Interview: Andrew Lannigan founds cycling club for visually impaired cyclists

Andrew Lannigan was a cyclist, a scuba diver and a motorcyclist, but when he lost his sight 11 years ago following two strokes, his active lifestyle ground to a halt. Now, having learnt first-hand the difficulties facing visually impaired people, he’s determined to help others.

On the 7th August, Lannigan formed the North Ayrshire Tandem Cycling, a club for visually impaired cyclists in his home county. Two days after the club launched, GCN caught up with Lannigan to find out more.

Lannigan formed the club after hearing about a local group of friends who got together for tandem rides. After he struggled to make solid plans with the informal local bunch, his wife suggested he start something of his own.

“Two weeks ago my wife says to me, ‘Look, if you're that keen, why don't you start your own club? There's surely people out there, visually impaired people that would love to get on a bike.’

“So I pondered over it and I thought, yeah, excuse my language, but what the hell – let's do this," he said. "My daughter formed a Facebook page. She contacted local media and it's just taken off from there.”

Since then, Lannigan’s new club has garnered a lot of attention.

"The past two days I've been sitting in front of my computer and answering the telephone I've had that much of a fantastic reaction," Lannigan told GCN. "My phone hasn't stopped; my messages haven't stopped. It's just taken off, unbelievably.” Lannigan seemed utterly shocked by the reaction his club has garnered, saying, “I didn't realise there were people out there that had a heart for visually impaired people.”

Visually impaired cyclists ride on the back of tandems, as the ‘stoker’. Up front, a rider with full sight is the ‘pilot’. Lannigan’s club has captured so much attention in the local area that already, just two days after launching the club, he’s had a number of people offering to ride as pilot for visually impaired cyclists:

“We now have seven pilots and four visually impaired people as stokers. And that's only been in two days. So the response, the response has been tremendous, really.”

Before losing his sight, Lannigan was a keen cyclist, riding all over Ayrshire with a local group.

“Then I had a couple of strokes and lost my sight and it took everything away from me.” Lannigan knows all too well how difficult things can be for visually impaired people. He spoke of his own struggle when he lost his sight, saying, “It just completely took the feet from under me.”

In the years following, and thanks to a support network of friends and family, Lannigan has built an active lifestyle. He’s achieved a green belt in karate, and is, of course, a keen cyclist once more. He’s highly engaged with the local community, volunteering for the children’s hearing system, an initiative that makes sure children and young people are properly represented in court. Back at home, he uses his professional joinery skills to produce planters that he makes without charge for local people.

Through the North Ayrshire Tandem Club, he wants to show other visually impaired people that there is a life beyond a visual impairment: “A lot of visually impaired people think, like I did, that this is the end of the world. It's not. Get your backside on a bike and you'll find out why.”

Lannigan will run tandem group rides in Ayrshire, sticking as much as possible to the extensive network of cycle paths in the region. Route planning responsibilities, says Lannigan, are handed over to the star of the club, Natalie, a visually impaired cyclist who is currently trying out for the Paralympics.

Club duties are shared among the family. With modesty, Lannigan told us that thanks to his wife’s career background in accounts, and his daughter’s expertise in marketing, “all I do is just come up with the ideas and make the appointments.”

The next challenge facing the club is funding. Lannigan needs more tandems and more places to keep them. Currently, the club has three tandems, stored in a lock-up granted to the club by a local sports centre. Once he’s got approval on the club’s constitution – a document that states the club’s charitable purposes – he can start fundraising to get the equipment and space the club needs.

Given the remarkable public response to the club, it’s no surprise that Lannigan has high hopes – he’s interested in developing the club into a charitable organisation or non-profit so he can give back to the community. For the time being, though, his goal for the club is simple: to get visually impaired people on tandem bikes.