My name is Ed, I am the Chair of Tandemonium. I am 31 and live in Cheltenham. My optic nerves were damaged by a brain tumour 8 years ago. I am missing much of my visual field, but fortunately still have a narrow tunnel of good sight.
I experienced the usual ups and downs of learning to ride a bike as a child. During one lesson with my Dad, I was worried about losing control and going down the hill just past our house. Dad reassured me by saying I could use our gravel drive as my emergency stopping area. So, I set off on my stabilisers, and saw a woman on the road ahead. She tried to get out of my way, by stepping on to my emergency stopping area! I soon found myself rattling down the hill, with Dad in hot pursuit. I ended up flying over the handlebars, the lesson ending with a few grazes and a fair bit of crying. Despite this, I loved going on rides throughout the rest of my childhood.
I was involved in a variety of sports before I lost part of my sight; I particularly enjoyed football, badminton and cricket. As I was coming to terms with being partially sighted, I felt frustrated that I could no longer take part in these activities. This changed in 2012, when I attended a taster session run by Blind Cricket England and Wales. This brought me into contact with other visually impaired people for the first time and was a real turning point for me. Shortly afterwards, I co-founded the Gloucestershire Growlers Visually Impaired Cricket Club. The friends I made and the things I learnt eventually enabled me to get back to work and live independently again. Seeing the positive impact resulting from the success of the team inspired me to found Tandemonium, to benefit the local visually impaired community.
A few years ago, my girlfriend and I borrowed a bike from a charity called Charlotte’s Tandems. I really enjoyed riding it up and down the Honeybourne Line in Cheltenham. I would love to do more, but my partial sight makes it unsafe for me to ride on the road. As a result, I am really excited about the prospect of hitting the roads of Gloucestershire with Tandemonium, feeling the wind in what’s left of my hair and perhaps stopping at a few pubs along the way!
On Saturday, 17 June, I will be cycling 92 miles on a spin bike to raise money for Tandemonium. This will help us buy a small fleet of tandems and get the project started. It will be the biggest physical challenge of my life and I’m putting my body on the line so that visually impaired people in Gloucestershire can enjoy cycling in the way that so many sighted people do. You can sponsor me on our fundraising page below.
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tandemonium
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