For many East Frisians, cycling is the elixir of life. On the flat landscape, a bike gets you everywhere to work, during leisure time, or for exercise. What it means when familiar rides suddenly become impossible due to illness or old age is something Frank Willms experienced firsthand in his own family: his father-in-law developed dementia, and then his mother-in-law suffered a stroke.

"The day before, they had still been out cycling in Wallinghausen. And suddenly that wasn't possible anymore. They couldn't get outside." A completely new and difficult situation for everyone. While searching for ways to keep them occupied, Frank Willms had an idea: cycling from home maybe that could work! The Aurich resident, himself an avid road cyclist, remembered that he used to film his rides with a 360-degree camera to use the footage for winter training on a stationary bike.

"I dug those out again when my in-laws were struggling. But the whole thing wasn't senior-friendly." Searching online, the IT specialist came across the Dutch company Bike Labyrinth, based in The Hague. The team offers people who are no longer able to move independently outdoors more than 900 virtual and interactive cycling routes based on the same principle.

The system is used in nursing homes and care facilities worldwide especially in Japan, where people over 65 make up a quarter of the population. It allows cycling from one's own seat from a chair or wheelchair so there is no need to climb onto a stationary bike.

The screen displaying the virtual routes is connected to a medical bike. With the target audience in mind, everything is intentionally kept simple. There is a television something everyone is familiar with and the device can be operated with just two buttons: simply select a route, place your feet on the pedals, and start pedaling. After a short countdown, you're off.

Through the countryside or through cities always from the perspective of the cyclist who filmed the route outdoors, in real life. As soon as you stop pedaling, the route on the screen pauses too. Frank Willms was impressed. He borrowed the Bike Labyrinth system on a trial basis, purchased a medical bike, and set everything up in his in-laws' sunroom.

"My mother-in-law started pedaling and smiling for the first time in months," Willms recalls. Sadly, she has since passed away. For his father-in-law, who has dementia, cycling proved healing especially after the loss of his wife. "He pedals his grief away," says Frank Willms. "It gives him movement and images. It does something between the ears." Brain activity is stimulated.

An association for East Frisian tours

So Frank Willms arranged a collaboration with the Dutch company and found local supporters with whom he founded an association. "We want to bring the world indoors for people who cannot or can no longer cycle outside buten na binnen." This East Frisian phrase also became the name of the association. Thanks to the connected video system, in addition to the routes provided by Bike Labyrinth, tours through East Frisia are now also possible: through the hedgerow landscape, along the canal, across the island of Norderney, to the Pilsum Lighthouse, to Greetsiel, through the historic old town of Leer, and more. Even ice skating or pedal boating is possible.

"Anything where something moves," Willms explains. Movement that is what it is all about. Because research shows that physical activity has a positive effect on people with dementia. "With dementia, a lot is lost but the ability to cycle usually is not." And sufficient physical activity can reduce the risk of developing dementia.

The virtual journeys are also designed to help people experience new stimuli in a measured way, or to rediscover the familiar. Cycling through the Wallinghausen forest once more, or simply riding the familiar route to work. Willms' father-in-law cycled to the Aurich road construction authority every single day for 30 years, so he filmed that route for him. Now his father-in-law rides those five kilometers virtually several times a week.

The system is not only a hit within the Willms family. "Doors open," says the initiator. Sometimes literally. He tells of a senior from Aurich who spent many years as a utility company employee reading meters. When he virtually retraced his route by bike, he remembered exactly where the water meters are located in each house.

All visuals and sounds in the films are realistic: you hear cars driving, bicycle bells, birds singing, dogs barking, the murmur of voices, construction noise. "It makes the seniors alert, they sit up straight. You get an authentic cycling experience the only thing missing is the wind in your face," says Willms with a smile. The tours last between 15 and 20 minutes. And no, pedaling harder does not make it go faster. "We don't want the seniors going into race mode." At certain routes, however, they can choose at intersections which direction to continue or ring a real bicycle bell, even if it goes unheard.

Simple to use

The cycling tours on screen evoke memories, provide distraction, and encourage social interaction. To make this work, the technology is intentionally kept simple. A more high-tech approach would certainly be possible: "But if someone is wearing a 3D headset, they're off on their own again." This way, people can chat with others along the way across generations, within families, or in care homes.

Because Frank Willms is so convinced of the concept and wants others to benefit from it too, he has presented it to the Alzheimer's Society and various care facilities, offering it on a trial basis. Including at the Altenwohn- und Pflegezentrum Eben-Eser Moormerland. "It was a huge hit," says director Dirk Wennmann. "The loaned device stood in the lobby and ran from morning to evening. When it had to be returned, there was real sadness."

Purchasing their own device was initially out of the question due to the cost, a complete setup runs to over 11,000 euros. But then they decided to launch a fundraising campaign, with staff, residents, and their families all taking part. Within 14 days, 8,000 euros had been raised. "That really moved me," says Wennmann. He was able to purchase a medical bike affordably secondhand and place it in the lobby to everyone's delight.

It's in use early in the morning, he reports. A small crowd often gathers around it. Because it works as a group activity too. When one person cycles and others watch, everyone benefits. The seniors at Eben-Ezer cycle together through East Frisia and chat along the way. "People start telling stories and remembering things. Those with dementia suddenly recognize familiar places again," says Wennmann, who enthusiastically recommends the system based on his entirely positive experience.

"The great thing is: you can pedal, but you don't have to. So even those who can no longer move their feet can use it." Users appreciate something else too: "In winter, when everything outside is gray and gloomy, you can head out and take little trips to places you've never been before." Staff at the care home have already taken the initiative to film and upload requested routes, for example from the island of Borkum.

The East Frisian routes are the most popular everywhere. That is why Willms is now looking for more people willing to film East Frisian cycling routes and expand the offering. The association provides not only the cycling system but also regional "wish routes." "If someone wants to cycle past their old family home one more time, we get on a bike, film it, and perhaps bring a little memory back."

The saddle, by the way, can also be a horse saddle. A "wish route fulfiller" recently went on a horseback ride through the Wiesenser Forest on a beautiful autumn day with a borrowed camera, so that someone else could enjoy it later.

And for those who wish, the world is just a pedal away. New York, Rio, Tokyo, Stockholm, Sydney, or Amsterdam it's all reachable. Willms' father-in-law makes frequent use of this. "Recently he told me he had been to Copacabana Beach." Within the family, his travels sometimes lead to amusing conversations. Frank Willms' brother-in-law, who lives in Canada and had often mentioned that he doesn't drive in Toronto due to heavy traffic, was quite surprised when his father-in-law told him over the phone: "There's really not that much traffic there." How would he know that? "I was cycling there this morning."