Tandem bicycle club in Ecuador's capital leads blind riders to new adventures

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Franklin Ochoa says that since losing his eyesight 16 years ago, he has started to take on new adventures that he hadn’t thought of when he could see, and it’s all thanks to a bicycle club.

Every Sunday, a group known as the Ciegocleta meets in Ecuador’s capital city of Quito to ride tandem bikes that are steered by volunteers who can see, but pedaled by blind riders.

Ochoa, 44, is one of the group’s most active members and he’s taken his passion for riding well beyond the streets of Quito. Recently, he completed a 1,000 km (650 mile) tandem bike ride that spanned much of Ecuador.

“When I arrive on a bike in a new city I feel like shedding tears of happiness,” Ochoa said. “I love speed and I always tell my guide to let go of the brakes.”

Ciegocleta, whose name comes from the Spanish words for blind and bicycle, was founded 19 years ago by Miguel Ramos, a resident of Quito who built his own tandem bikes. He used them during the ciclopaseo, a weekly event in which the city bars cars from many avenues and turns them over to bike riders and joggers.

Ramos built the tandem bikes so he could ride the ciclopaseo with his children. But one day, one of Ramos’ children couldn’t go, so he decided to invite a blind neighbor to ride with him.

That became the first of many more outings, in which volunteers using tandem bikes, or even bikes with three or four seats, lead people who are visually impaired.

“This is true inclusion,” Ramos said. “We have blind people who are now enjoying cycling without any limits.”

Before heading out to the streets on Sundays on the bikes provided by Ciegocleta, blind people receive some security tips, while volunteers ride on the back of a bike with their eyes covered, to get a sense of what their visually impaired counterparts will experience.

The Ciegocleta group has 150 members, though only about 30 show up to ride on a given Sunday.

Ximena Lozano, a 54-year-old psychologist who was born without sight, says she has been part of the bicycle club for the past 14 years.

Lozano says that when she was younger she spent too much time at home reading, writing or surfing the web. The bicycle club gives her a reason to be outdoors, she said, and “experience freedom.”

According to Ecuador’s government, around 56,000 people in the country are visually impaired, and while blind people have been able to find work with increasing success, their inclusion in sports is still a work in progress.

José Paéz, one of the volunteers at Ciegocleta, said he joined the club after his father-in-law quickly lost his sight due to disease, and brought him to the free rides to help him overcome depression.

“At first it felt scary to lead a blind person on a bike,” Paéz said. “Keeping a (tandem) bike balanced and sustaining the rhythm is not as easy as when you use a regular bike.”

Franklin Ochoa says that his next challenge will be to undertake a ride from Ecuador to Mexico. Through the club he has found a partner willing to join him on the adventure, which can take several months.