LOCKPORT, N.Y. — For Michael Robertson, a native of Maine, bicycling across the country has always been a dream of his. 

He started his journey on June 26 in Anacortes, Washington and he will end his destination in Lubec, Maine.

Robertson is legally blind.

But the journey is not impossible. 

Robertson’s ride is part of a program he started called Shared Vision Quest, an advocacy group for people with visual impairments, which strives to show “just because you have a visual disability doesn’t mean you’re pigeon-holed into this one stereotype.”

He explained that since he is legally blind “we have come up with several creative problem solving solutions.” 

He had a riding partner, Hans Breaux. 

“I try to stay within six feet of his rear tire. Usually, the closer I get to him within a foot, the more comfortable I feel. So I’m basically following him, where he goes I go. We have two-way radios and we have push to talk … So he has a two-way, he’s shouting out obstacles to me. Pot hole, stay left. Glass, stay right. Rattlesnake, stay left,” Robertson said. “I do still have functional vision … I can see that there’s a tree here, but I can’t distinguish any individual leaves, it’s all just a blur.” 

He said that ever since he was 12 years old, he used to ride his bike in rural Maine.

“I was pretty heavily bullied in middle and high school because I wore the big glasses, was different, couldn’t do things as well as the other kids, because I have my visual disability. But I could always just get on my bike and go, and I used to do that a lot to go to different towns and ride … to go to a different town and nobody knew me. So that was kind of my self-found safety net,” Robertson said.

Robertson explained that he actually gave up his love of biking during his early 20s after he got into a bicycle accident due to his deteriorating eyesight.

In his mid 40s he came back to his love of cycling to do the Trek Across Maine, which is a three-day, fully-supported 180-mile ride across the state. 

“All through my 20s, 30s there were 2,000-plus cyclists that came rolling through town on any given day. I used to live in Augusta and they would come right through where I lived and I’d watch and go one of these days I’m going to do that. Finally I had decided to do it three years ago,” he said. 

He did the Trek Across Maine with Breaux. That led them to decide that they wanted to do something bigger, which led them to agree to do the Shared Vision Quest this year. The entire trip for them is around 4,000 miles. They made a stop in Lockport, New York on Saturday.

His favorite place that he’s traveled through was northwestern Washington because “I’m more audible than visual. I’m more use my other senses. So when I’m riding along I just smell these smells and I’m listening to the sounds of the different wildlife and it’s just incredible up there with the mountains and the oceans.” 

Robertson said he’s received a nice reception everywhere he’s gone. And the traffic has been better than he expected.

Hoffman writes for the Lockport, New York Union-Sun & Journal.