20th Cycling for Sight with Blind Stokers Club

 I've been riding with the BSC since 2012.  This club is so important to me that it's hard to even quantify what it means, but let me try:

Many of my best friends are in the BSC.  Some are visually impaired, and some totally blind.  Some are sighted.  The people who are attracted to this club are dedicated to living a full and vibrant life. For some, this means getting on the front of a tandem and helping someone who can't see well enough to ride a bike otherwise to get out in the fresh air and break a good sweat and enjoy the company of the others in the club. Some of us get on the back of the tandem and pedal as hard as we can.  Some of us ride on single bikes and/or help with carpooling and fundraising.  All of us in the BSC, sighted or not, share in the spirit of adventure and camaraderie, and support each other through good times and bad. One of our stokers, Gil Johnson, passed away recently.  In his memoir, he wrote about what an important part of his life tandem cycling had played, since he could not otherwise ride a bicycle.  He joined our club later in life, and enjoyed following the club emails and other news when his health didn't permit him to ride.  We have a special "Stoker Emeritus" certificate, which Gil and more recently, Dotty Deans earned. BSC members are "lifers"!  

Donating to this fundraiser goes to the San Diego Center for the Blind.  This is the major fundraiser for the center.  I encourage you to look them up online-  the organization is small but it changes lives in a wonderful way.  I once was visiting my friend Adam Zwolinski, who had lost his vision and part of a foot from diabetes, and who also relied on the club for emotional support, even after he could no longer ride.  Adam was out of the room getting some sort of medical test, but I talked to the people who were visiting his hospital roommate.  One of them, coincidentally, was blind, and he gave the most astonishing and unscripted testimonial about how bleak his life was after he lost his vision, and how the San Diego Center for the Blind gave him hope and useful skills, and basically gave him his life back.  

Some of the money that we raise for the SDCB is funneled back to the BSC,  It's a big, beautiful circle, round as a bicycle wheel, and your (tax deductible) donation makes you part of it!  Thanks so much to those who are able to donate, and for all of you who took the time to read this!

Barbara, aka BaaBaaRa