It’s five a.m. at the Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It’s been a night much like any other, quiet and uneventful, until a group of fifty cyclists, many on two-seater tandem bikes, pulls up in front, looking like some sort of a quirky bike gang. They enthusiastically crowd into the small shop to make their choices among the cases of old-fashioned crullers and Bavarian cream éclairs. Many hit the bathroom – this is one of the last stops on their annual four-borough pilgrimage: the All-Night Donut Ride. The riders met in Central Park around midnight, went up through Harlem to the Crown Diner in the Bronx, down into Manhattan to try out the 53-year-old Donut Pub’s offerings, then cycled around the island’s southern tip and over the Brooklyn Bridge to Peter Pan. They’ll end after the sun’s up, forty miles later, at Doughnut Plant in Long Island City, Queens.
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Oh, and roughly half of the riders are blind.
The ride is organized by In Tandem, a nonprofit that provides cycling events for people with disabilities, most of whom have a visual impairment, like Dorcas Conde, whose lack of sight has never kept her from riding. All she needs is a “captain,” as they call it in tandem biking, to lead the way. One of her favorite captains is James Sweeney. Together, Conde and Sweeney have circled the Central Park loop many times, cruised around local neighborhoods like Forest Hills, Queens, and gone on outings around the city, like one last month to Grant’s Tomb in Manhattan. One time, the pair even rode one hundred miles for a Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
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On a Saturday morning in March, Conde, who is 55, lives in Woodside, Queens, and works at the VA Medical Center, is sitting on a bench by Central Park with Sweeney, a 47-year-old chef based in Astoria, Queens. They’re waiting for a bike and chatting, while Conde’s guide dog Betty, a five-year-old golden retriever (whose own impressive tale was told in a previous Narratively story), is burying her face in Conde’s lap, sensing the impending separation.
“All right Dorcas, let’s do this,” Sweeney says. He leads Conde to a bike, helps adjust the seat and helmet, counts down — three, two, one — and they’re off. I set out alongside them. It turns out that two can pedal faster than one.
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“Over the course of time, people here develop friendships and want to ride together,” says Stanley Zucker, In Tandem’s co-founder and executive director. Wearing a light blue All-Night Donut Ride T-shirt, Zucker, 61, a semi-retired film producer, flits about with clipboard in hand, cracking jokes and playing dispatcher as he helps riders find partners, bikes and helmets, and logs everyone’s mileage. (Last year, the group clocked about 29,000 miles.)
Zucker says the pairing of captains and stokers (who ride in the backseat) is “like a dance,” as they draw from a pool of who’s around at the moment. Several guide dogs sit by their owners, or wait for their return, while captains, stokers and volunteers hang out and socialize.
Founded in 2013, In Tandem hosts regular rides on Saturdays and Thursday evenings, and big event rides such as the famous All-Night Donut Ride (the next will be in August).
There are roughly two hundred captains, with varying degrees of involvement, and about fifty stokers who come regularly. The organization, supported by donations and corporate sponsorship, provides 25 high-end tandem bikes, as well as training, logistical support and anything else needed to make the rides happen – for free.
Zucker was there at In Tandem’s inception, helping his friend, Artie Elefant, get it started. A decade earlier, Elefant, who was blind, had created a New York tandem cycling program with Achilles International, which helps people with disabilities join running events. But, explains Zucker, when Achilles ended the tandem program in 2013, Elefant decided to start up his own. It was clear to him how many people were very disappointed when it got nixed.
When Elefant died of leukemia shortly before the launch, Zucker stepped in to lead in the interim – and he’s still at it four years later. “Artie would’ve been a hell of a lot better director than me, believe me,” Zucker says. “I shouldn’t be doing this. It should be the stokers. Besides, I’m not even a cyclist.” He is a runner, and volunteered for several decades for Achilles before finding himself in this unlikely position.
As Conde and Sweeney make their way around the Central Park loop, I try to catch bits of their conversation. Conde asks about the shifting scenery while Sweeney mentions the blooming trees, horses, crowded spots and some sites for orientation – Sheep Meadow, the carousel. When they get back, Betty jumps up on her, giving one of those greetings dog owners live for.
“I feel comfortable with James,” says Conde. “We have a system. It really is ‘in tandem.’ I can’t just cruise along. We have to be a team and work together.” That was especially necessary on their longest trip two years ago when they rode from Princeton to Philadelphia for a cheesesteak and then turned around and rode back. “We took a very scenic route on the way back and it was a spectacular day,” recalls Conde, for whom the memory has turned bittersweet: “It was one of the last rides I did with some sight.”
Not long after, she had an accident at home and lost the partial vision that enabled her to perceive some light, color and shapes. Now she is adjusting to living “in total darkness,” she says. Before the accident, she got around more fluidly and could enjoy some scenery with her own perception, seeing sunlight rather than just feeling it. Sweeney says he now tries to be more descriptive when they ride, keeping the stoker’s perspective in mind as any captain worth his salt would.
“I’ve tried going to gyms to stay fit,” says Conde, “but being outdoors is more fun. And with In Tandem, you get to meet people and socialize and interact.”
That’s why she’s ready to get back into cycling now. This spring and summer will offer opportunities for that as she continues to adjust to the darkness.
“Life goes on,” she says, looking on the bright side.
Throughout May, National Bike Month, our People of Interest series is spotlighting New York cyclists who are breaking the mold and making a difference on two wheels.
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