GETTING INVOLVED
Dennis Bilodeau, 57, of Barre, Vt., has decided to become a competitive mountain biker. His goal, for this year at least, is to finish the Vermont 50 Mountain Bike Race in September. A great “citizen” event, the 50-mile race over hilly, rough Vermont single-track and logging roads benefits Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports (VASS).

Bilodeau was completely blinded in an auto accident when he was 7 years old. Though he wrestled and ran track while in school, he hadn’t done any outdoor sports until five years ago, when he attended a VASS Winter Carnival event, which offered skiing (both alpine and Nordic), snowshoeing, ice skating, and indoor rock climbing.

In the summer, VASS offers biking, paddling, and sailing. That’s how Bilodeau found out he still loves to ride, in this case as the “stoker,” on the rear seat of a tandem bike. Tandem bikes are perfect for riders with visual impairments that would otherwise preclude biking, and for riders with certain other physical and mental challenges. The stoker can’t see forward anyway, but reacts mostly by feel to the steering, shifting, and pedal cadence set by the “captain” in the forward seat.

“Last summer, Scott Regenstein mentioned to one of the VASS coordinators that he would like to have a program participant ride on the back of a tandem in the Vermont 50. …I volunteered,” says Bilodeau. “We got together twice to ride a tandem at Burke Mountain. That was my first experience with trail riding and I was hooked.”

Learn More These are some of the organizations that offer paddling, biking, supported hiking, climbing, skiing, and other outdoor opportunities for people with disabilities in the Northeast. Bretton Woods Adaptive EMS Kayak School Gwen Allard Adaptive Sports Center New England Disabled Sports at Loon Mountain New England Handicapped Sports Association Northeast Passage Outdoor Explorations Ski For Light The Three Notch Century 100-mile bike ride Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports The Vermont 50 Mountain Bike or Ultra Run For a more comprehensive list, visit Disabled Sports USA.

Regenstein and Bilodeau entered the Vermont 50 and, without any real conditioning or training together, managed to finish, as he says, “only” 30 miles of the 50-mile race.

This year, Bilodeau is riding the race with Diana Hanks, 54, a volunteer from Winooski, Vt. Bilodeau and Hanks met at a VASS end-of-summer event last year where she volunteered to captain a tandem for anyone who wanted to ride.

“Dennis was raring to practice for the Vermont 50. I found the longest, steepest hill that I could, and up we went,” says Hanks, who relishes a challenge. “I am a cancer survivor and grateful to still be able to go out and enjoy outdoor activities at will. If someone with a disability wants to do something, I’m all for finding a way to do it.”

The two reconnected last winter when Hanks volunteered to teach cross-country skiing and Bilodeau was her only student. When Bilodeau needed a partner for this year’s Vermont 50, Hanks jumped at the chance, calling it “an honor.”

To anyone who has ever tried to pedal a rigid-frame, fat-tire tandem over typical New England single-track, the notion of 50 hilly miles in one day is simply mind-boggling. But watching Bilodeau and Hanks power each other up some of Vermont’s fine hills (ones that my stoker and I couldn’t handle) showed me it could be done. They already knew it.

Riding tandem bikes with Bilodeau and Hanks and skiing with Krill and Shaw-Doran challenged any preconceived notions I might have harbored about what people with disabilities can do. It also challenged my own ability to keep pace. I think Susan Murray, the doctor who loves to pedal 100-mile events despite having lost one leg above the knee, best summed up the attitude I found among athletes with disabilities: “The one message I’d like to get out to the world is this: Don’t make any assumptions about what people can or can’t do, whether they are disabled or not.” 

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