Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Cycling (self.Blind)
submitted by HeftyCryptographer21
I was wondering if there were any people here who cycled without a tandem bike. I am a 16 year old with low vision, about 20/400, and about 20 degrees of peripheral vision. I enjoy cycling, but it can be quite stressful sometimes. I was wondering who here cycled independently, and how you do it. Thanks in advanced
codeplaysleep 7 points 3y ago
I'm about to start cycling. I'm not sure if you'd call it "independently" but it won't be on a tandem bike. My vision's 20/200 with a narrow visual field (I only have central vision in one eye). I rode my bike all over our quiet neighborhood when I was a kid. This time I'll be going with my 18yr old. Our plan is to have radios with earpieces so we can talk to each other and we'll stay close, but on separate bikes. He'll lead, basically. We're still going to be very picky about where we ride. Radios might not strictly be necessary, but it will be nice not to have to yell and will reduce the chance of one of us not hearing the other.
We have an industrial complex that joins right up to two school campuses that's not far from our house. It's almost totally dead in the evenings and when school's out and it's a maze of small roads and big parking lots - enough to keep it interesting to ride for an hour for exercise. We'll probably go there.
We have an industrial complex that joins right up to two school campuses that's not far from our house. It's almost totally dead in the evenings and when school's out and it's a maze of small roads and big parking lots - enough to keep it interesting to ride for an hour for exercise. We'll probably go there.
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 4 points 3y ago
Thanks a lot for your response. The way you bike with you son is what I do with my mother. She leads in the front, and then I follow on my bike fairly close behind.
What you said about radios is interesting. I am fully Deaf, so it is impossible to communicate while biking for me. May I ask what purpose the earpieces serve for you?
Thanks a lot for your response, and I hope you have an awesome day.
What you said about radios is interesting. I am fully Deaf, so it is impossible to communicate while biking for me. May I ask what purpose the earpieces serve for you?
Thanks a lot for your response, and I hope you have an awesome day.
xXLosingItXx 3 points 3y ago
A lot of bikers use hand signals. Maybe your mother can buy those biker gloves that light up so you can see them better? Essentially the leader will point with their right or left hand to indicate which way to turn, or raise their right hand higher to indicate a stop. May not be perfect but it’s an idea
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Yeah. I already do that, and it definitely helps. Thanks for the suggestion.
codeplaysleep 2 points 3y ago
>May I ask what purpose the earpieces serve for you?
Oh, it would be just so we could use the radios hands-free.
Oh, it would be just so we could use the radios hands-free.
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Oh, ok. Thanks a bunch.
bondolo 3 points 3y ago
My wife and her brother both cycled independently as kids with low vision. My wife had her bike taken away repeatedly and eventually sawed in half after she rode into the street in front of a car who thankfully stopped. Her brother was still riding in to his teens, a different standard for boys as he admits, though unsafely. His last day riding he ran into a parked car and then a few hours later smashed through the back window of another parked car.
Both of them continue to ride tandem. Neither have sufficient vision to ride independently. My wife rode with me independently on a giant empty car storage parking lot, mostly to prove that she could ride a bike by herself. As a spouse I am occasionally required to attest to this fact 😁.
A friend who has RP confessed he only gave up his bike after misjudging the distance to a rider going the opposite direction on a bike path and clipping them as they passed. He was more injured than the other person, a kid, but he said that it haunted him to think that he was a risk to others when riding. He says that giving up his bike after 20 years of riding was as painful as giving up the drivers license he had for only three years.
If you can be safe, both for yourself and others, go for it!
Both of them continue to ride tandem. Neither have sufficient vision to ride independently. My wife rode with me independently on a giant empty car storage parking lot, mostly to prove that she could ride a bike by herself. As a spouse I am occasionally required to attest to this fact 😁.
A friend who has RP confessed he only gave up his bike after misjudging the distance to a rider going the opposite direction on a bike path and clipping them as they passed. He was more injured than the other person, a kid, but he said that it haunted him to think that he was a risk to others when riding. He says that giving up his bike after 20 years of riding was as painful as giving up the drivers license he had for only three years.
If you can be safe, both for yourself and others, go for it!
Pegasaurus8 3 points 3y ago
I’ve ridden a bike my whole life. In fact, 6 years ago I received my first motorized bicycle. It’s basically a motor kit attached to a cruiser bike. My state doesn’t require a drivers license or tags for it. This has given me a lot of independence.
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I'm really glad that works for you. May I ask what your vision is? I don't think it would be smart for me to get a motorized bike, but IDK.
