In Girona, solidarity travels in tandem. In front, volunteer pilots and, behind, blind people
Let's imagine feel the smell of wet earth at the top of your lungs, the leaves of a eucalyptus tree, the freshly cut grass, the flowers that give off the most perfume on the paths, such as the lady of the night, mint or fennel. Feel the air, the smells, the temperature, the breeze that brushes our arms, legs and face, the wind that moves the hair.
Going forward to the fluid rhythm of pedaling, also many sounds are capturing our attention. Everything we feel takes much more relief if we close our eyes If we turn off one of our senses, the energy seeks to go deeper into the rest. sitting on the back seat of a tandem, we lower our eyelids or we put a knotted headband that prevents us from seeing.
Let's imagine feeling the smell of wet earth at the top of our lungs
We will live like this a very special sensation, Emotions were on the surface. requires trust in the pilot who guides us, and firmness, security and strength in each one of our pedal strokes, riding hard on the right path.
If we try it, we will be putting ourselves in the shoes of the protagonists of a story of meeting between volunteers who pilot tandems in the city of Girona and blind people who trust them with the experience of going out to explore the territory.
Relying completely on that shared journey of balanced forces, blind people have just as much responsibility to pedal hard as those in front with their eyes wide open to overcome any obstacle, choose the path and contribute narration of the main details of the journey, also the most subtle.
Crossing a bridge, bordering a stream, requiring more muscle intensity at a certain moment to save a slope, leave behind the urban fabric of the city of Girona and, with it, traffic and urban noise, to go into the calm of the roads.
Volunteers who pilot tandems in the city of Girona and blind people who entrust them with the experience of going out to explore the territory
It's Wednesday, tandem departure day for Joseph Reixac. Everyone calls him Jep, he was born in the town of Besalu, but he lives in the Sant Gregori neighborhood of Girona and he is a professional musician. Guitar and singer, he has been traveling with his orchestra for more than 30 years The Monte Carlo. At the age of 8 they detected him a degenerative eye disease. He is now 59 years old and he can only perceive light and shadow.
“I have tried to live fast everything I wanted to live, like traveling a lot. I have done 56 trips. I am in love with Thailand and I have gone to Cuba every year. Fortunately, I have been able to gradually get used to the loss of vision”, he says.
Until the age of 30, Jep could ride a bike without any problem, but now he hadn't been on a bike for a long time. Today he is one of the engines of this tandem adventure. Motor, due to the impulse that his legs provide in each of those trips on pedals, and motor because his lack of visual capacity, like that of any blind person in Girona, inspired this initiative.
It was Xavier Corominas who saw the possibility of accompanying unseen people on tandem outings. And the proposal opened a world of new sensations, an experience -up to the moment of one day a week- renewing, that airs even the soul of each other, those who guide and those who travel in the back seat.
"We, the pilots, only have to indicate the obstacles"
This synergy dates back more than a year ago, when Corominas, who is a member of the association Mou-te en bici (Move by bike) of Girona, that promotes the use of bicycles in the city, coincided with a group of blind people who had just gathered to specify proposals for improvement in the city that facilitate daily life for those who live with the difficulties derived from their lack of vision.
Thinking about it, a light went on in Xavier Corominas' mind. Some tandems of the Girona Greenways Consortium came to mind and he thought of propose these original and supportive shared trips which have now been filming for more than a year.
NATURE MORE TO FLOWER OF SKIN
The greenways are old railway crossings or shepherd's paths, now in disuse, which have been recovered so that they can be traveled by bicycle, on horseback or on foot. The greenway from Banyoles to Girona is one of those that is usually done in tandem.
“We went through places where there are many birds, farms and country houses and you go down to areas with a lot of shade”, explains Xavier Corominas. “The bicycle is a very good aid when you have to walk somewhere, it is the best cane for the people behind you. We, the pilots, only have to indicate the obstacles”, comments Corominas.
"We slide without poles and we are protagonists of the advance, as much as the one who guides us"
It is a completely free activity for everyone, although the beneficiaries signed up to the Mou-te en bici association to join forces in this commitment to the use of bicycles. Now they know more than ever the benefits, and for them the privilege of being able to pedal outdoors. Five tandems usually leave. In addition to the Greenways Consortium, it collaborates with this initiative Cycle tourism Tours of Girona.
