Silent riding is still sociable

Now that Brookes can enjoy tea stop chat, she’s got two remaining struggles: explaining to people she can’t talk and ride, and dealing with the way most ride directions – changes in route, information about upcoming climbs, descents or sudden bends, are communicated via voice. Both are issues that can be overcome as long as people realise they’re there.

“We talk all our lives, it’s nice to ride in silence too.”

Brookes explains: “People have got to know me now, they know not to talk to me as we’re moving along. I just can’t look away from the road [to lip read]. I have to be focused on where I’m going. Hearing people can just talk and look ahead, I can’t do that. I don’t mind – but it’s awful when someone keeps trying to talk to me – I have to say ‘it’s really nice that you’re trying to talk to me – but I really can’t! Let’s talk at the tea stop! But please stay there because it’s lovely to have you next to me’. We talk all our lives, it’s nice to ride in silence too.”

Hand Signals and Calls for Group Riding

Brookes talks a lot about control, and the struggle of not knowing where the ride is headed: “On a club ride, most of the time I have no clue where I’m going. I didn’t hear where we were going at the beginning. And when we set off in a certain direction, I’ll think ‘ah, we’re going to Kent’ or ‘oh we’re probably going over to the Surrey Hills’. So you’re guessing as you go along. Or maybe people might change things along the way and I wouldn’t know. So you’re cycling a bit blind. I often don’t know if a climb is going to be long, or if there’s a steep descent with a sudden bend. So when I cycle with a group of totally deaf people, it’s so lovely. You’re in total control, it’s a very different cycling experience, and we’ll stop to discuss where we’re going if something changes. But I do love cycling with my [hearing] club. It’s really enjoyable and I’ve got to know people riding various sportives, and people have got to know me, so they know who I am, why I don’t make conversation on a bike, so now I feel a lot more equal which is lovely.”

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One thing that you might imagine to be an issue is cycling in traffic, but Brookes tells me that concerns here certainly don’t need to put deaf people off cycling. She told me: “People ask me how I cope with things like a car being behind me. But how is me being deaf going to change things? As long as I hold my line. And when I turn, I’m going to look. There’s no problem unless something has to change on the road for me, and I look every now and then. If a car then zooms in front of me, it might surprise me, but there shouldn’t be an issue. I’ve been cycling now for quite some time, and I’ve not had any close scrapes. So I reckon I must be doing it right. So as far as how I’m holding my line and dealing with traffic it is ok.”

People that know Fiona and understand that she deals with difficulties most of us don’t make an effort to help make life easier. Strangers can be less sympathetic. Describing her London 100 experience of 2014 she says: “My hearing aid conked out because of the rain – it was awful. Such a bad experience. Lisa [my friend] told me some guys were saying to me ‘move out the way’ and she had to say to them as they passed ‘she’s deaf, she can’t hear anything’. And on Raid Alpine when we went up a Col in really bad rain, my hearing aid went again, I couldn’t hear anything on the descent. It was weird. So they put my hearing aid in the van and turned on the heater, and it worked.”

The Raid Alpine trip was tough – an undertaking such as this meant lots of logistics, lots of planned stops verbally communicated – but Brookes was never going to let her lack of hearing get in the way – she says: “Setting off in the morning, you’re not really with it. You don’t know when you’re going to stop. But it was minor in comparison to the experience we were having. I thought ‘I’m not prepared to let that bother me’. It wasn’t easy, but you have to be determined not to let these things bother you, otherwise you would never do it. It was an incredible ride. On the first Col, I couldn’t believe how many more we had to go – but by the time we got to Nice [754km later] it just felt like you could keep going forever.”

10 Do’s and Don’ts of Your First Club Ride

Advice for deaf cyclists

Deaf and thinking of taking up cycling? Brookes couldn’t recommend it more – and gives us some advice: “First do your research, see if can join a group of deaf cyclists, just whilst you’re trying to improve and get to a stage where you can join a club. Get your road sense first, because going straight into a club as a beginner could be nerve racking. When you join a hearing club, persist, eventually people will work out what you’re about, just persevere, it will get easier. If you just want to go out on your own, then no problem – but it’s nice to cycle with a group whilst you’re learning the ropes.”

We hope you found Fiona’s story both as inspiring and as insightful as we did. We’re always thrilled to feature an unsung hero – check out more interviews with incredible women in cycling: 

“Women Can’t Ride the Tour de France”? This Lady Did it Twice – for her Father

Unsung Heroes: Kate Samways growing women’s confidence on the bike

Unsung Heroes: These Women are Bringing Feminine Touches to Sportives

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