Blindness can’t slow 83-year-old cyclist

Nine years ago at the age of 74, Dorothy Deans of Solana Beach lost most of her sight to a pair of strokes. But instead of feeling limited by her disability, the retired nurse said it opened her up to a whole new world.

She excitedly learned new technologies for the blind, she attended blind camps where she jumped out of planes and swung through trees, and she greatly expanded her circle of friends. Now — at 83 — she’s the oldest member of the Blind Stokers Club, a tandem bicycling group that pairs sighted “captains” on the front seat with blind and visually impaired “stokers” on the back.

“Ever since I lost my sight, it’s been such great fun,” she said. “I kept saying to myself ‘tomorrow I’m going to wake up crying,’ but I never did.”

Four to five days a week, Deans swims a mile at a local community pool. She also pedals 20 to 60 miles a week on a tandem bike with one of the three sighted captains she’s been paired with in the Blind Stokers Club.

One of those captains is fellow Solana Beach resident Paul Dickstein, 60, an avid cyclist and private SAT/ACT exam coach. Over the years, Dickstein figures he’s biked at least 175,000 miles. He joined the Blind Stokers in 2014 because he thought it would be a fun new way to enjoy cycling and he wanted to improve the accessibility of his favorite sport for others.

“I love the club camaraderie and there’s always something to talk about. I intend to keep doing it for many years to come,” said Dickstein, whose mother once worked as a braille transcriber. “Even outside of riding, my wife and I have become great friends with (Dorothy). We have a lot in common.”

Deans says she was uniquely prepared for not just living — but thriving — with a disability. Her mother became profoundly deaf as an adult, but it never slowed her down.

“She had a rich, wonderful life,” Deans said. “Her example was helpful for me.”

Deans’ ancestors immigrated to Minnesota from Sweden. A self-described “tomboy,” she grew up in St. Paul with her family’s passion for exercise and the outdoors. She also inherited their longevity genes. Her great-grandfather is said to have fathered one of his children at the ripe old age of 89.

After earning a nursing degree in 1956, Deans moved to San Francisco, where she eventually met and married an engineer from Coronado. He moved her to San Diego where they raised five children. They divorced when she was 40.

The only exercise she got in her child-rearing years was “chasing kids around.” But in her mid-50s, she decided to get serious about her weight and fitness.

“At 55, I came alive,” she said. “It was a profound change in my life.”

She started riding her bicycle to work at the student health center at UC San Diego. The daily 10-mile trek from Solana Beach included a steep uphill climb near Torrey Pines State Beach, which she found exhilarating. Then when she retired five years later, she celebrated her 60th birthday with swimming lessons to overcome a lifelong fear of water.

Because of a rare optic disc condition and a high risk of stroke due to low blood pressure, Deans said she wasn’t shocked when she woke up one morning in 2008 with no vision in her left eye. But she was surprised six weeks later when a second stroke took out 95 percent of the vision in her right eye. She said her sudden loss of sight didn’t depress her. It invigorated her to once again shake things up in her life.

“I found that losing my sight was like when you travel alone in Europe or Japan. Everything is so new to you that it’s very stimulating and you have to be alert to catch it all,” she said.

Deans was at the San Diego Center for the Blind 2-1/2 years ago when she first heard about the Blind Stokers Club.

Founded in 2007, Blind Stokers is the largest and most active tandem club for blind riders in the country, according to the U.S. Blind Tandem Cycling Connection. Blind Stokers has 130 active members and 40 matched cycling teams who gather for 22 ride each year of 25 to 60 miles, as well as social events. Members range in age from 14 to 83.

The club was founded in 2007 by Dave White of Rancho Peñasquitos. White isn’t blind and neither is his wife, Nancy, but they’re longtime tandem enthusiasts. He hit upon the idea for the club when he heard about the Cycling for Sight fundraiser and discovered that only sighted cyclists were participating in the annual event.

Over the years, White has built a countywide online network of riders, established a safety training program, organized volunteers to coordinate carpools and provide team support and has helped with the purchase and donation of many tandem bikes, which can cost up to $5,000.

White said the health benefits of tandem cycling are obvious, but he especially enjoys the friendships that the club has forged, like that between Deans and Dickstein.

“The hidden benefit of teamwork relationships is putting two strangers together as a matchmaker,” White said. “Sure we’re doing the obvious — we’re enabling the sport for the person who’s unable to pilot their own bike — but the not so obvious opportunity is for the enabler to share in the teamwork and the friendship that blossoms from that role.”

White matches teams together based on their skill, body size, personality, goals and geographic location. A good captain has confidence, leadership qualities and street smarts. A good stoker has strength, focus, trust and team spirit. The best teams bond both on the bike and off.

Deans likes to ride as often as she can, so she has multiple captains she can call on. They include Dickstein, her first captain Tony Tani and her 55-year-old son, Jack, who joined the club six months ago.

White said there’s always room for more in the Blind Stokers Club. Sighted cyclists can register for the “captain in training” program,” where they’ll be taught techniques on a loaner bike with volunteer stokers.

Club members are now training for their big event, the 13th annual Cycling for Sight fundraiser for the San Diego Center for the Blind. The event on July 15-16 will be based at Cal State San Marcos with courses ranging from 50 to 109 miles over two days. For details, visit cyclingforsight.org or blindstokersclub.org.

pam.kragen@sduniontribune.com