Jessica Bliss

jbliss@tennessean.com

Night vision went first.

Then peripheral.

Color discernment also slipped away.

Now, Peggy Ivie has only light perception.

But riding a bicycle isn’t about what she can see. It’s about how it makes her feel.

“The feel of that wind on my face,” she said. “It’s just exhilarating.”

Yes, even with retinitis pigmentosa — an inherited, degenerative eye disease that has left the 60-year-old Nashvillian nearly blind — she can still ride a bike.

She does so tandem-style.

A fully sighted person, who is called the captain, serves as the direction leader in the front, and she, the “stoker,” serves as the pedal power in the back.

Ivie is part of a group of about 22 visually impaired cyclists who ride weekly with the Harpeth Bike Club. The club began adaptive riding in 2009, when it connected with the Tennessee Association of Blind Athletes. Today, tandemists also join from the Middle Tennessee Council of the Blind and students from the Tennessee School for the Blind.

“I never went into this dreaming I would fall in love with it,” said Ivie, who began riding with the club three years ago. “With the sun on my skin, I just love cycling.”

Running narrative

The first time George Guerrero tried a tandem, he was scared. He lost his vision from a brain tumor when he was 4 and never had ridden a bike without training wheels.

He got off before he even tried to pedal.

When he tried again years later with the Harpeth Bike Club, he felt more confident — and that was liberating.

“When I am on the tandem bike, I feel like I can let things go,” 18-year-old Guerrero said. “… I feel like I can do what a normal person can do on a single bike. It’s just a great sensation.”

To successfully navigate in tandem, the captain must provide a running narrative of the surroundings, road and traffic conditions. He must describe how tight or gentle a turn is and prepare the stoker for a hill and stops.

“It’s like reading a map in front of you and telling the person behind you what is going on,” said captain Kevin Bullock, one of the Harpeth Bicycle Club’s adaptive athlete coordinators.

Helping support an adaptive program has been a way for Bullock to take what is often an individual sport and turn it into something more.

Most of the bicycles are club members’ personal tandems, but with donations from Gran Fondo Cycles and MOAB Bike Shop, the club has provided gear and apparel to the adaptive athletes. Additionally, through fundraisers like the upcoming Harpeth River Ride, the club has purchased indoor trainers for the adaptive athletes to ride.

Exercise is particularly important for the visually impaired demographic, Ivie said, which deals with obesity because of the challenges that come with physical activity. And it’s an opportunity to project an important image: “Even though we have lost our sight or most of our sight, we live productive and independent lives,” Ivie said.

Reach Jessica Bliss at 615-259-8253 and on Twitter @jlbliss.

HARPETH RIVER RIDE

Each year, the Harpeth Bike Club selects a visually impaired cyclist as honorary ride leader for the Harpeth River Ride, a fundraiser to support the club’s adaptive athlete program. This year Peggy Ivie, who is president of the Middle Tennessee Council of the Blind, will have the honor.

When: 7 a.m. June 21

Where: Nissan Americas, One Nissan Way, Franklin

Routes: Distances of 100, 62, 45 and 23 miles; open to all skill levels

More info and registration:www.harpethriverride.com