Pegasaurus8 2 points 3y ago
20/150 is. Give or take. I also have nystagmus, astigmatism and ROP.
I told my nw ophthalmologist (I moved to a different state) He was surprised and says I “seem to manage well”.
He’s actually told other patients about it (not recommending it though.).
I told my nw ophthalmologist (I moved to a different state) He was surprised and says I “seem to manage well”.
He’s actually told other patients about it (not recommending it though.).
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I'm 20/400 ish, so I don't think I could manage that. Good on you though, and good luck.
vwlsmssng 3 points 3y ago
Is there no availability of tandem cycling where you are or does it just not interest you as much as solo cycling?
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 3 points 3y ago
A bit of both. I cycle with my mother, who doesn't mind going in front of me so that I can follow her, but is unwilling to ride a tandem bike. She thinks it's silly, and unnecessary. Also, I am more interested in solo cycling.
vwlsmssng 3 points 3y ago
I can strongly recommend tandem cycling if you can get out with a good front rider and on on a decent tandem. I'm a sighted front rider and my regular back rider has a severe visual impairment, she absolutely loves the tandem.
I saw from your post history you drink milk in a bag and eat toast with maple syrup. I know Canada is a big country so their might not be a club near you like https://trailblazerstandem.org/ in Toronto, Ontario. There might be a local ordinary cycling club who could help you, even if it is a guide on another solo bike.
I saw from your post history you drink milk in a bag and eat toast with maple syrup. I know Canada is a big country so their might not be a club near you like https://trailblazerstandem.org/ in Toronto, Ontario. There might be a local ordinary cycling club who could help you, even if it is a guide on another solo bike.
NovemberGoat 2 points 3y ago
I've been curious about getting into riding a tandem with someone for years. What makes a good front rider? What makes a good back rider? These are brand new things I haven't really thought about before.
vwlsmssng 2 points 3y ago
/u/HeftyCryptographer21 will be interested in this question.
Mutual respect between front and back rider is paramount. Not using overly specific terms, like captain for the rider and stoker for the back rider, can help. You must both fully accept that your partner is giving of their best even if it doesn't meet your needs or expectations.
You will get the old jokes by bystanders of "she's not pedalling at the back". Equally, as you pant uphill, you will wonder what the oncoming driver is laughing at only to turn round and find your back rider sat up taking a phone call from a sibling on another continent. Just take this in your stride.
You'll know you are a good team when you've worked together to get up something like the $1 in Yorkshire, and then made the steep descent back to the village and café.
A good front rider will make sure the back rider is kept safe and informed. Changing gear, changing direction, changing surfaces, all can cause consternation and surprise, especially to a VI back rider. Most importantly, the front rider must call out for potholes and other bumps in the road. The back rider will get a hard shock through the saddle if they are not warned in time to put their weight onto the pedals.
The front rider also must be a competent cyclist, they have to steer, brake and change gears on a bike that is bigger, heavier and longer than a solo and has another person on board. There are some tandem specific skills, mainly getting on, setting off, stopping and dismounting, and changing gears. Changing gears requires more anticipation and some coordination with the back rider.
A good back rider is calm, patient and forgiving, ready to push the pedals when the hills come and ready to hold on tight for the fast descents. I'm always grateful for how calm my back rider stays when things get uncomfortable because the route I've chosen is really too rough and rugged for a tandem, or I've misjudged the slalom between gates and had to brake suddenly. I will get told off in a gentle way but they wait until I've dealt with the crisis.
Where the back rider is VI, the front rider has another set of responsibilities, starting with Audio Description of the world as it goes past. Part of the fun of travelling with someone is that you get to share experiences and converse as you go. Describing the surroundings helps both of you to share the experience. VI riders, the same as sighted riders, will get a lot from the purely physical sensations of cycling, the wind, the sun, the hard climbs and fast descents, but if the front rider forgets to talk the back rider can feel left out of the experience. Off the bike, the back rider is still visually impaired but is no longer in the cocoon of the tandem where they can pedal as fast and hard as they can without tripping or snagging or colliding with things. The front rider is now the guide, at the least describing the route to the café toilets so that your white cane can guide you to them, or assisting with the other little reasonable adjustments such as reading the menu if braille or large print are unavailable.
Finally, someone must own a tandem, be it the front rider, back rider or a club. Tandems are expensive, usually more than twice as expensive as two solo bikes of similar quality, and good dealers are few and far between. If you can find a club that caters for VI riders that will be the best place to start, otherwise there might be a local enthusiast who is just looking for someone to go out on a tandem with them.
