BATE Stephen

Classification
B3 (UCI, 29 Mar 2021)

Type of Impairment
Vision impairment (britishcycling.org.uk, 22 May 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (theguardian.com, 23 Aug 2016; britishcycling.org.uk, 22 May 2016)

Impairment Details
He has retinitis pigmentosa, which means he has a 10% field of vision. "When I first got the confirmation in 2011 they said the worst case scenario was you could be blind in five years. To give an example, it's like looking through two straws. But five years on and I still have some vision. Each person I've spoken to with retinitis pigmentosa has gone blind after five years, others have better vision then me after 30 years. It's a lottery." (theguardian.com, 23 Aug 2016; britishcycling.org.uk, 22 May 2016)

Guide
Adam Duggleby, from 2014 (bbc.co.uk, 12 Jun 2021; britishcycling.org.uk, 15 Dec 2016)

General
RETIREMENT THOUGHTS
He thought his career may be over when the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo were delayed by 12 months, but he decided to continue on for one more year. "At first I thought that would be the end of my cycling career. But after taking some time and speaking to my wife and friends, it didn't take long to think it's just one more year. With the new date for the Games now announced, it turns out the opening ceremony is on my 44th birthday, and we will race the day after. I figured that was some kind of sign that I should go." (elliotbrownwatches.com, 24 Mar 2020)

LOCKDOWN FUNDRAISING
During the COVID-19 lockdown he took part in the 'World in One Day' challenge which saw 80 cyclists, rowers and runners complete 240 miles every Thursday for four weeks, which totalled the equivalent of riding the distance around the world in a day. The challenge raised £231,000 for the UK National Health Service [NHS] Charities Together. "The World in One Day challenge was really special. It all came about after seeing Mark [Beaumont] on Instagram live, chatting with Hank, one of the Global Cycling Network [GCN] guys who was doing 24 hours on his turbo trainer. I messaged Mark and said I was considering doing one of his 16 hour days from his 'Around the World in 80 days' ride. Mark liked the sound of that and launched it as a fundraiser for NHS Charities Together. He kindly asked if I would help him lead the first ride. Obviously I said yes! We had a Zoom call, what we referred to it as the virtual peloton, running for 16 hours and it couldn't have gone better. We'd have guest speakers come on and share their stories, it was great to be able to use the technology available for something so random. Our original plan was to try and raise £25,000, but it just went crazy. It will be the highlight of this whole pandemic experience for me, and I've built some great friendships out of it." (elliotbrownwatches.com, 24 Mar 2020)

MOTIVATION
He went through a tough period after his visual impairment diagnosis in 2011. "I was devastated when I heard the optician tell me that I was going blind. I was working as an outdoor instructor at the time, and losing my eyesight, and my driving licence was a game changer. It was three months before I began to find my way out of depression and my mental state was not great. But by then, I had worked something out for myself. There wasn't much I could do about my degenerating eyesight. But I had total control over what I did next. Just like everyone else, I wasn't going to be on this planet forever, so I might as well make every moment count. And how much I let my condition get in the way of that was completely up to me." (stevebatembe.com, 01 Jan 2020)

CLIMBING CHALLENGE
In June 2013 he became he performed a solo climb of El Capitan [a vertical rock formation] in Yosemite National Park in California, United States of America. "I was a climber before I became a cyclist. However, the skill set I had for climbing in the UK is a bit different to climbing El Cap solo, for starters there aren't thousand metre vertical walls in the UK. It took me a year to prepare, and I still found it extremely challenging. In saying that it's still probably my greatest personal achievement. I spent six days alone climbing that vertical rock face, navigation my way up crack lines and features on the wall. After six days alone, I climbed over the top a different person. I'd gone far beyond what I thought I was ever capable of as a human being. At the start looking up it was so overwhelming, but by going slowly, taking my time and being 100% present in the climb it went really well. I don't think it would have been possible to become a Paralympic champion without having gone through this experience first." (britishcycling.org.uk, 22 May 2016; thehealthandentrepreneurmindset.com, 24 Jan 2021)