Juan Zemborain He is 51 years old, and with his son Santiago They have more than 25 thousand kilometers tours in a tandem bicycle. They have pedaled through all the landscapes of Argentina, from the beach to the mountains and they define themselves as “a team.”
Santiago received his diagnosis of Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) around the age of three, after a long journey.
“The first year of life was very difficult because the pediatrician saw him as a bastard. I lived in the wards with Santi during his first year, I felt that he had heartburn and they told us that he did not have reflux. At 10 months my sister tells me ‘we see with mom that she doesn’t look into her eyes, that she doesn’t sit down’ and she sends me to a pediatrician who is a family friend with a lot of experience,” Juan said.
There they received a first diagnosis of muscle hypotonia and maturational delay. Faced with this, therapies and early stimulation began until the diagnosis of TGD.
“For everyone, receiving a diagnosis is like a shock, for us it was giving it a first and last name because we already knew that we were doing this and it was the right thing to do,” he reflected.
Given this, Juan assures that he decided that the situation was going to bring out the best in him for himself and his son and that is how they approached life.
The first thing he did was buy a tricycle so that Santi could work on his muscular hypotonia. “I said we have to train and there we started and Santi hit the tricycle hard, he never stopped pedaling,” he highlighted.
After the tricycle they moved on to the bike with training wheels, then to karting. But, Santi couldn’t leave alone and for Juan the situation was starting to get difficult. In a fit of optimism he told his son that I had to practice so that at the age of 15 they could cross the Andes together.
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To Juan himself the idea seemed crazy, but deep down he thought “why not?”. So Santi continued practicing and at the age of 12 he was alone with a small problem: he couldn’t stop.
One day by chance a tour guide told him that he was riding in tandem with a blind person. It was then, that on the following vacation, Juan and his family went to Miramar and rented a tandem bike. She spent it walking and that’s when absolutely everything changed.
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They began to look for where to buy one, until they managed to find a manufacturer and then they began this adventure together.
“One day we reached 40 km destroyed and I told him the day we do 80 km per weekend we are going to reach the Andes,” Juan enthused.
They began training and went along the coast with tents and saddlebags. After that adventure, one of the challenges was climbing and they decided to experiment in the mountains of Olavarría and the Quebrada de Huamahuaca.
At that time, the connection through the pedals was complete. And Juan defines this experience as “absolute happiness”.
At 30/40 km Santi put his arms on my back and started singing ‘do, re, mi fa’ or counting and laughing. It was when the connection was total
They spend so much time together on the bike that Juan realizes through the pedals if Santi is happy, enthusiastic or distracted. On top of the tandem they go through all the states “less angry,” he says, because on the bike it’s all happiness.
We found what he asked so much in his childhood about how I was going to have fun with him for the rest of his life.
Pushing Limits
What for both of them was a hobby and quality time shared between father and sonwould become a story of inspiration and drive for others.
Juan’s sister was the one who encouraged him to tell what he did with Santi: go cycling together and tour the country. This is how it came about Pushing Limits.
“One day we were leaving mass, after having pedaled about 40 kilometers, and I was behind him and I was pushing him to hurry up, and he braked. He looked back and was dying of laughter and I liked that feeling. I pushed him and he laughed at that feeling of security, love and that’s what limits are like,” he reflected.
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After many adventures together that Juan began to tell on his Facebook, their story went viral and it was then that he decided to go further and do his bit to change the reality of others.
For this, he embarked on the challenge of creating a Civil Association “Pushing Limits” for people with disabilities through tandem cycling.
“What we promoted was looking for bicycles and the first years of the pandemic were all about organization and learning. We got companies to help us import the tandems and last year the first 30 that we donated at a charge arrived,” he explained.
The idea was that these bicycles reach people who made a commitment, who use them with a helmet to enjoy and share. That is why every time they get off pedaling, on the association’s page they have to upload who was their guide, the protagonist and the number of kilometers traveled.
We donate the tandems throughout the country that work miracles
The association organises clinics, races and talks in secondary schools to talk about inclusion and to encourage people to try this sport. Cycle tourism and a variety of activities are promoted. It works with therapists, day centres, cycling groups and families. All united under the vocation of sharing.
“We want families to be encouraged and go out and live life,” says Juan
“For many, having a child with a disability ends up locking you in because people look at you strangely and society is not prepared to receive them. The only way is if they know you because they know how you are going to react and I have been going everywhere with Santi since I was little,” she explained.
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Juan is convinced that making people visible changes people’s outlook and attitude towards disability.
“If I go, people see that you can take care of a child and solve an issue even if it is difficult and they look at you more than with apprehension but with admiration and that changes the way they look and attitude towards people with disabilities,” Indian.
Father and son, a team
“Santi and I are a team and that is how we carry out everything. What happens to him happens to me and what happens to me happens to him and so everything is a family affair,” he says.
This is how your family works and Pushing Limits, everyone pulls in the same direction.
For example, since Santi cannot tell Juan if he is hot or cold, he dresses the same, so if he puts on a t-shirt, a lumberjack shirt, Santi dresses the same. Just like cycling sportswear. “We dress as a team,” he summarizes.
Riding in tandem is something they enjoy a lot, connects them and allows them to live life together. “Sometimes when we are climbing and I see that she is slowing down, I shout at her and then she accelerates,” she says, laughing.
“People get out of the car and already know him and say ‘Let’s go Santi’ and he puffs out his chest and is very cute and we have a lot of fun,” he summarized.
When they ask him if he pedals from behind, Juan responds: “He has already cycled 25,000 kilometers.”
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