyclists听in New York City, mostly people of color and immigrants, are more likely to be ticketed and face other forms of discrimination. People of color and low-income people are as a form of transportation, yet are often left out of transit planning and decision making.

Competitive cycling is also expensive, discouraging many working-class people from participating: a racing bike can cost thousands of dollars, and a complete kit runs in the hundreds. And the sport remains overwhelmingly white. In a by USA Cycling, the national governing body for competitive cycling, 86 percent of respondents identified as white, followed by Hispanic or Latino at 6 percent, with even smaller percentages identifying as Asian or Asian American, Black or African American, and American Indian or Alaska Native.

Despite this, teams like L39ion of Los Angeles are putting more riders of color on podiums and pushing discussions of racial justice. There are also several established African American and Black cycling groups in New York City, including the , the , and .

In Europe, professional teams are increasingly recruiting Latin American cyclists, particularly Colombians. Tour de France champion Egan Bernal and legendary climber Nairo Quintana are both from the South American country.

P茅rez set out to prove that Latin American immigrants in the United States have what it takes. 鈥淏efore, immigrants weren鈥檛 necessarily rejected, but we didn鈥檛 feel included in racing,鈥� he says. 鈥淲e want to make our mark on New York City racing.鈥�

Over the years as a mechanic at several Brooklyn bike shops, P茅rez developed a loyal following of clients. With their support, he struck out on his own and opened Sanba Bicycle Shop in 2018. Word started to spread among delivery workers and people from Puebla in Sunset Park. P茅rez was working seven days a week, but this time for his own business.

His friend Anthony Luna, who started racing in 2018, encouraged him to form a team. 鈥淲e come here to triumph. We come for the American dream,鈥� says Luna, who arrived in New York from Puebla 20 years ago. 鈥淏ut sometimes I don鈥檛 have time for anything except work鈥ith bikes, I found a way to relax and enjoy myself.鈥�

Another friend helped with the USAC paperwork to form the Sanba Cycling Team in 2019. That year, a dozen members raced. By March 2020, the team had grown to 25.

鈥淲e decided to put on our jerseys 鈥�Todos somos migrantes鈥� [鈥榃e are all migrants鈥橾 to send a message about the situation the country is going through,鈥� P茅rez says. He emblazoned his own bike with 鈥淭epetlacaltechco,鈥� the N谩huatl name of his hometown.

While the original team members are from Mexico, new recruits were Guatemalan. 鈥淯nlike other teams, our members work in basic services in New York City,鈥� P茅rez says. 鈥淐onstruction workers, dishwashers, cooks, mechanics, delivery guys.鈥�

Then the pandemic hit. The 2020 racing season was canceled. Sunset Park, home to many essential workers and immigrants, became a coronavirus hot spot. Miguel Flores, the friend who invited P茅rez to his first race, died of COVID-19 that spring. P茅rez says Flores motivated many immigrants to get into cycling. P茅rez closed the shop for several weeks as the virus tore through the community.

Once the worst weeks passed, the Sanba team resumed riding together. 鈥淏y then, we weren鈥檛 just a team for competitions鈥攚e were a family,鈥� P茅rez says. 鈥淎ll of us were looking to be part of something. And with Sanba, we found it.鈥�

Sanba is the community P茅rez never had as a novice cyclist. Team members come to hang out after work. One of their first sponsors, La Flor de Izucar Caf茅, is the go-to option for sandwiches and tacos after training rides. If riders cannot afford a bike, shoes, or kits, P茅rez helps them out. 鈥淚f they need something at the shop, I tell them, take it,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou鈥檒l pay me back by training hard and seeing the results.鈥�

P茅rez hasn鈥檛 forgotten the challenges of his upbringing in Puebla. Sanba is supporting a cycling team in Mexico, donating team gear and sending money for them to compete in the Vuelta de Guatemala race last year. 鈥淲e can change the situation in Mexico, little by little,鈥� P茅rez says.

In the 2021 season, Sanba has finally been able to test their skills in New York City鈥檚 racing circuit. The competition is tough, but P茅rez is optimistic that some of the younger riders have the talent to advance to elite teams.

Around him, the shop is bustling. P茅rez pumps up the tires of a longtime customer.听 The mechanic tinkers on a road bike. Cumbia plays over the speakers.

P茅rez, who鈥檚 had a litany of broken bones over the years, says his serious racing days are over. But he still lines up with the team. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to stop,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ecause I am motivating the next generation.鈥�

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