The U.S. Blind Tandem Cycling Connection is legally recognized by the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit corporation.
Mission
The U.S. Blind Tandem Cycling Connection endeavors to increase the participation of individuals who are visually impaired or blind in the exhilarating sport of tandem cycling.
Vision
Our vision is that everyone with a visual impairment has the opportunity to experience tandem cycling, with its’ feeling of freedom and sensation of speed. Also, we look forward to more sighted cyclists experiencing the satisfaction of captaining tandems and sharing the ride.
Our aspiration is that every school for the blind and every major city will support a blind tandem cycling club. Our hope is that more visually impaired individuals will cycle regularly, meeting new people, joining training rides, and competing in events.
Our website went LIVE on January 19th, 2010. Our database of captains and stokers is increasing and more dots, representing riders, are showing up on the USA map. The more cyclists that create profiles, the more riding opportunities there will be for everyone.
What We Do
We serve as a resource to:
- Connect blind and visually impaired cyclists with sighted cyclists
- Educate people about tandem cycling
- Disseminate information about cycling clubs, events, and opportunities
- Address the needs of the blind tandem cycling community
Board of Directors
Christine Tinberg, Founder and President, is an Assistant Professor in Kinesiology at Los Angeles City College. With the Braille Institute adjacent to the college, she had a number of persons with visual impairments in her classes. In the summer of 2008, while vacationing in Bend, Oregon, she saw a movie, The Way Bobby Sees It, about a blind mountain biker. Nancy Stevens, a blind triathlete, was in the audience, and she invited Christine to captain her tandem. Riding with Nancy, she found new purpose to her cycling and was thrilled with the speed and fun of pedaling a tandem.
She captained a tandem at the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes’ 2008 Developmental Cycling Camp held at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The following summer, she trained with, and was honored to ride a tandem with Nancy in the 2009 U.S. Paralympics Road Cycling National Championships. Through her research and conversations with blind stokers, it became evident that a central resource was needed for connecting stokers with captains. As a result, the U.S. Blind Tandem Cycling Connection was formed. Christine holds a B.S. degree in Sports Medicine and a M.S. degree in Ministry from Pepperdine University, and a M.S. degree in Exercise Science from Arizona State University. She cycles on the road and on the dirt in the Santa Monica Mountains near her home.
Nancy Stevens stoked a tandem 3000 miles from Portland to New York City in 2000, on a ride sponsored by Outward Bound. She has won three gold medals at the International Triathlon World Championships in the Visually Impaired Division in 2005, 2006, and 2007. A talented teacher and trainer, Nancy organized two Tri-It Triathlon Camps for blind athletes and sighted guides in Glenwood Springs, CO, in 2007 and 2008. When Nancy lived in Colorado, she was the Founding Director of High Country Options. The program, founded by the Developmental Disabilities Resource Center in Denver, was established to help those with a disability to build skills and to find employment. Nancy is passionate about encouraging others to be confident, to set goals, and to make things happen. We appreciate her energy, wisdom, and teaching skills.
Mark Remaly, born totally blind, underwent many eye surgeries as a child. When the surgeries were over, he had gained about 10% sight in one eye. That left him with enough vision to ride his bike around town with the other kids, enjoying freedom and adventure. He kept cycling, riding to and from his alma maters, Boston College and the Perkins School for the Blind, and later commuting to work. In 1983, Mark rode from outside Montreal to his home in Massachussets. He biked alone, and was 100% self-sufficient, but with only 10% vision. He says it was, “One of the most empowering things I have ever done.” Mark is totally blind now, his vision having deteriorated with time. So, Mark is stoking a tandem bike, and still experiencing freedom and adventure. Skilled with his hands, Mark completes most mechanical jobs on his red Co-Motion tandem, as well as household electrical and wood-working projects. Mark and his wife own a chair caning business, called The Seat Weaver. Mark signed upon bicyclingblind.org and was one of the first stokers to connect with a captain from our website. We appreciate Mark’s encouragement, his positive attitude, and his desire to help more stokers find captains.
Haley Schedlin teaches Physical Education in Rochester, NY. For the past 7 years, she has been the Assistant Director at Camp Abilities, a week-long, residential, developmental sports camp for individuals with visual impairments, blindness and deaf-blindness, ages 8-19. Haley is a co-author with Dr. Lauren Lieberman on two fitness manuals for individuals with visual impairments through the Printing House for the Blind. She has published a manual on how to start sport camps for individuals with visual impairments through the Perkins School for the Blind, as well as published articles in the Journal for Visual Impairments and Blindness. Haley has delivered numerous consultation workshops for school districts and presented at both state and national level conferences on Adapted Physical Education and Inclusion. Haley was awarded the Adapted Physical Activity Council (APAC) Adapted Physical Education Master’s Student of the Year in 2008. In 2011, she was presented as an Ambassador with the American Association of Physical Activity and Recreation (APAR) and won the Central Western Zone Middle School Teacher of the Year Award. Haley has bicycled in many 100 mile rides for the Tour De Cure, in addition to competing in duathlons.
310-455-1954
info[at]bicyclingblind[dot]org