Deaf, blind cyclist from Kansas completes Lifetime UNBOUND Gravel 50 mile race

Last weekend Janee Alleman proved being deaf and legally blind was no obstacle.

FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- A Fort Leavenworth cyclist is breaking down barriers with every push of the pedal. Last weekend Janee Alleman proved being deaf and legally blind was no obstacle.

Fifty miles up and down hills on gravel and mud with a potential new challenge around every turn. It describes the race Alleman just completed and life's journey she's still on.

Born with Usher's Syndrome she's never heard a sound in her life. But it also means she's slowly been losing her vision and now is legally blind.

"So I would kind of go through stages of grief, stages of loss. I knew what I'd seen and experienced before I was missing out on that," Alleman said.

She says her vision loss had an impact on how she does things, but not necessarily what she can do thanks to assistive technology.

"It's a serious life change, so it does it impacts everything I do in my daily life, reading medication bottles if something is spicy reading a book to my daughter."

Alleman grew up riding a bike. But by the time she reached college vision and balance issues made it seem unsafe. Then about four years ago her husband surprised her with a tandem bicycle for Mother's Day.

"I just kind of get a high off of racing and just really enjoyed it and I understand now why people compete in this sport," she said.

Her white cane she uses to get around walking signals to others about her impairment, but on the bike, there's no obvious sign she's deaf and blind.

"If someone would just look at me, they probably would not realize that I have a disability," she said of competitors.

Unlike other tandem racers, Alleman can't speak to her husband. It's of course not safe for him to turn around to see her communicate via American Sign Language.

"So we have a system called touch signal. So for example if we want to go fast I will rub up his back," Alleman demonstrated.

Go fast they did in last weekend's Lifetime UNBOUND Gravel 50 mile race, earning a second place finish in the tandem division with a time of 4:25:14, six minutes behind the first place finisher. Overall they ranked 455th out of 850 competitors. The Fort Leavenworth woman credits her husband up front and training partner behind.

"We noticed other bikers or other competitors were struggling. But we really didn't have a struggle. Pulling my daughter with the trailer really helped with the training aspect," Alleman said.