Speed and stunts go well with the biking culture becoming popular in the country, but it gets appreciation and applause only once safety standards are taken into consideration. Biking Reinvented, a bike festival, has taken the responsibility to initiate the much-needed awareness about responsible biking and everything that goes into securing it.
With Delhi topping the statistics for the highest number of fatal accidents among all cities in the country, it’s an effort that won’t fall to deaf ears. At least that’s what Rahul Sharma and Rohan Singh Monga, two city bikers participating in the drive, hope. “I am a long distance rider for the most part. I’ve done Delhi to Goa, Goa to Jaisalmer, Delhi to Spiti Valley, Delhi to Udaipur, Amritsar, Jaipur Chandigarh, Kufri, Narkanda and to other places. After having ridden all that distance, I, more than anybody else, realise the importance of safe riding and therefore I am part of this effort,” says Monga.
The festival, that is South Asia’s largest bike festival, started off with a cross-country National Safety Ride, mapping every state and spreading awareness on safe-biking. It is also expected for the event to put India in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first-of-its kind safety ride covering 8,000 km in 30 days. ‘‘We’ll be covering Delhi, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata and Chandigarh, during which we will meet like-minded enthusiasts,” says Sharma, an anaesthesiologist who loves superbikes.
‘‘The ride will take the event to its culmination at the Buddh International Circuit on October 4 and 5, where various events like Dirt Bike, Drag Race championship and others will be held,” says Monga who is currently riding towards Kolkata, with five male and three female riders from across the country.