Good luck finding your ideal tandem partner, or at least one who is good enough.
Mutual respect between front and back rider is paramount. Not using overly specific terms, like captain for the rider and stoker for the back rider, can help. You must both fully accept that your partner is giving of their best even if it doesn't meet your needs or expectations.
You will get the old jokes by bystanders of "she's not pedalling at the back". Equally, as you pant uphill, you will wonder what the oncoming driver is laughing at only to turn round and find your back rider sat up taking a phone call from a sibling on another continent. Just take this in your stride.
You'll know you are a good team when you've worked together to get up something like the $1 in Yorkshire, and then made the steep descent back to the village and café.
A good front rider will make sure the back rider is kept safe and informed. Changing gear, changing direction, changing surfaces, all can cause consternation and surprise, especially to a VI back rider. Most importantly, the front rider must call out for potholes and other bumps in the road. The back rider will get a hard shock through the saddle if they are not warned in time to put their weight onto the pedals.
The front rider also must be a competent cyclist, they have to steer, brake and change gears on a bike that is bigger, heavier and longer than a solo and has another person on board. There are some tandem specific skills, mainly getting on, setting off, stopping and dismounting, and changing gears. Changing gears requires more anticipation and some coordination with the back rider.
A good back rider is calm, patient and forgiving, ready to push the pedals when the hills come and ready to hold on tight for the fast descents. I'm always grateful for how calm my back rider stays when things get uncomfortable because the route I've chosen is really too rough and rugged for a tandem, or I've misjudged the slalom between gates and had to brake suddenly. I will get told off in a gentle way but they wait until I've dealt with the crisis.
Where the back rider is VI, the front rider has another set of responsibilities, starting with Audio Description of the world as it goes past. Part of the fun of travelling with someone is that you get to share experiences and converse as you go. Describing the surroundings helps both of you to share the experience. VI riders, the same as sighted riders, will get a lot from the purely physical sensations of cycling, the wind, the sun, the hard climbs and fast descents, but if the front rider forgets to talk the back rider can feel left out of the experience. Off the bike, the back rider is still visually impaired but is no longer in the cocoon of the tandem where they can pedal as fast and hard as they can without tripping or snagging or colliding with things. The front rider is now the guide, at the least describing the route to the café toilets so that your white cane can guide you to them, or assisting with the other little reasonable adjustments such as reading the menu if braille or large print are unavailable.
Finally, someone must own a tandem, be it the front rider, back rider or a club. Tandems are expensive, usually more than twice as expensive as two solo bikes of similar quality, and good dealers are few and far between. If you can find a club that caters for VI riders that will be the best place to start, otherwise there might be a local enthusiast who is just looking for someone to go out on a tandem with them.
Good luck finding your ideal tandem partner, or at least one who is good enough.
vwlsmssng 1 points 3y ago
Visually impaired tandem riding in the UK.
I can't find a single comprehensive resource so here are a bunch of links.
Obviously Covid-19 has put a big damper on this but you might still be able to borrow a tandem to cycle with a household member, or get in touch with a club in anticipation of riding starting again.
$1 can loan tandems if you have a front rider already, or their website has loads of advice and $1.
Then there are a number of clubs in the UK for VI back riders.
For a big list start here:
https://tandem-club.org.uk/files/information/disabled.html
I know this is an incomplete list so here are a few more I've heard of or can find with a search:
Huddersfield - http://www.tandemtrekkers.org.uk/
Hull - https://www.sightsupport.org/services/clubs-and-groups/beech-holme-tandem-club
London - https://www.metroblindsport.org/sports/vision-impaired-tandem-cycling/
West or Central areas of Fife - http://www.talkingtandems.org/
Edinburgh & Lothians - https://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/tandem-cycling-opportunity-edinburgh-lothians/
Inverness - http://www.spanglefish.com/highlandblindtandemclub/index.asp
Milton Keynes - https://www.bucksvision.co.uk/our-services/visual-impairment-social-activities/tandem-club
Another big list :
Manchester (Tameside),Kent (Cyclopark), Aylesbury (Stoke Mandeville), Nottingham (Harvey Haddon), York (York Sport Cycle Circuit), Bath (Odd Down) - https://britishblindsport.org.uk/membership/bbs-sports/cycling/
Bristol - https://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/tandem-rides
Leatherhead - https://www.surreyinformationpoint.org.uk/Services/2603/Tandem-Club-SeeAbil
Wetherby, Harrogate, York, Wakefield, Ripon - http://www.opencountry.org.uk/groups-activities/tandems/
Hopefully you can find something here.
