Azeem Khan and his cycling journey

Greater Noida: Scott Stoll, an American community professor who traveled around the world on his bicycle once said, “A bicycle ride around the world begins with a single pedal stroke”. The passion for cycling has taken people a long way. One such person who has traveled a very long way on his bicycle is 40 years old Azeem Khan. A resident of Nirala Estate, Greater Noida West, Khan is a cycling enthusiast who cycles 50 km every single day for the last year.

Born in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Khan grew up in many places such as Aligarh, Nanital, Dehradun, Pilibhit, Rampur, Delhi, and Chandigarh because of his father’s transferable job as a Government officer in UPPCL. For the last five years, Khan has been living in Greater Noida and works for an athleisure wear multinational company.

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After a post-Covid-19 boost in the cycling culture in Delhi NCR Khan also started cycling. He was taking up cycling after a long gap of 20 years. He bought his cycle in August 2020 and started cycling from the very first day. And thus began his cycling career. Khan cycled about 21,597 km in one year and did 6-month consecutive rides without taking any off. Every day, he'd cycle about 50-60 km.

According to him, cycling is one of the best ways to commute and adhere to Covid protocols at the same time. Khan shared that before cycling, he used to go to gym but cycling was not a part of his routine. He says, “In the Covid-19, I dropped gym and chose cycling. In my opinion, cycling can be our very own personal gym. It is very good to see that my colleagues support me and are also encouraged to cycle to the office.”

On returning to gym post-Covid 19, Khan says, “After Covid-19 happened, I did not like the environment of the gym as there was no proper social distancing and nobody followed Covid-19 protocols. I finally decided on resorting to cycling to stay healthy.”

Within a week of his cycling journey, Azeem Khan joined the Greater Noida West Cycling Club (GNWCC). However, he loves to go cycling alone. Khan says, “cycling helps us in many ways. It also helps to keep away from social media, which I think is one of the best things about it.” Khan shares his first journey as a cyclist when he went to Akshardham Temple on a ride of about 44 km. Initially, it wasn't easy for him. However, now Khan can cycle for around 50 km every day easily.

Azeem Khan has participated in several events with his GNWCC groups. While sharing a memory, Khan says, “On October 2, I participated in an event with my group GNWCC, where we had to ride for 200 km. I completed my ride in 12 hours. This was my longest ride of 211 km. I also accepted national and international challenges through the Strava Application. I accepted 242 challenges and fortunately, I won all of them. Now I have participated in a challenge where I have to ride a bicycle every day for a month to cover around 800 km. For me, it won't be very difficult because I already ride almost every day. However, I do prefer to cycle mostly in Delhi, Noida, and Greater Noida.”

While talking about the stance of his family on his cycling journey, Khan says, “My family supports me a lot. My daughter is also cycling enthusiastic. On Daughter’s day, she rode about 33 km with me. Though it was very difficult for her she completed it. Looking at her great spirit, I also made her account on distance counting app Strava, where she accepted her challenges and completed them by herself.”

While concluding the conversation, Khan said, “Cycling not only helps us physically but also mentally. It is also our personal gym and is open for us anytime. It also helps us to improve our health.”