Triumph! by Ronald Mackay
1. Almost there
Andrés’ slender body jolts as the wheels of his cycle rattle on the cobbles, but he feels no discomfort. He doesn’t notice how narrow the street is nor the merciless summer heat bouncing from the medieval stone walls. Eleven days of hard pedaling from Oporto to Santiago de Compostela, 660 kilometers on backroads mostly, to escape motorized traffic. Andrés tastes the utter joy of success, of constant effort amply rewarded. He relishes the cries of encouragement, bathes in the glow of smiling faces. So great is the crowd, his cycle has barely room to progress towards the Plaza de la Quintana.
“An-drés!” “An-drés!” “An-drés!” He loves the repeated cry, exults in his name. With a happiness greater than he’s ever experienced in his 22 years, Andrés, grinning broadly to all, raises a gloved hand. A thrill surges through his body like an electric charge.
Abruptly, the narrow street erupts into a wide plaza where a bigger crowd awaits. Behind the crowd stands the Catedral Basílica de Santiago de Compostela. As Andrés advances, a great cheer goes up. “Andrés o victorioso.”
In triumph, he clasps both hands over his head. His cycle halts before the exquisitely carved Pórtico da Gloria.
“You did it, Andrés! Andrés, o vitorioso! Andrés, o vitorioso! Andrés, o vitorioso!” Chant the crowd.
Unable to dismount from the cycle that has brought him so far, Andrés holds his gloved hands high. This moment will last forever!
Andrés was born on the 29th of September 1998, severely disabled. So how, how has he accomplished this feat? How is has he arrived in triumph and exultation to this place of pilgrimage, this Santiago do Campo das Estrelas? This Santiago of the Field of Stars?
2. My Interest in Andrés
My interest in how Andrés comes by his success arises from my long friendship with his family. I knew Andrés’ grandparents, Obdulia and Asencio, in 1960 before they married. I was living in the Pensión Méndez in Buenavista del Norte. A family inn, it was run by Doña Lutgarda and her daughters Shona, Carmenza, Meca, Obdulia and Pastora. Shona, Carmenza and Meca, were already married. Obdulia and Pastora, the two youngest, were still single. Obdulia, older than Pastora, was being courted by Asensio. Asensio had returned to Buenavista after two years in Venezuela having saved enough to marry his sweetheart.
Asensio was as handsome and proper as Obdulia was pretty and vivacious. I saw them every evening when he arrived at the inn after his day’s work and Obdulia had finished hers. They conducted their courting in the gallery, surrounded by bright, aromatic flowers and in view of all, family and guests alike. Then, privacy was neither granted nor expected. Public courtship followed the time-honored standards of modesty and decorum.
A second reason for taking an interest in Andrés’ success is that I, too, was a cyclist. From the age of 12, I spent weekends exploring Scotland with friends, sleeping in youth hostels for a shilling a night, and cooking our own meals. Cycling was a key part of my youth.
3. How did Andrés become a champion?
It is a common assumption that only the physically fit, the mentally capable and the intellectually talented can undertake feats of endurance, and experience joy in the result. That assumption is false. If one who is disabled, physically or mentally, has even a single person behind them, or better still many, to offer encouragement, care and support, they too, despite all, can become champions. Andrés is a fine example of this truth.
Who, then, lies behind Andrés’ success?
Behind Andrés stands a whole team! A team of loving and dedicated people who combine and sustain their efforts to grant him the success he experiences. After having ridden both the French and Portuguese routes to reach Santiago de Compostela and each of his beloved Canary Islands, Deo volente, Andrés will continue to know the joy of biking for many years to come.
4. The links in the chain
The core members of the team firmly behind Andrés are his parents: mother, Nancy, and father Richard. Then there’s Richard’s close friend, and importantly, there’s a Dutch cycle manufacturer. And behind all these, stand Andrés’ grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. And behind that stalwart and courageous group, stands the entire village of Buenavista del Norte in Tenerife.
5. How the team came to be
To relax from the demands of teaching secondary school, Richard, Andrés’ father, and his best friend, took up cycling. They undertook grueling rides on the steep roads of Tenerife. As cyclists do, they read catalogues to keep abreast of technical developments.
“Look!” His friend handed Richard a pamphlet one day. Richard read it.
At VanRaam we believe that people who stay mobile and independent longer, are happier. This is why we offer people with a disability a sustainable form of modern-day mobility. We manufacture special needs tricycles that can carry a wheelchair. With a VanRaam bike, you experience independence and freedom.
“Fantastic!” Richard shared the idea with his wife. Nancy reacted with equal enthusiasm. Together they shared it with their parents, and later, the whole family. “A brilliant idea!” Everybody agreed.
“We could travel the Camino de Santiago de Compostela together!”
“That’s a dream!”
