Two Wheels And A Human Will: Tourism Ministry Webinar Invites People To Explore India Through Bicycle Tours  

Underlining the fascinating aspects of cycling, Tourism Ministry has promoted the bicycle travel as a crucial way to explore India's diverse landscapes.

Aptly named ‘Bicycle Tours — Exploring India at the pace of a pedal’, the latest webinar showcased the medley of India’s geographical diversity and cultural richness in the Dekho Apna Desh series, offering an immersive 360-degree view of the country through bicycle tours and highlighted how the slow pace of a pedal is the best way to soak in every aspect of this diverse region and connect with the people, its culture and way of life.

The session was moderated by Additional Director General Rupinder Brar and was presented by Gurudeep Ramakrishna and Tejaswini Gopalaswamy, co-founders of Unventured Expeditions.

Divided into five broad sections, the presentation focused on ‘Why bicycle travel?’, videos representing a virtual journey through India’s diverse landscapes, ‘Bicycle 101’ highlighting the core important things about bicycle travel like how to get started with the fascinating interest of cycling and tips for beginners.

Bicycle tour possibilities include women-only programmes, and the five major popular bicycle tour itineraries in India, namely Manali to Leh Bike expedition, Eastern Himalayas: Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, South India, Hampi and Badami.

According to the Ministry, wellbeing cannot be attributed to cycling alone, the bicycle as a means for exploration and travel connects riders to nature, people and diverse experiences they take on while reaching their destination.

The slow pace and constant pedaling to keep the bicycle moving is a mental and physical reminder to be present and engaged at every moment.

The cycle becomes a catalyst to soak in new perspectives and be truly engaged with the region.

These experiences combined together are meditative.

After all, meditation is a consistent practice to use techniques like mindfulness and awareness to achieve mental clarity, and emotional stability.

Gears on a bicycle are very akin to the gears in an automobile and they help us reduce the stress on the human engine (our two legs) as we pedal about exploring places.

With varying terrain, using gears on the bicycle can help the cyclist reduce the stress on her/his legs and makes it easier when climbing up hills or steep inclines and also generate speed while going downhill or even when cycling in flat terrain.

The webinar series is presented by Ministry of Tourism with active technical support from National e-Governance Division (NeGD) created by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) for effective citizen engagement and communication with all stakeholders using the digital experience platform.

The sessions of webinars are now available here and also on all social media handles of Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.