Loudny

For most of her life, Loudny loved nothing more than driving on the open road. Whether she was heading to work, visiting family, or simply getting out of the house, being behind the wheel gave her a sense of freedom she never thought twice about.

Then, in 2023, vision loss took that away.

But driving wasn’t the only thing she lost. Loudny had to stop working, give up her apartment in Florida, and move to New York to live with her sister. The life she’d built for herself — independent, on her own terms — was gone.

“I felt hopeless,” she said. “I felt like I had lost the ability to do everything I used to do.”

A friend from church who was also living with vision loss planted a seed: life could still be full and meaningful. Loudny heard the words, but she wasn’t ready.

“The seed was planted,” she said. “But it took time for it to grow.”

That seed finally took root at Lighthouse Guild.

In the spring of 2025, Loudny was invited to the kickoff event for Lighthouse Guild’s Five Boro Bike Tour team — a group that pairs blind and low-vision cyclists with sighted pilots to ride tandem bikes through 40 miles of New York City. It seemed impossible. She hadn’t biked in over thirty years. She’d never ridden a tandem.

But that night, surrounded by riders sharing their stories and cheering each other on, something shifted. And then came the sign she couldn’t ignore: the 2025 tour fell on her birthday.

“I got caught up in the moment,” she said. “I knew I wanted to try.”

There was one condition: her sons, now 26 and 27, had to ride with her — even though they didn’t live in New York.

“They were reluctant when they heard it was 40 miles,” Loudny laughed.

She convinced them. And what happened on that ride went far beyond cycling.

“The time biking together, us on the road — we bonded like we never had before,” she said. “I felt a deeper connection to them than I ever had.”

Along the route, riders encouraged one another with every pedal. “Everybody was there for each other,” she said. Through the tour, Loudny connected with other people living with vision loss near her in the Bronx — relationships that have helped her feel less alone and more confident about what’s ahead.

In 2026, Loudny rode again. Her sons came back. It’s becoming a family tradition.

Since losing her vision, nothing had filled the void left by giving up driving. But riding through New York City — feeling the wind, the movement, the energy of the road — brought back something she thought was gone forever.

“Being on the road, biking on the highway — it was the closest feeling to driving I’ve had since losing my vision,” she said.

Loudny plans to ride with Lighthouse Guild every year. The road looks different than she once imagined. But she’s on it — and she’s enjoying the ride.