What it's like to be a blind cyclist on the back of a tandem bike

Okay, so what I thought would've been my first organized bike ride on our tandem bicycle actually turned out to be the Moonlight Ramble, a ride benefitting Bike Houston, an organization that advocates for Houston to move toward becoming a bike friendly city. One of their most recent endeavors was getting the city to place bike racks on Metro buses so that bikers could transport their bikes using public transportation. Yes, this is something that almost every large U.S. city has been doing for years, but Houston, with their SUV and pick-up truck culture, has yet to yield to cyclists.

John and I were sitting at home last night doing what couples do when there's nothing else to do on a Saturday night--we were watching The Silence of the Lambs (a movie that my husband had never seen until yesterday)--when John saw on Twitter that there was an organized bike ride to be held at 2 AM. And with nothing better to do, we decided to ride, convincing our friend Daniel to join us. So three hours later, we were at the George R. Brown Convention Center with our gloves on and helmets strapped under our chins. There were two paths: the short route (10 miles) and the long route (20 miles). Of course, we planned to do only the short route as it being two in the morning, we weren't too keen on getting to bed at dawn.

They started us off in waves promptly at two. At first, there was a lot of stop-and-go traffic since we were obeying traffic lights. But soon, impatience got the better of everyone, and we were riding through red lights so long as there was no oncoming traffic. We rode through downtown and saw all the clubgoers stumbling out of the bars, honking at us for getting in their way and permitting them to only go ten miles per hour down downtown streets. We rode through the Medical Center, the Museum District, the Galleria.

"Where's the split off for the short route?" Daniel asked one of the volunteers once we were seven miles in.

"Oh, that was way back there. Back at the fountain," the man said.

After much cursing, we decided it was easier to just finish off the 20 miles than backtrack to the short route fork. We biked up the 610 feeder, down Memorial, all the while feeling perturbed that we were so much closer to home than to the Convention Center and thus, the end of the ride. Then John got the brilliant idea that we should break off from the route, bike home, and Daniel would take John to pick up his car at George R. Brown.

"That is the best idea ever!" I said, patting John on the back. Suddenly, things looked brighter, hopeful.

"Wait, my car keys are in John's car," Daniel said.

Egad! Now we really had no choice but to finish off the 20 miles. I nearly cried when we rode past the Memorial-Washington intersection. So close to home, yet so far.

We reached the car at 3:48 AM, earlier than I'd thought it'd be, later than Daniel had hoped it would be.

"Worst idea ever," John remarked as we drove home.

Later, he apologized to me for "putting me through this." But in actuality, I didn't mind it. It was something different to do on a Saturday night. It was my first time participating in an organized ride, and on a tandem nonetheless. It gave me a chance for some much needed exercise. It felt nice to smell and hear things other than the smells and sights of Memorial Park. I got to say I survived biking 20 miles, my longest ride yet, and felt good about it--no soreness, no pain (other than the bike seat jabbing my crotch for two hours). Mostly, it was nice to do something with my hubby, something he used to do without me. Yes, this is only the beginning. I will slowly invade all his activities, seep into every crack and crevice of his life. Soon we will be one of those couples that can't do anything without the other. Soon I will learn to golf.