Hey, this is Shelby. I want to start this episode off by letting you know that this conversation

contains strong language and descriptions of traumatic situations. Listener discretion

is advised. That was the first time I was like, someone would listen to me because I introduced

myself as like this, this, I don't even know what to call it, right? Like it's this jarring story

that most people have heard about. And on the one hand that felt a little icky of like tokenizing

my experience and like my trauma. But on the other hand, I was like, oh, no one's going to listen

to me otherwise. You know, like I'm just another person in a sea of people who has an opinion.

And yes, I realize that like once you start talking to me like, you know, I've been racing bikes

for a really long time and have seen a lot of different kind of iterations of bike racing.

But like I before we can get to that, you actually have to start listening to me.

That's Izzy Cedarbaum. You might have heard about Izzy in the news a few years ago.

He was involved in a freak accident that was a huge story in the media. In 2018,

Izzy was out biking with a friend in Washington State when they were attacked by a cougar.

Izzy survived with serious injuries, but his friend S.J. Brooks didn't make it.

Recovering from the incident was obviously a challenge and it didn't help the story got so much

attention. As a trans man, Izzy received a ton of online abuse along with misunderstanding and

speculation. People said that he and S.J. didn't belong out there in the first place.

What's incredible is that all this hatred has pushed Izzy in a direction motivated by love.

Today he's working to make cycling more inclusive for people with marginalized identities.

I'm Shelby Stanger and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an R.I. co-op studios production.

Izzy Cedarbaum, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. Excited to have you on the show.

Yeah, I'm excited to be here.

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