Ahmedabad: With the aim of creating awareness about cycling and the need to stay fit in these difficult times, two cycling fans have started up 6,000 kilometers on tandem bicycles.
A 44-year-old mother of two and a 57-year-old soldier crossed the Gujarat border and rises to Rajasthan adjacent on Tuesday.
Meerana Velanankarkar from Bengaluru and Dankar Patil from Nashik started from Bengaluru on June 19 in an effort to cover the entire ‘quadrilateral gold’.
Covering 11 countries and 6,000 km, the duo will pass through Bangalore, Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, New Delhi, Lucknow, Calcutta, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapati and Chennai before returning to Bengaluru.
The two riders said the trip has so far impressive.
People have not only welcome them, but also offer food, lodging and money too.
Their cycling fan network is also useful, helping by ordering hotels and the like.
A mother of two girls, Meera Velaankar lives in Bengaluru.
He has a PhD in life science and returns to India after living in South Africa.
Velankar has cycled for 10 years, and is one of the top-distance female cyclists, after doing 3,700 km from Kashmir to Kanyakumari last year.
Ex-serviceman, Dankar Patil is currently heading for security at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in Nashik in Maharashtra.
After being taken by cycling as a passion for the past seven years, Patil has completed several remote events.
“Seventeen years of service made me a strong man, both physically and mentally,” said Patil.
“Our goal is to discuss about 200 km per day.
So far, we have done a good thing.
We both have done long distance cycling before and know exactly what to expect on the highway.
The first 1,000 km is very challenging because of the gradient,” said Vellar to Toi when they biked through the country and crossed to Rajasthan on Tuesday.
Duo also has entertainment parts.
Riding a tandem bike and wearing bright colored clothes, some observers shouted that the circus clown passed.