Tandem Cycle Pilots (Edinburgh and the Lothians)

We are VIE Velo. Based in Edinburgh we are a tandem cycling club whose purpose is to share the joy of cycling with visually impaired people.

We are always looking for volunteers to ‘pilot’ on the front of a tandem with a visually impaired rider on the back.

We organise rides on the first Saturday and third Sunday of each month which last a few hours and take us in all directions on bike paths and quieter roads at a sociable pace.
We always stop for lunch and the social aspect of our community is as important as the pedalling.

You don't need your own tandem as we have these, just yourself! We provide training for pilots and ride leaders.

Pilots on our rides:

• Take responsibility for the safety and well-being of our visually impaired riders at all times, on and off the bike

• Ride safely, communicating with the rider on the back about logistics (slowing down, turning left, changing gear, hill ahead etc), describing what they are seeing (landscape, people, animals etc) and chatting (it's much easier to have a conversation on a tandem than on solo bikes!)

• Look after their partner at the lunch stop, guiding them to table, counter, bathroom etc and helping them to make their order from the lunch menu

• Can take their turn as ride leaders, developing routes, organising lunch stops, leading and taking responsibility for the group during rides

The skills you need:

• A confident cyclist keen to enable others to get cycling

• Friendly, positive and encouraging attitude

• Empathy, sensitive to the needs of others

What's in it for you:

• The satisfaction of helping others to enjoy cycling - giving back to the activity that has given you so much enjoyment

• New friends - becoming part of a positive, supportive, diverse and friendly community

• Personal development - learning to 'see' the world from a blind person's perspective, empathise and better understand the challenges of disability and the power of overcoming them

• Skills development - becoming trained to pilot a tandem which requires not only new cycling skills, but communication, leadership and teamwork