I can't find a single comprehensive resource so here are a bunch of links.
Obviously Covid-19 has put a big damper on this but you might still be able to borrow a tandem to cycle with a household member, or get in touch with a club in anticipation of riding starting again.
$1 can loan tandems if you have a front rider already, or their website has loads of advice and $1.
Then there are a number of clubs in the UK for VI back riders.
For a big list start here:
https://tandem-club.org.uk/files/information/disabled.html
I know this is an incomplete list so here are a few more I've heard of or can find with a search:
Huddersfield - http://www.tandemtrekkers.org.uk/
Hull - https://www.sightsupport.org/services/clubs-and-groups/beech-holme-tandem-club
London - https://www.metroblindsport.org/sports/vision-impaired-tandem-cycling/
West or Central areas of Fife - http://www.talkingtandems.org/
Edinburgh & Lothians - https://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/tandem-cycling-opportunity-edinburgh-lothians/
Inverness - http://www.spanglefish.com/highlandblindtandemclub/index.asp
Milton Keynes - https://www.bucksvision.co.uk/our-services/visual-impairment-social-activities/tandem-club
Another big list :
Manchester (Tameside),Kent (Cyclopark), Aylesbury (Stoke Mandeville), Nottingham (Harvey Haddon), York (York Sport Cycle Circuit), Bath (Odd Down) - https://britishblindsport.org.uk/membership/bbs-sports/cycling/
Bristol - https://www.lifecycleuk.org.uk/tandem-rides
Leatherhead - https://www.surreyinformationpoint.org.uk/Services/2603/Tandem-Club-SeeAbil
Wetherby, Harrogate, York, Wakefield, Ripon - http://www.opencountry.org.uk/groups-activities/tandems/
Hopefully you can find something here.
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Thanks a lot for the suggestion. I'll look into it. Do you mind if I ask how much vision the person you ride with has? Is she fully blind, or could she ride a bike on her own if she wanted to?
Also, who eats toast with maple syrup? Everyone knows that maple syrup goes on pancakes. /s
Also, who eats toast with maple syrup? Everyone knows that maple syrup goes on pancakes. /s
vwlsmssng 3 points 3y ago
My back rider has some sight but probably couldn't ride a bike by themselves. A guide nearby, and quiet open roads might work to some degree if they went slowly enough to react to instructions. However, I think balancing the bike would be very difficult for them, they find balancing on one leg very difficult without a close visual reference or a nearby support.
If she was go on her own bike and I was to ride alongside I don't think we we get far, maybe a mile or so. On the tandem we can cover 40 miles or more in a day ride, reaching up to 50 mph on fast descents, averaging 10 mph travelling on fast roads, slower on disused railway lines, forest trails, canal towpaths and bridleways. We've been cycling in The Netherlands, Belgium and France as well as numerous scenic parts of England and some parts of Scotland. This of course has involved numerous cafe stops for lunch or just coffee and cake.
A solo bike is possible but a tandem opens up so many possibilities.
If she was go on her own bike and I was to ride alongside I don't think we we get far, maybe a mile or so. On the tandem we can cover 40 miles or more in a day ride, reaching up to 50 mph on fast descents, averaging 10 mph travelling on fast roads, slower on disused railway lines, forest trails, canal towpaths and bridleways. We've been cycling in The Netherlands, Belgium and France as well as numerous scenic parts of England and some parts of Scotland. This of course has involved numerous cafe stops for lunch or just coffee and cake.
A solo bike is possible but a tandem opens up so many possibilities.
bscross32 2 points 3y ago
I did when I was a kid and knew my entire neighborhood. When I got older, I went with my dad, him int front and me following somewhat close behind.
HeftyCryptographer21 [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Yeah, that's basically what I do too. Do you still bike ever?
bscross32 2 points 3y ago
Not anymore. Vision is not good enough now.
noaimpara 1 points 3y ago
I’ve cycled before in empty forest with a safe bike trail, but always with a sighted friend by my side (on a separate bike). It’s honestly very fun!
Fuzzybo 1 points 3y ago
If you really want to go large, check out this guy. Ben Felten is the world’s fastest blind man on a motorcycle! In March 2018, Ben established a new world motorcycle land speed record of 266.716 kph (165.730 mph) on his Kawasaki Ninja ZX10R. $1
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