The NYC Century’s 100-mile option runs across four boroughs. Blind Paralympian Shawn Cheshire, 51, is set to ride it this weekend as the event’s grand marshal, using a single bicycle rather than a tandem. She plans to navigate by spoken cues and sound; “solo” does not mean riding without guidance.
Cheshire's run at the century distance comes as she takes on the role of 2026 NYC Century Bike Tour grand marshal, according to the New York Post, which first reported on her plans for the ride. The NYC Century is scheduled for Sunday, October 25, 2026, with a Century Champion route spanning 100 miles across four boroughs, supported by marshals and rest stops along the way, according to NYC Century Bike Tour. Riders who don't want the full distance can also choose 40-, 55-, or 75-mile options, per Transportation Alternatives.
What “Solo” Means—and What the Ride Provides
The event is self-guided and uses roads open to traffic, with no street closures. According to the NYC Century Bike Tour FAQ, marshals ride alongside participants and are stationed at rest stops. The ride’s route and event support do not mean the course is closed to traffic. “Solo” distinguishes Cheshire’s planned single-bike ride from tandem cycling, not from all guidance. Her official website says she completed Michigan’s 50-mile Dirty Thirty in 2020 on a single bicycle, following music from a speaker on a sighted rider’s bike ahead of her. That is a past example, not a description of her exact guidance arrangement for the NYC ride. The Union Cycliste Internationale describes para-cycling’s B category as a tandem event for a blind or visually impaired athlete with a sighted pilot.
A Paralympian With a Long Resume of Endurance Feats
Cheshire, who lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, lost her sight in 2009 after falling and hitting her head while working as an EMT and struggling with a combative patient, per the Post's reporting. She began cycling in 2012 after attending a development camp run by the United States Association for Blind Athletes, according to her Team USA profile. Four years later, she represented the United States at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, placing sixth in the tandem B time trial and ninth in the tandem B road race.
Cheshire has also represented the U.S. at the inaugural Invictus Games in London, where her Team USA profile credits her with winning a gold medal in indoor rowing at the 2014 Games. Over the course of her athletic career, she has become a 13-time U.S. National Champion in paracycling, according to People.
Cross-Country Rides and a Grand Canyon First
Her endurance résumé extends well beyond the track. The Post reports Cheshire rode 2,700 miles from Canada to Mexico in 2022 and once covered 126 miles in a single day through Wyoming's mountainous terrain. She has also become the first blind person to hike across the Grand Canyon without a sighted guide, and has partially climbed Mount Everest, where she suffered hearing loss from extreme altitude, per the same reporting.
Cheshire's 2021 cross-country cycling journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic will be the subject of the upcoming documentary Blind AF, which the Post says documents the first of her two cross-country cycling tours. People reports the film follows a 3,600-mile version of that 2021 ride, while Cheshire's own website describes the journey as approximately 3,700 miles over 60 days, and People elsewhere describes it as roughly 3,800 miles — accounts that differ on the exact distance. Her website credits her with becoming the first known blind person to cross the United States riding a single bicycle. Blind AF is set to premiere October 28 and will stream on Amazon Prime, AppleTV, Tubi and Documentary+, according to People.
Navigating by Sound, Not Sight
Riding without vision means leaning entirely on spoken direction and sound. Jesse Crandall, a Grand Rapids Community College professor who has guided Cheshire on past rides, described the process to GRCC: “I would give her directions and describe road conditions — if we were moving right or left and any hazards — and she would follow my sound.” Crandall also told the college that he and Cheshire finished the 2,700-mile Tour Divide mountain bike race from Banff, Canada, to the Mexico border in 50 days, riding through snow, mud, hail, rain, freezing temperatures and triple-digit heat.
Cheshire, who has two children, told the Post that completing the NYC ride would feel empowering. She said her adventures help her process pain, sadness and loss, and that she hopes this ride will be joyful: meeting people, joking around and staying present over the 100 miles.
A Ride With Deep Roots in the City
The NYC Century itself has a long history in the city's cycling calendar. The event has grown from 200 pioneering cyclists in its early days to thousands of participants in recent years, according to NYC Century Bike Tour. A separate account from Time Out states the ride launched in 1990 with 200 riders and drew more than 5,000 participants at its peak. Cheshire's attempt to finish the full century distance solo adds a new chapter to that history as she takes the grand marshal role this weekend.
