So what’s all this about a tandem challenge?
Well if you take 15 blind/vi goalball players, 15 sighted pilots, 15 tandems, 2 vans, a car, guide dog, 170 miles, 4 days and lots and lots of Jelly babies then you’ve got the raw ingredients for the Goalball “Coast to Coast” tandem challenge which took part between 3rd to 7th August.
As a group we were taking part to raise money and awareness of the Paralympic sport of Goalball which I first played in 1992 for the Leeds B team!!! For me however there was a great sense of personal challenge to it all and I’ve wanted to do a long-distance tandem ride for some time now so I (perhaps foolishly!) jumped at the chance to take part!!
It’s safe to say that we were a very mixed bunch, as players the youngest was 13 and I was very definitely the oldest player at 43. We all came from local goalball clubs as far afield as Winchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, South and West Yorkshire. Likewise the sighted tandem pilots were a mix of staff and volunteers from within the wider goalball community and others who’d responded to the appeal to help out but with no real contact to the sport. Yes there were some personality clashes along the way but it really was a lot of fun and the hard work was worth it for the great sense of achievement we all felt at the end.
For me however there were some much more personal reasons at play not least of all the question of whether or not I could physically do it being an older player and having arthritis. OK so I try and keep fit, have been going to the gym regularly now for around 5 years and do play goalball and blind cricket but I’d not been on a bike for decades and only had limited experience of riding a tandem. I’d also been excluded from PE at School and never saw myself as an “athlete” but that’s another story for another time!!
I also felt quite strongly that I needed a big physical challenge as Sarah, in my previous life I’d walked on fire and abseiled down the tallest hotel in Nottingham but I felt it was about time Sarah did something. The flip side of this however was that I was incredibly nervous about how it would go with me being a trans-person; some of those involved were already aware of my gender transition and my Nottinghamshire Sheriff’s team-mates have been very accepting of the new me, give or take a few accidental misgendering and dead-naming!! I needn’t have worried, if there were those who didn’t “get it” then they didn’t show it and there was certainly no remarks or incidents that made me feel uncomfortable during the whole 4 days.
Having successfully completed it I do feel very proud of myself for stepping up to the challenge and showing what you can do if you have the drive and determination. NO it wasn’t easy, there were a couple of times I felt like quitting not least of all when I had to visit Harrogate A & E until 2am to get my ankle seen to having caught it in the chain earlier that day. Yes there were some big, and I mean big, hills which were hard enough walking up let alone trying to cycle up! I also felt quite ill on the last day with exhaustion and this was the longest day with us having to cover 61 miles from York to Bridlington. Yet despite the problems I made it…only just at times but I nonetheless made it!!! I couldn’t have done it without the encouragement of family and friends and especially that of my wonderful partner Clare who ended up being my pilot on 2 occasions doing a total of 60 miles, the rest of the time she drove the “emergency car” and looked after my guide dog Raine.
What’s next…well there has been talk of Lands End to John O’Groats but I will need some persuading for that! I’ve definitely caught the cycling bug though and I will keep it up.
You can find out more on the challenge via my just giving page and it’s not too late to sponsor me if you’re inclined that way.
http://www.justgiving.com/sarahstephenson1
You can also see a video of the whole experience put together by my talented partner Clare here
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7oywkdf38haoe52/Goalball%20Coast2Coast_0002.wmv?dl=0
Who Turned The Lights Out? 