"Cycling is always one of my favorite activities. I use to cycle a lot in my college days however later I lost the touch. I always use to think that I should buy a cycle and start cycling. Last year on our marriage anniversary in July we bought two cycles together and started with moderate cycling of 5-8 KMs per day. Later I heard of Freedom Ride and registered with a doubt. Sonalika motivated for this and I completed it successfully. Once I shared my experience with her she said we will do it together next year.

Fortunately this year we got the opportunity earlier than expected in Republic Ride 2010. Although thinking of doing 100 KM was challenging we practiced for 1 month and thought we might have to upgrade our bikes as it was normal non-geared ones. However later we decided to stick to our old bikes. We started at 6:30 in the morning on 26th January 2010. It was nice breezy morning, after doing around 10 KMs we hit the outer ring road. The Sunrise was very beautiful and it was very nice to ride along with rising Sun. We  did not stopped at first rest station as we wanted to cover as much distance as possible in the morning hours. Later 12 in the noon; all I can see is miles and miles of greenery no cement structures around. All I can hear is sound of birds and wind. Of course, there were some spurts of traffic here and there but all we remember is riding under clear blue sky along green fields and the sound of birds and winds. It was a memorable experience for both of us.

This is the first time my wife did the cycling of more than 20 Kms in her entire life. But after doing 100 KMs she was looking in much better condition than me which is a huge achievement on her apart.  We would like to convey our gratitude to Atlanta Foundation for throwing this challenge in front of us."