Today is celebrated as World Bicycle Day but for many of us, it’s also the birthday of PedalYatri, the cycling group in Gurgaon. Krishnan and I have been a part of PY since May 2009…. rode seriously till 2013 and then slowly all the cycling came to a grinding halt since 2016. Am not getting into why we stopped, just hoping that having got back on the saddle, we continue to ride.
As many of the PedalYatris are at work today, the birthday celebrations happened yesterday. Important milestone, the 16th birthday !!
Even if we aren’t riding regularly, we got the opportunity to be part of the celebration and ofcourse meet with many old friends and make some new ones too…
World Bicycle Day 2024
This year the theme is “Promoting Health, Equity and Sustainability” through Cycling. It’s a good theme and a cycle does promote health while helping the environment. The gas guzzling cars can be left behind and more people can get onto cycles. A tad bit utopian in hot and humid countries like ours because offices also are not equipped with shower stalls etc. Also a cyclist is always the lowest on the traffic totem pole …. so many cyclists get killed in road accidents :(.
Krishnan and I certainly hope to visit Holland some day because there cycles have the right of way. If rules can be made that way everywhere, then the theme will become relevant. Am not so sure about cycling fostering equity because that’s not as simple as promoting health or sustainability. You could have a labourer riding 50 kms everyday and using the inexpensive cycle for a decade or more, and then you could have the upmarket MNC exec riding 10 kms to work, on a Rs. 1 Lakh cycle… can’t bring equity as easily.
Whatever happened to Critical Mass ?
The Critical Mass was a sort of protest against automobiles hogging the roads – groups of cyclists rode together on the last Friday of the month to emphasise that cyclists also need the road. It also was meant to communicate that the only way they could be safe was when they rode in large groups.
PedalYatris did quite a few Critical Mass rides early on and then the whole “Rahagiri” events started happening where the roads were blocked on Sundays for half a day, just to let people walk, run and cycle without being run over. A fantastic initiative that seems to have been lost in the lockdowns for Covid. We need to bring that back or restart the Critical Mass rides.
So many cycling memories come back … but we want new ones. :):) So am holding back on posting the old pics till I am able to post a few new ones… and soon !
Happy Birthday PedalYatris ❤️ and Happy World Bicycle Day.