"After the great success of this project in Barcelona and other Catalan towns, we decided to transfer it to Tarragona as well." This is how Roger Vives, the coordinator of En Bici Sense Edat in the capital of Tarragona, tells it.
It is an association that offers tricycle trips to senior citizens to promote active aging and improve their health and quality of life.
This association was born in 2012, in Copenhagen, when the social entrepreneur Ole Kassow came up with the idea of taking the elderly out of residences to give them bike rides. This is how Cycling Without Age was born, an initiative that has already spread to 39 countries, including more than 3,000 locations around the world.
It arrived in Barcelona in 2016 and, since then, this phenomenon has spread throughout Catalonia. Among them, Castelldefels, Granollers, Mataró, Sant Just Desvern, Terrassa, Ripoll and, also, Tarragona stand out.
It is precisely the group of volunteers from this non-profit association in Tarragona that Manuel Sosa has portrayed in this image for Las Fotos de los Lectores de La Vanguardia.
As explained by one of its coordinators, Roger Vives, it was in October last year that Tarragona joined this initiative. It was then that the L'Escamot cooperative, of which he is one of the founding members and works in the fields of active and sustainable mobility and local development, took over the reins of this project.
"Since then, we got in touch with En Bici Sense Edat from Barcelona, who lead this project in Catalonia and advised us and helped to start it up," he explains. So, they signed an agreement with the Mare de Déu de la Mercè nursing home for the elderly and tested the ground with a pilot test.
In addition, as the coordinator of the initiative affirms, what most attracted them to the project is the powerful social side that it presents. The main value that stands out is generosity, since this program is carried out by "volunteers who altruistically dedicate their time to the elderly".
Although, the main purpose they pursue is to combat their loneliness, which on many occasions is unwanted. These tours make them feel more accompanied and allow them to expand their relational circles. "It is also very important that they get the sun, that they can see the beach and that the sea breeze touches their faces," Vives points out.
Another element that he stresses is the importance of working on intergenerational relationships, that is, between older people (the users) and younger people (the volunteers). "The exchange of experiences that occurs in these cases is very beneficial, stories and experiences are shared that enrich both people," he explains.
It is true that volunteers usually look for itineraries that, for users, are as pleasant as possible. Therefore, they usually avoid areas with steep slopes or with architectural barriers.
"The grace is that each user can choose at all times where they want to go, whenever possible." This is emphasized by the coordinator of the initiative, emphasizing that the element of freedom is also present in the project. The tours usually last about an hour and a half.
In addition, due to the great responsibility that falls into the hands of the volunteers, when they join the initiative they receive mandatory theoretical and practical training. The first is for them to learn what the project consists of and how they coordinate with the residence, and in the second they practice riding the tricycle, accompanied by other classmates.
So far, the organization has 15 trained volunteers. During the pilot test, which lasted about a month and a half, more than 20 tricycle rides were made and about 90% of its users were women.
However, Roger Vives identifies a problem present in the majority of solidarity organizations. "The project must be viable, behind it we dedicate a lot of time and work to the coordination of the project, which must also be covered and paid for," he says.
Now that the pilot test has finished, many other residences and a foundation for people with reduced mobility and functional diversity have contacted En Bici Sense Edat de Tarragona to join the initiative and expand their borders in view of the arrival of the summer.
