46-yr-old cycles 16 hrs in a day for Lord Vithal’s darshan, says cycling helped improve his health

It’s a pilgrimage that helped him more than just spiritually. Dadar resident Nilesh Namsale who did the ‘warkari on bicycle’ pilgrimage from Pune to Pandharpur says the pilgrimage also helped him physically and mentally.
“Blessed by Vithoba that I reached the temple cycling,” says the 46-year-old who pedalled 235km to Lord Vithal’s temple all of Saturday, June 15, with a motley mix of cyclists.
Despite his confidence, Namsale, who is battling a host of ailments – diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid -- had begun to feel somewhat unsure of being able to cycle the entire distance, a couple of days before he was supposed to set out. “But, I am happy that I made it,” he declares proudly, chatting animatedly about his pilgrimage on the bicycle.
More than 1,700 warkaris (pilgrims) cycled along Pune-Solapur highway to the Pandharpur temple in Solpur district. The cyclists comprising children, women and senior citizens were part of the warkari pilgrimage on bicycles organised by Indo Athletic Society.
Namsale joined a group of fellow cyclists from Mumbai who carted their cycles by train to Pune. They assembled at the starting point, Negadi, from where they started rolling on their cycles, stopping intermittently along the route to freshen up and break into devotional songs amid the clanging of cymbals. The cycling trip that started at 3.15am wrapped up by late that evening, around 7.30pm for him. “I’ve gone on many pilgrimages by car. This was the first time that I ever cycled for darshan... the satisfaction and divinity I felt cannot be expressed in words,” says Namsale.
For Namsale, who started cycling in and around Mumbai last year, the long trip was a tough challenge, particularly on the health front. Early last year, he found it difficult to walk due to varicose veins and had to be in bed for a couple of months. “It was a difficult phase,” he admits.
Eventually, with medical advice, he started brisk walking around Shivaji Park, graduated to jogging and slowly got onto the bicycle saddle. It was a euphoric moment for him last year when he clocked 76 km on cycle on the occasion of our country’s 76 years of independence last August – he pedalled from Dadar to Ghodbunder and back to south Mumbai. “My cycling mentor, Satish Jadhav, guided and goaded me on...” he says.
Now, after more than a year of cycling, he says he’s reaping the dividends of his hard work. “Before I started cycling, I weighed 130 kg. Today, I’m down to 105,” he says, making no attempt to hide the thrill in his voice.
As for the recent Pandharpur cycling pilgrimage, he had to keep his medical kit strapped to the bicycle to keep a close check on his health parameters, he says. “Largely, I was trailing way behind the other pilgrims. On the way, when I felt a little breathless, I had to stop,” he says, adding that his cycling companions – SiddharthTayade, Rohan Koli and Navneet Worlikar -- would halt their free run until Namsale caught up with them.
Namsale, who works for Gemological Institute of America, says his office colleagues have been a big support in his well-being as much as his family members. But initially, some of his well-wishers were a tad reluctant to let him go on the physically strenuous bicycle pilgrimage. “But my wife Pratiksha and other family members stood by me all through,” he says.
The medals and citations that he’s earned during his cycling expeditions are a treasure he wants to save and show his 2-year-old son Vihaan, he says, adding: “Once he grows up, I would want my boy to follow in my footsteps.”