Ride Thane Ride!
Thaneites from 7 to 70 years of age come together every Sunday morning for one common passion that they strongly share, cycling!
“I shifted from running to cycling as I developed a backache due to running on concrete roads” shared Sushil Birla, an entrepreneur and cycle enthusiast. ”I wish we had better infrastructure for cycling in Thane like dedicated cycle tracks” Sushil, who cycles from his home to office every day, shares his concern.
It all began around three years back when few friends came together and formed ‘Wheels & Barrels’, a fun group for cyclist. “Today we have around 700 registered members” updated Chirag Shah, an admin of the group.
Each Sunday is assigned for various groups within W & B, the first Sunday is for beginners (20 Kms), second Sunday is for 40-50 Kms, the third Sunday is for 60 kms and the last Sunday is for those who wish to cycle 80 Kms and more. They have around 10 admin cyclist who lead and trail the group on the road to ensure a better safety of everyone.
Cycle for Cause: The group supports number of community service initiatives, such as “Yello Fellow” for CRY, a tree plantation and Save Lakes. They also have special campaigns like Independence Day Ride, Tour De Lakes, Night Rides, Neon Cycling Festival or ‘Cycle Chalao-Dharti Bachao’.
“Our flagship event is Women On Wheels (WOW)” shared Chirag, who along with his fellow cyclist Charvi Lodaya also initiated “मै Chalaungi”, a movement for enabling more women to participate. Since last October, Chirag and Charvi teach cycling free of cost to women and encourage them to take up this healthy habit. “In India, there is a huge difference between number of men and women cyclist. In order to reduce it, we decided to do our bit” Chirag stated enthusiastically.
The ‘W & B’ has a few unique couples. Like Father-Son duo Apurva-Amit Kanetkar and Hitesh-Preet Patel or Mother-Son, Miti-Vansh or even husband-wife , Amit-Apurva Kakatkar. You can follow ‘Wheelsandbarrels’ on Facebook or Instagram
‘Be healthy and happy’ is our mantra and those two pedals can give you both – Sushil smiled as he paddled to his office.