Other tours that they usually choose follow the Camí Ral de Girona to the town of Sant Gregori, which can be extended to the town of Sant Julià de Llor i Bonmatí, in an itinerary of an approximate hour of way. The Carrilet and Sant Feliu greenways Y the old path of Salt, Aiguaviva, Vilablareix and L'estanyol They are other very grateful routes from the capital of Girona.
“These are tracks in very good condition. And for the most daring, we can make the descent of the Vía Verde from Olot to Girona and the ascent to the sanctuary of Els Àngels, in the Les Gavarres massif”, adds Xavier Corominas. Engines and pilots meet through a WhatsApp group.
“We can get to do 40 or 50 kilometers between coming and going. I have an elliptical at home and I hardly use it, on the other hand, going out to pedal I do it very comfortably. It is very nice to reconnect with nature and go out in a group. We stopped for breakfast and talked to each other. I love it, I spend a very good morning, and I think everyone does the same. It is a very interesting project”, explains Jep.
In Girona, solidarity travels in tandem. In front, volunteer pilots and, behind, blind people
“We have already overcome many fears, we know how to go up and down stairs, and we trust the person who takes us. On the tandem, from behind you should feel what the one in front is doing, if it turns, you turn, if it pedals, you pedal. We have all the senses that are not the most developed sight. It's a really good feeling on those bike lanes pass through the vegetation, notice the smell of the grass and, even if it is hot, feel the air as you pass. And they come to look for us and accompany us back home. They make everything very comfortable for us,” says Jep.
“If we cross wet areas with trees, you notice it yourself. Listen to the river water and the birds also makes the walk attractive", expresses Jordi Salido, another of the engines of this adventure.
"In the city you also hear the traffic, and you have to pay more attention in case you have to brake quickly, but it is neither more nor less attractive, the whole output is pleasant and playful. It helps me to escape from so much tension, it makes me enjoy sports and relaxation", he affirms.
Roser Criville is another of the participants. He hadn't been on a bike for many years. As soon as they told him about the possibility of doing it again, now that practically his eyes only perceive the contrast of light and shadows, he didn't hesitate. She was excited.
"The whole output is pleasant and playful"
From the moment she came to get the pilot in the tandem with which she would go on an excursion until he returned to leave her at the door of the house, she held back all emotions. That first day she was much more focused on doing everything perfectly than she was almost enjoying the experience. "I wanted to be accepted" she says.
Roser walks a lot, she goes out to do routes in the mountains with different friends, but she would pedal again, if she wasn't that way she couldn't live it anymore. And she is delighted to be able to go out in tandem every week. She well equipped with everything that accompanies a good cyclist, she waits very soon every Wednesday for the tandem to arrive.
“We slide without poles and we are protagonists of progress, as much as the one who guides us, with whom we feel full confidence. For us this has a lot of value", says Roser.
Xavi Corominas is her most usual pilot. After more than a year accompanying Roser and other people who enjoy outings with all the fullness of their other senses as a driver and guide behind the wheel, she set out to experience those same sensations.
“I had never ridden in tandem (in the back seat). Going ahead, you always have confidence in yourself, carrying the other person that you know depends on you,” he explains. “At the end of the usual excursion one day, we had to go look for another tandem and I told a colleague, I'll go up behind. And then I said to myself: What if you tried to cover your eyes? I closed them and I was surprised”, continue.
“It was brutal. He listened to cars, buses, bikes... He made me very aware that our responsibility is the trust that those who pedal behind have, just perceiving sun and shadow with his eyes. When we are approaching a speed bump, we notify in advance or if we stop with the right or with the left. It is an experience that, after doing it, I said: all the pilots would have to do it anyway to know what the person behind is feeling”.
Tandem travel gives all that away. In the back seat of a tandem and eyes closed it will be a totally different, therapeutic experience. Perhaps it will help us overcome fears, gain confidence, learning from those who know how to do it best. “It seems incredible that these people teach you so much through everything they show you that they can do despite their lack of vision. We, those who see, have many more fears, " says Salvador Llorente, who is another of the tandem pilots.
Llorente knows that riding a bike is not the same as riding a tandem and he already has a good practice internalized. He had just retired when his brother told him about this experience in his city, and starting as a volunteer has been very good for him. "Not only to be the driver of a tandem again, above all it has gone well for me to leave the house," he says.
Thanks to him, in the back seat someone also gets out into nature who otherwise would not be able to do so by pedaling. And, in that pleasant ride, they enjoy a more intimate, more subjective, more private, more enriching experience because it further enhances the perception of temperature, natural fragrances and the pleasure of trusting those who lead the way.