Cape Town – Cycling for 109km around the peninsula with just 20 percent vision is a challenge that Gavin Kilpatrick has managed with aplomb.
And Kilpatrick, 31, didn’t do the the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour on a tandem. He was guided around the course by his friend Gabriele Hamny Blanco riding on a bike alongside him.
“It was fun,” said Kilpatrick.
The blind cyclist suffers from Stargardt disease, a degenerative condition, leaving him with only peripheral vision.
But he hasn’t let the disease keep him down. In 2008, he competed in the Paralympics and picked up a bronze medal in the tandem track cycling event.
Twice before when Kilpatrick and Hamny Blanco have entered the Cycle Tour they’ve ridden on a tandem, but this time they decided to go on separate bikes. Hamny Blanco said he guided Kilpatrick around the route using nothing but his voice.
“It’s quite difficult when we go fast on downhills,” said Kilpatrick.
The most challenging part was when the pair became separated in the midst of large bunches of other riders.
Yesterday, the duo rode as ambassadors for Forever Heroes – a charity that identifies sports celebrities to act as role models and mentors for young athletes.
The pair finished in just over four hours, but they insisted their times weren’t important because they wanted to ride in a group with other ambassadors for the charity. Kilpatrick said it built camaraderie on the road.
This was Kilpatrick’s third Cycle Tour, but he says it won’t be his last. – Cape Argus