About a decade ago, regular attendees of Miami’s monthly Critical Mass bike ride noticed one new (particularly tall) attendee: LeBron James, who began participating in the ride whenever his day job with the Miami Heat allowed it. “You’d ride past somebody and they’re like, "Was that…? No, there's no way. Oh shit, that was!" he told me one day earlier this spring.
We were sitting in his trailer on a Los Angeles studio lot, where he was spending the day shooting some footage for Canyon, the German bicycle company he’s been an investor in since 2022. If the announcement of James’ 30 million euro (about 33 million dollar) investment felt like a surprise, you might not have been paying attention: LeBron is, and has long been, what we can only call a big Bike Guy. He rode to and from school as a kid in Akron, Ohio. He rode in Miami, and he rides—when he can—these days in LA. Back in 2018, students at his I Promise School each received a bike and helmet—the sort of gift his foundation has also made many times over.
And now, he and Canyon are pushing their collaboration to new heights, with a clip featuring LeBron and a few other Canyon athletes and a bike donation to the LeBron James Family Foundation. “Anytime I go into a partnership, I like for it to be super organic to my belief and my truth and things of that nature,” he explained. “Being able to inspire the youth, being able to just put a battery into the backs of the next generation, to let them understand how important they are to all of us, and letting them have a sense of how their dreams can become reality. And I think some of my core values go hand in hand with Canyon.”
From the first time I was of age and of height to ride a bike—I mean, all the way from when you get your first set of training wheels to learning how to ride without training wheels, to where I am today where you cycle off-road or on road, whatever the case may be. I do it for training, do it for lifestyle, do it for everything. So it’s been a part of my life probably since I was, I don't know—the first time you actually get on training wheels is at three? Two or three years old? So almost 35-plus years.
When I was growing up, obviously I was on my bike a lot because it was the only means of transportation. I wasn't fortunate enough to be in a household where we had a consistent car, so for me to get to fun, to get the places that I wanted to be, my bike was my vehicle. And then obviously as I continued to grow up and got my license, I started to drive a little bit more. But when I started taking my training to a whole other level, I implemented it back into my life.
Because when I was a kid, when me and my friends used to ride our bikes from one part of town to the next part of town, not only was it fun, you just felt like you was tapping into a whole other world. You felt like you could be so creative. You'll have moments where obviously you're paying attention to the road, you're paying attention to the people with cars and things of that nature. But we also had this big hill in my hometown called North Hill. It starts at the very top and then it's a big old hill going down. And we used to use that moment to just feel euphoric, rejoice, look in the clouds and imagine things. Imagine things that you could actually possibly become in life. Riding bikes outdoors with your friends just gives you an unbelievable feeling. And even individually, too, you really get an opportunity to just be self-reflecting and open up to a whole other dimension, a whole other world.
It's definitely a lot trickier, because it's heavy traffic here, things of that nature. But we ride bikes here a lot. Not as much as I do back home when I'm in Ohio, because we have a lot of bike paths and things like that, which helps. But yeah, biking’s still a part of our life here in Los Angeles.
No, my kids don't ride as much. My daughter—she’s nine—does, when we go back home. It's funny you say that. We just went back to Ohio last week and the first thing she grabbed when we opened the garage was her bike. And she just started riding around the house and outside. So that was pretty cool.
Well, yeah, my oldest son, he loves to drive. My younger son, he's of age to drive, but he actually doesn't want to drive right now. He just likes sitting in the back of the car and just being lazy, I guess.
Well, for me, growing up in my hometown in Akron, Ohio, it was transportation for us. From when you first started riding a bike at whatever, three years old, to about 15 and and a half, when you got your permit to even drive, that's how you got around. Obviously your parents would take you to school if you had that opportunity, or take you to basketball practices and football practices, or whatever the case may be. But for me, my whole middle school, from sixth to eighth grade, I rode a bike every day to school. During the winter, during the spring, during the fall, I would ride a bike every day, unless every now and then a parent would take me to school. I spent almost 25 years of my life in Akron, Ohio. And then I spent another four years when I went back to Cleveland. So 29 of my 39 years were spent in northeast Ohio. Four years in Miami—I did a lot of cycling there. It was, I forgot what it was called—we used to do this race every, was it the first Friday or the last Friday of every month? The whole city would come.
Critical Mass. I would ride in that. When I was available and I was there, we were riding Critical Mass. I don't know if it was the first Friday or the last Friday. That shit was fun. That was extremely fun. It'd be like 250, 300 people on bikes riding around the city of Miami and obviously it'd be mapped out, and we’d usually end back downtown. We would start downtown, go all the way around Miami, and end up back downtown. It was pretty cool.
No, no. It would be hilarious when you’d ride past somebody in Critical Mass and they’re like, "Was that…? No, there's no way. Oh shit, that was!" I think the thing that stood out most to me was just how the whole community—we just started being one with the community. Obviously I'm not from South Florida, but doing Critical Mass with my guy Randy—he's the one who told me about it. He's like, "Man, you got to do one with us, man. It's super cool. You'll love it." And you just felt one with the community and that was a treat in itself for me.
Yeah, just always feeling like a kid. As a professional, you can get caught up in so much—the responsibility of it, the hard work, obviously the dedication it takes, the scrutiny. Sometimes it feels like work. You don't want it to feel like work, but sometimes it becomes so grueling that you're like, "I don't know if I'm going to get through it." And biking just always brings me back to my childhood, where you literally had no responsibility besides being a good person. And from time to time you got to make your bed up. Other than that, you don't have no bills, you don't have kids to look after, you don’t have to worry about if my taxes are signed and done, things of that nature. You just get to live life very peacefully and freely.
No. Nope, never. Not to this point. I don't think it's going to happen at this point. I'm always safe. I always put my helmet on. And I'm not a reckless rider, obviously, but it's not about you—you got to be aware of the surroundings. That comes with anything—that's not just cycling, but that's anything in life. You got to be aware of your surroundings.
I don't know. When I was in Miami, a couple of our guys would get out there and we would do Critical Mass, but I'm not aware of too many guys that cycle. Obviously you see Klay, he rides to the game sometimes. It's funny when he rides to the game with his helmet and stuff. So Klay Thompson is the only one that I've actually seen.
I've never had a bad game in my life, so every time I rode a bike to the game, I'll put up 40. I'm just messing. But I do remember riding my bike a lot to games in Miami and Coach Spo, he actually liked that. Coach Spo is one of those guys who'd get a kick out of doing the extra work, and he thought that me riding to the game and then performing at a high level was extra in a good way.
I think a lot of adults think they're too cool, and that's why I love biking because it makes me feel like a kid again. That goes back to my point: when you're a kid, you just go do it and have fun, you don't care. I know what I love and I know what my passions are, so I kind of stick to it.
No. No. I get fitted for it and it's fitted to a T. That's like asking me what size suit I wear: I don't know! The guy comes over and fits me for it and I put it on.