Cycling has never been this chic. High-income professionals, senior bureaucrats & businessmen in Bhubaneswar are dumping their fancy sedans & superbikes for pedaling cycles. Sudarshan Patnaik , Internationally Acclaimed Sand Artist pedals to catch up with them. Go to any pro level cycle store in the city and you’ll find them all peering intently at the mean machines they hope will help change their sedentary lives. It was at one such store that Subodh Behera, a city based IT professional works with TCS as a senior Programmer, found not just his MTB but many eager companions as well. Like him, they were professionals in their 30s & 40s who had been initiating into cycling for fitness reasons.
Cycling on Indian roads? You may think it’s just too dangerous given the terrible disrepair of our roads and the chaotic traffic, but there’s a growing band of intrepid city-bred, successful and well-travelled males & females who’ve taken to cycling. You’ll find them early on Sunday mornings on Bhubaneswar – Puri Road, Bhubanswar – Chandaka Road wearing ‘hairnet’ helmets and gloves, tearing down the macadam on their expensive bikes. For these, bicycling is not just a hobby, but a lifestyle choice that’s healthy and green. Most of them ride on weekends as a form of recreation, but there are some, like Sudhwananda Dash, who rides a bicycle wherever he goes.
There’s BCAC : Bhubaneswar Cycling & Adventure Club, which started two years ago by few senior bureaucrats now has 100 members .This club organizes rides on Sundays & other holidays along with organizing promotional rides & events to encourage the city dwellers for cycling . ”Parikrama” a cycle sharing program which is a joint initiative IOC & JAI ODISHA , a city based NGO is getting a very good response too. Brand names
like Giant, Ghost, Scott, Trek, Merida, Fuji and many other brands are now part of the urban lexicon .
One reason is that with the current trend of urbanization the quality of life in built-up spaces is becoming a critical issue. The World Health Organization estimates that 70 per cent of the earth’s population will live in cities by 2050. Cycling is a solution to problems related to mobility, public health, the environment and the economy. Governments supporting cycling as a legitimate means of transportation see the potential to ease traffic congestion, curb pollution and combat obesity by better accommodating two-wheeled transportation in the city in their SMART CITY initiative.
Author: Nihar Giri, (Nihar is a cyclist as well as likes to write on topics related to cycle. Apart from cycling, he writes on subjects like: Socio Political, Socio Entrepreneurship and food heritage of Odisha.)
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