"Here I see as many female riders as male riders, I see a lot of couples riding together, whereas where I was from I saw mostly male riders. So, being an African American woman riding on the road it was kind of like a gawk; “Oh, you ride bikes in a serious manner sometimes?” and it was just like, “Yes, I do like to ride bikes, thank you for noticing.” So here in the city I feel like you’re able to be more comfortable riding without as much judgement as some areas, and that’s just how life is wherever you go. You’re going to be looked at differently and you just have to take it. That’s what it is, and roll with it."

"I plan on living around here as long as I can, and I plan on getting a racing bike, and being a bike mechanic, and that’s it."

"It’s completely different from when I started riding. I have to say I’m a little out of touch… a lot out of touch. Some of it is self-induced – having the family, the kid, and the business. Just starting the bike building business took a lot. It really sucked. I knew that the courier thing was going down. That was seven years ago. I knew that I had to make a big change as fast as I could. I don’t have a college degree so… I knew I could build bikes, but getting to the level that I wanted to required a lot of work. I was working 100-plus hour weeks. I worked seven days a week all the time. It was bad for me, and for my wife probably, but it was something that I had to do if I wanted to make a living doing it. I accomplished more years in a short amount of time. I just sucked it up and did it."

"I was born in Nigeria, moved here in elementary school to New York and then Georgia. I came to Baltimore about a year ago, August 2015 to take a job as a professor at the University of Baltimore. I’m an environmental engineer and so I’m very keen to the environment. Why drive when you can ride your bike? Especially if it’s just within the city riding. You help yourself, you help the environment – everyone wins. I think 2010 or 11 is when I was biking every single day except for grocery shopping… because I eat a lot [laughs]. So I can’t bike doing that."

"When you can transport yourself and you don’t have to rely on someone else to take you there it’s a different world. I love that I bike to work because that means that I get to start everyday with a bike ride. Other people have to start their day by getting in a car and sitting in traffic. When you’re in a car you feel like you’re in your own universe because you’re all alone in a box. When you’re on a bike you’re a part of the big world that’s complicated and requires you to pay attention, and share a space. It’s just a better way to stay present with the idea that you’re apart of the community."

"I always wanted to have the gift to gather people. I got that gift. Now, I got the gift to gather with bikes. Something I like to do anyway. Somebody that feels like they need to be out doing something they can come out and hang with me, and we still talk about stuff that don’t have nothing to do with bikes. Still laugh and joke, disagree. Lately it’s been a lot of politics and all that, but it’s on bikes, which make it alright. I think if you’re on bikes you really don’t have the energy to be mad. It burns that negative energy and turn it into a positive energy. That’s all I really ever wanted to do. "

"I do art and paint on the side, so I decided to make my bike my own. I painted it to look like Starry Night. It’s just acrylic paints. It’s kind of my baby. I’m trying to tweak it to make it my own. I feel like honestly it kind of looks crappy but it was my first time doing it and I kind of had fun with it. I feel like art is constantly a work in progress."

"I’ve been working outside of the city in DC, Silver Spring and Virginia for most of my career. I’ve always lived in the city but haven’t had a real opportunity to explore it–it’s almost as if I didn’t live here. But when I finally started working back in the city it was definitely kind of an opportunity to explore and reacquaint myself with the city because it’s changed so much. I mean, I used to have friends who would want to come to Baltimore to visit and my first reaction would be, “Uhhh I have to look up what we’re going to do…,” because I just lived here but I didn’t really live here ya know?"

“… Traffic is a result of not investing in things like public transit. It’s a result of urban sprawl, and a result of incentivizing economic development where there were no people or no infrastructure…” BICYCLIST: Liz Cornish (Executive Director of Bikemore, a Baltimore based nonprofit that works to increase and improve bicycle infrastructure, policies, and awareness)

Dir. Marissa O'Guinn - "I initially directed Daydream as a 16mm black and white film that explored the idea of passion and loss. I decided to shoot and direct the same film concept five years later in a digital format, extending the story to indulge in the moment of improvised movement."