Tandem bicycles for students with visual impairments

Practical riding on a two-wheeler is the main focus of this course. If students do not have sufficient experience with tandem bicycle riding, the introductory lessons are focused on the mutual coordination of the instructor (pilot) and the student and communication training. Gradually, the student will also learn the basic phases of riding, namely starting the ride, riding techniques and controlling the bike in different conditions (terrains) and ending the ride – stopping. In the lesson there is also space for technical familiarization with the tandem bike, its individual parts and, if necessary, basic service tasks.

Due to the nature of the subject, the instruction is individual, the student rides with their instructor (pilot). The lessons take place at a time agreed by the student and the instructor (pilot) and also depending on the weather. For this reason it is also possible to extend the lessons into the exam period. The lessons can be either regular (1 time per week) or block (5 half-day to full-day rides per semester), or a combination of both, with a total of at least 19 hours of net time per semester. The training takes place in suitable terrain both in Brno (e.g. on cycle paths along the Svratka and Svitava rivers) and in adjacent or more distant locations in Brno. Routes are chosen in terms of length and difficulty according to the performance of the students, usually ranging from 15 to 50 kilometres.

A total of five tandem bikes are available. These are a Duratec tandem trekking bike with a fixed fork, two Duratec and Mrazek suspension mountain bikes and two older tandem mountain bikes.