Biking personalities

WE BIKE : Biking Personalities of

Chandigarh      

When a woman decides to choose her own path and follow it, nothing, repeat

nothing, can stop her. These  biking personalities of Chandigarh  dressed

in tough biking gear are living examples of this.

• SARAH KASHYAP

She is the reason Chandigarh has Dirt Park .Don't be illusioned by her

short height  or her petite frame because ‘She’ is here to break stereotypes

of she able to bike or to prove India is safe for single women traveler.
She feels it is not just the fight with the world but it is something  which

goes inside.After being taunted by her brother about her height and girls

riding bikes .“Later he was the one who taught me how to ride a bike,” says

Kashyap an alumni of G.C.G.11 chandigarh, even counts poetry as ‘one’

of her love.

Passionate about biking, Kashyap feels she didn’t have any women bikers as role

models when she took to motorsports.

You ask about her achievements

Sarah Kashyap is the only Indian female rider to complete Raid De Himalayan.

For those who don’t know what Raid De Himalayan is? It is the second toughest

rally in the world after Dakar. In 17 years of the Raid De Himalayan history,

She feels to take on the world with her biking as she  dreams of finishing the

Dakar Rally, the most prized off-road endurance event. “It is the toughest rally in

the world and no Asian has ever participated in it. I hope to qualify for it and also

finish it by 2020,” she declares.

• ‘Muscle Mom’

That what kids of our next kids address her as . Nikita Sood Reddy whose weekends

are booked for bike rides to Kasauli, Bharatgarh or anywhere her bike and dreams take

her. A dentist ,mother,wife and ofcourse what describes her best is being a biker  proud

member of the Harley Owners Group (HOG).SHE IS the only woman in ‘Free Riders’,

a group of bikers in the Tricity. The other 249 members are all men. & her husband too

is proud of her.“I ride my Harley Street 750, gifted by my husband, to college and

it’s a trip I really look forward to,”.

If you thought this was the end, think again

• Harjit Walia

For her  mishap of crashing a TVS Splendor into a heap of sand wasn't big

enough to dampen her spirit for riding on an Avenger, Pulsar, Royal Enfield,

Harley.All the machines were borrowed from friends as to her it will limit her

to just one machine!. In her words “I still don’t own a bike, but I have access to

various bikes and my biking expeditions to Shimla, Kasauli, Dagshai on a Harley

are all memorable adventures. Once you sit on a bike, you just live the moment

and forget everything else, it is like mediation for me and I love riding late at night,

when the roads are empty and you feel the wind in your face,”

Her freedom is too personal not even glittering trophies matter to her“I have no

agenda, no competition to win, I ride for my own pleasure and like many other

women riders, I feel liberated. I feel all girls must learn how to ride a bike and

experience the fun of it and no, it is not tough to master,”says another

biking personalities in chandigarh.

And here come the young ones:

• Priyanka Goyal ,

a 20 something was taught how to ride a bike by

her father, with her brother adding his bit to the ‘training’. 

Apart her  law studies at punjab University , the young lad finds her joy in TVS

Sports, Pulsar and Royal Enfield.

What inspires her to shun scooty at this age is fact that while riding, she feels she

is completely with herself and nature.

“If you can ride or drive, no matter what your vehicle, it gives you wings to fly and

so much independence. Every woman must experience this freedom and never

be discouraged,” she says as her ‘message’ to young women.

• Ishita Uppal 

Yet another biking personalities of chandigarh is a Law student at Panjab

University who also has her very own  NGO, Strong Women and Girls (S.W.A.G).

Today for women childhood fascination doesn’t mean end of the dream in the

bud ,same case for her with the full trust of her parents “My parents had no

reservations, as long as I was careful. Riding a bike makes me feel free, gives me

a sense of adventure and so much confidence. My brother owns a Royal Enfield

Classic 350, and I often take it for solo rides. My brother doesn’t really appreciate it,

for he knows I’m a better rider,” laughs Ishita.

But the world outside is a lot tough with remarks such as ‘Ladkiya bike thodi na

chalati hain, yeh kaisa shauk hai’.

Not just the wide roads of chandigarh but also the bumpy roads of Bhutan and

Leh-Ladakh on her Harley.

Unstoppable but cautious about others “I feel women are better on roads, as they

are more patient and responsible and keep their vehicles in great condition”.

If these ‘normal weight  bodies’ can handle an 180-kg motorcycle, it

shows everything else is just an illusion, and It's all in the mind!