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Enthusiasts plan long rides to mark World Cycling Day on June 3
: To make cycling popular, enthusiasts and members of cycling groups have decided to go for a long ride on June 3, the World Cycling Day
: To make cycling popular, enthusiasts and members of cycling groups have decided to go for a long ride on June 3, the World Cycling Day. Popular cycling groups in city include ‘Meerut Cycling Club’ and ‘Cyclofit’.
Pratap Ghosh, 55, a networking professional along with his friends Hemant, Nitin Choudhary, Atul Sharma and others had formed Meerut Cycling Club in 2015. They have decided to go on a 50 kilometers cycle ride (Meerut to Khatauli in district Muzaffarnagar) on June 3. Pratap shared that many club members are childhood friends. Members are between 30 to 60 years and are a mix of professionals and entrepreneurs.
Dr Anil Nausran, is another cycling enthusiast who has decided to take a 376 kilometers ride to Rishikesh and Dehradun via Muzaffarnagar, Roorkee and back.
“I will start on Wednesday evening and return next day,” he said.
Both Dr Nausran and Pratap do cycling for physical and mental fitness. Pratap said cycling has helped him keep an effective control on his diabetes.
“I believe that cycling can cure many illnesses and therefore it should be adopted by people,” he said.
Dr Nausran has undertaken cycling expeditions to Kolkata, Mumbai, Ayodhya and other locations in past 3 years.
“Cycling before sunrise increases ‘happy hormones’ in the body and eventually it helps in keeping illnesses like diabetes, hypertension and depression in check,” he said.
These cycling enthusiasts have called upon the people to make cycling a part of their daily activities.
Rashid (goes by one name) who participated in state level cycling championships, now runs one of the leading cycle stores in the city.
His store Evancy Enterprise has cycles ranging from ₹7000 to ₹3.5 lakhs. “People are now more aware about their fitness therefore they are adopting cycling to keep themselves fit,” he said.
Rashid shared that there is demand for both hybrid (city cycles) and mountain terrain cycles (long ride cycles) and claimed to have sold more than 25 high end cycles ( ₹1 lakh onwards) in Meerut, Bijnor, Moradabad.
