On November 3, a group of 12 women from Fort Kochi will set out on a journey — a six-day bicycle ride to Thiruvananthapuram — carrying a message against drug abuse. None of them are athletes or professionals; they are homemakers, Anganwadi and ASHA workers, and Kudumbashree members.
Covering over 200 kilometres across five districts, the riders will stop at schools, colleges, and public spaces to hold awareness sessions about the growing danger of substance use, perform street plays, and join in folk music events.
The initiative is organised by Keraleeyam — Global Kerala Initiative NGO, in collaboration with She Cycling and Intus Media, which conceptualised the campaign.
The cyclothon will be inaugurated on November 2, and the ride begins early on November 3 from Fort Kochi, concluding in Thiruvananthapuram on November 8 with a public event at Manaveeyam Veedhi.
M A Seenath, national project coordinator of She Cycling, leads the team. “We are watching our younger generation fall into addiction, not realising how deeply it affects them,” she says. “Most of us in this group are mothers. We felt we could reach these children not through warnings, but with love through stories, songs, and conversations. That is what this ride is about.”
The team includes Ruhi, Sunitha Ghafoor, Laila Nisar, Baby Nas, Zainaba, Mumtaz, Trese, Jessy Johny, Rehana, Shabana, and Shamla.
“Seenath was one of my students,” says Prakash P Gopinath, Bicycle Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram. “During the Cycle with Kochi project in 2022, women in their 30s, 40s, and even 60s, many of whom had never touched a bicycle before, started riding with joy and disbelief. It was beautiful to see cycling turn into a symbol of freedom. When the project ended, many women were still eager to learn, so we continued teaching them. That is how She Cycling began. Seenath became one of the trainers and later, the national project coordinator.”
Since then, She Cycling has reached far beyond Kerala conducting free training camps across India, from the narrow roads of small towns to the cold valleys of Kashmir and Leh Ladakh. “We travel with cycles packed in jeeps, stay five days, and teach women how to ride, and come back,” says Prakash.
Their upcoming route runs from Fort Kochi to Alappuzha on November 3, Alappuzha to Chengannur on November 4, Chengannur to Kottarakkara on November 5, Kottarakkara to Vamanapuram on November 6, and finally to Thiruvananthapuram on the evening of November 7.
The ride will move at a comfortable pace of around 10 kilometres per hour, with short breaks every five kilometres for rest and refreshments. The riders will start each day at 6am, stop for breakfast around 8.30am, and reach schools and colleges between 11am and 11.30am for awareness programmes. By 4pm, they will continue the ride until about 6 or 6.30 in the evening.
Overall, they plan to visit 14 schools and four colleges.
