From Kanyakumari to Ladakh, this Raipur girl pedalled 4k km in 49 days

RAIPUR: Chasing her dreams, a 24-year-old adventurist from Raipur pedalled all the way from southern tip Kanyakumari to north’s Khardung La — one of the worlds highest motorable road .



Spreading the message #BeGenerous throughout her journey, she peddled about 4000 kilometres in 49 days including 40 cycling days and 9 breaks.

Accompanied by her trip partner Pankaj Bose , Raipur adventurist Tahseen Amber started the journey from Kanyakumari (30ft) on June 14 and reached their final destination Khardung-La (18,350ft approx.), covering 12 states and two union territories on August 1.

Talking about how she planned for the cycling expedition, Tahseen told TOI, “I have always wanted to do something challenging. I gave a thought to do this three year back. I shared the idea with my parents last year. However, my father denied due to road safety issues.

“This year, I insisted and my father agreed but only on one condition — that the whole cycling expedition will be backed up by a support vehicle for safety purpose. He even helped to plan the route”, she said.

Sharing the challenges, she faced during her journey, Tahseen who is also a law student said, “I have never pedalled continuously for such long distance. It took me a week to adapt to this routine. Pedalling through plains was fine but mountainous terrains were difficult to cross.

When asked about the message #BeGenerous, she said that the idea was to encourage people to help others without expecting anything in return.

“This was mutually decided by me and Pankaj. We chose it so that we ourselves can follow this in long-term. During our journey, we have met lot of generous people who helped and supported us.

Sharing her pre-expedition preparations, Tahseen said that their target was to cycle about 125 kilometres everyday which reduced to 50-60 kilometres in mountains. “To meet this target, I started cycling for about 50 kilometres almost every day for the last three months to prep myself up for the expedition. Besides, I also followed a strict diet to keep myself fit.”

Tahseen who completed her law studies in 2017, always found adventurous activities fascinating. Her passion for adventure developed when she went for a trekking programme with her sister in 2009. She has completed atleast 10 courses in adventure courses including mountaineering, rock climbing, paragliding, first aid and skiing till now.

Speaking about her future plans, Tahseen said “I want to do more of such cycling expeditions in future in Chhattisgarh also. But most importantly I want to do short solo cycling expeditions now without any support vehicle backup, even if they are short expeditions.”