I was so excited to hear from someone so far away and I immediately asked a million questions about the riding culture in India. Luckily, Tarun, is very patient and gave lots of great info as well as some fantastic photos. I think it's only fair to share them with my readers. Thank you so much, Tarun for your contribution to this blog as well as to the global biking community!
Hope you are doing great! The pleasure is equally mine to get in touch with fellow biking fraternity and health and environment enthusiasts!
The biking culture in India is growing now since few years and we organize and participate in lot of road and mountain biking events such as Himalyan MTB challenge, Nilgiri MTB challenge, Tour de Delhi, and lot of other Brevet activities. In Delhi the biking community got active three years back and now is vibrant group of riders of different demographies. Some of our active groups include Pedal Pushers, Delhi, Delhi Cycling Club, Delhi cyclists, Pedalyatri, Gurgaon, Lutyens Bikerz Zone, Noida Cycling Club. We meet every weekend mornings (coordinating the rides via facebook or google groups) and weekday evenings to ride good odd 70-80 kms on an average. Delhi also has some good trails in Arravali foot hills, and Delhi ridge and some good road routes such as Delhi - Gurgaon- Faridabad Road, Canal Road, Rohini, and Noida- Greater Noida Roads.
Many of us have also started going to work on our bikes, however this is still not prevalent due to reasons such as heat, unsafe roads, and most importantly cycling beyond fitness is seen as a sign of poor financial condition (I feel bad about it). However thanks to rising traffic and petrol prices and falling health that people have started taking this. I get a lot of enquiries from people who want to start riding and join the group.
We would love to host and help any of your friends who wish to visit India on a cultural/biking travel - some kind of a biking exchange.
Keep riding because life is a cycle! :-)