36-year-old Ravi from Chandigarh pedals his way to glory

Three years into cycling and 36-year-old city resident Ravi Sharma has the honour of completing the London-Edinburgh-London (LEL), a 1,558.4-km event, featuring 13,570 m of climbing.

Sharma, who is a government employee, claimed to have completed the race. Earlier, he had participated in the Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), another long-distance cycling event, and covered 1,230 km (750 miles) with a 90-hour time limit.

“I am really happy to finish the LEL. I had never imagined I would do it. It was tougher than the PBP. I am really lucky to have participated in both events. I completed the recent LEL in a five-day span with minimum breaks. In the PBP event earlier, I had tried to finish the race quickly and ended up injuring myself. I pedalled for four straight days with short food breaks, which took a toll on my health. I had a gust of sleep while pedalling in the evening of the fourth day and met with an accident. I still managed to complete the event,” said an elated Sharma.

The 36-year-old had started cycling in 2022 and joined Jalandhar-based Hawkriders Club. Since then, cycling has been a daily routine for him. On regular days, Sharma cycles for nearly 20 km, and on weekends he makes a round trip to places in the nearby mountains to keep his endurance intact.

“In the run-up to major tournaments, I follow a strict routine of pedalling at least 60 km in one go. However, I cover less distance on normal days, “ he said, while adding, “Chandigarh is a beautiful place to maintain a healthy lifestyle, and I make sure to pedal to nearby hill stations on weekends to test my endurance.”

Sharma said, “I have taken part in several ventures. However, the journey for international events started as I subscribed to Audax. After completing 200km, 300km, 400km, 600km and 1,000km of the Indian leg, I qualified for the 2023 PBP. After finishing the event, I secured a chance to take part in the LEL. In London, the competition was immense. Many cyclists from other Indian states also participated in it. I never knew that cycling would take me to countries.”