What does a 52-year-old environmentalist have in common with a 23-year-old management trainee? Their love for pushing boundaries and riding on treacherous terrain on powerful motorcycles. That they both happen to be women is besides the point.
“Biking is a serious affair and, just like in life, there are no short-cuts to achieving your dream,” says Rajkot-based Pintueli Gajjar, who retired at 50 to pursue her passion and is now part of an all-women bike riding association — Bikerni.
Gajjar and 10 other women from across the country recently undertook a challenging 15-day journey on bikes from Delhi to Khardung La, which, at 18,000ft above the mean sea level, is the highest motorable pass in the world.
The group rode customised Royal Enfield bikes through scorching heat and freezing temperatures, and through dust storms in deserts and oxygen deprivation on higher peaks. “It was a journey that challenged us to confront our fears of the unknown,” says Firadaus Shaikh, 25, a Pune-based PR professional and co-founder of Bikerni.
This first journey by women bikers to Khardung La will soon be telecast as a six-episode series Riders on a television channel.
The group also spent time river rafting, rock climbing and rappelling during the expedition.
“The route that the TV channel wanted us to cover is considered to be the mecca for bike riders and so, we were naturally ecstatic,” says Sheetal Bidaye, 36, a businesswoman from Mumbai. Her name also finds mention in the current edition of The Limca Book of Records as the first solo female rider to travel to Marsimek La, the highest mountain pass in the world.
The bikers hope that their quest will be an inspiration to millions of women struggling against social taboos and gender discrimination.
Urvashi Patole, 23, a management trainee from Bangalore and co-founder of Bikerni, is looking forward to initiating more women into the fold.