“Why not make a dream come true?”
“Why not!”
“Let’s try!”
And so, they set to work. Richard and Nancy wrote to VanRaam in the Netherlands. The company’s response was positive and encouraging.
“Richard, Nancy, we believe that our O-PAIR 3 would suit Andrés’ needs. It’s designed so that you can attach Andrés’ wheelchair to the plateau of the bike without having to lift him. Then you secure it with the wheelchair lock. You sit behind and pedal. Andrés sits in front, feels the wind in his face, and enjoys the ride.”
Richard and Nancy were elated by VanRaam’s reply. Secretly, they ordered the cycle.
When it arrived, Andrés helped unpack it without knowing what was inside. As soon as he saw the bike, his eyes lit up. Richard fitted Andrés in his wheelchair onto the platform at the front of the cycle and secured them both in place. Then, to cheers from Nancy and the whole family, off they went around the village.
Heads turned. Villagers watched, bewildered. They’d seen nothing like it before. Andrés grinned, his hands aloft.
“See?” said Nancy. “We were right. We knew if we dared to dream it, we could succeed!”
The family applauded from the start. Once their surprise passed, the villagers of Buenavista del Norte applauded whenever Andrés appeared.
From that day, in 2019, Andrés and his team have never looked back.
6. First Trip – Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela
They began boldly – “El Camino” from Roncesvalles to Santiago de Compostela. Yes, a baptism of fire, but a huge success! Andrés and Richard were on the bike; Nancy and the rest of the team drove behind. During the planning for this and then the trip itself, they learned the vital importance of teamwork.
To plan, Nancy and Richard and those who helped, had to ask and answer many difficult questions. How many miles will we cover each day? Where will we sleep at night? How can we be certain that the accommodation we rent has wheelchair access and a safe place to store the cycle? Where will we eat? How many calories will we need? What essentials must we take with us? How will we cope with rain, with wind?
They discovered that they needed to assign duties. Nancy took over planning and logistics. This was a new and challenging undertaking. Richard’s task was to gat fit and to master the technical characteristics of the new bike including how best to manage the wheelchair upfront where Andrés would sit in royal splendor.
For their second trip, they toured their native island, more conservative than mainland Europe and less used to seeing the disabled in public. Though Tenerife is small -- 90 kilometers by 60 -- it has steep roads that zig-zag up and down mountainsides. They can rise from sea level to a thousand meters within a few kilometers. Richard had to be at his fittest. Andrés, too, needed stamina for the ride.
Grandparents, uncles and aunts, brothers and sisters were encouraging supporters. The entire population of villages turned out to cheer when Andrés came sweeping through the streets brightly dressed in helmet, Lycra maillot, shorts, and leather gloves.
It took the foresight and courage of parents, the dedication and encouragement of family and friends, and the enthusiastic support of admiring villagers to provide Andrés with success during that tour of his native Tenerife.
“Andrés will never forget the last stretch of that Tenerife run,” says Richard. “Neither will we. We were zigzagging down at great speed from El Tanque in the mountains to Garachico on the coast. The road lined with people waving, cheering and whistling.”
“Richard had tears in his eyes. Andrés was jubilant. He didn’t want the trip to end!” says Nancy. “All those dreams, all that planning, the purchase of the bike, the learning curve, all my accommodation bookings, all Richard’s training -- everything had paid off! I remember the joy. Through my tears, I saw the same joy on Richard’s face.”
“First and foremost, our pride was for our son,” says Richard. “But also, for ourselves, our family and our friends. Together we triumphed! Without them, our dream would have remained no more than a dream. Collectively, we made it come true.”
7. We all benefit!
As Richard, Nancy, Viviana and I enjoy cortados at El Bar Pilón in la Plaza de los Remedios – in the very Pensión Méndez where I’d spent my 18th and 19th years, Andrés grins at us happily from his wheelchair fastened securely into the bike.
“Our O-PAIR from VanRaam has contributed enormously to all our lives and, especially, to Andrés. He loves the movement, the attention he receives, and the greetings he gives in return. It raises his spirits, makes him smile. Our O-PAIR binds us all so much more closely.”
“Once on the road, Andrés never wants to stop. He adores the movement, the excitement.”
“Don’t you, Andrés?”
Andrés raises both hands and grins. He’s impatient for us to finish our cortados so he can feel the wind in his face, hear the chant, “An-drés!” “An-drés!” And raise his arms in triumph.
Andrés is longing for his next long trip. Where? Who knows?
The bike, Richard and Andrés in his yellow helmet
Andrés features on the cover of a cycling magazine
Andrés'with some of his family
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Richard and Andrés In Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife
Some of Andrés'school classmates at the Centro Ocupacional Comarcal Isla Baja
Andrés with mother, Nancy, and father, Richard,
on a cold day |
