Bageshwar cyclist pedals to Cambodia to push for environmental conservation

BAGESHWAR: “As the journey progressed, I conquered my fears,” says Pradeep Rana (21), who travelled from Dehradun to Cambodia while covering Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam. He peddled for 9,000 kilometres during the course of his journey, which aimed at spreading the message of environmental conservation, love, and peace.
Rana, who is a resident of Bageshwar’s Rithad village, embarked on the journey on September 18, 2019, from Dehradun’s Graphic Era, from where he is pursuing MSc (IT).His father Kishan is a farmer and social worker. He has been working to spread awareness regarding scientific farming among the local people in Bageshwar district for years.
"Crossing the international border for the first time in my life and that too on a bicycle was a thrilling and a scary experience for me,'' Rana told TOI during a phone conversation. He said that the money for the journey was arranged through crowd-funding. “Many people, who hail from Uttarakhand or other parts of India and are settled abroad, donated money for this journey,” informed Rana, who plans to peddle to countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and others.
"When I started my journey from Dehradun, I had just planned to cycle to six countries but the people that I met during my journey encouraged and funded me to explore more territory. At present, I have enough funds to go to Malaysia and then to Singapore. However, I will try to raise more funds so I can travel to other Asian nations like Indonesia, Brunei, Philippines, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, and others," Rana added.
Sharing experience of his trip, Rana said, "I stayed in Buddhist temples in Thailand and Laos. Indian restaurants in every city of Vietnam provided me with a free meal to support my journey. My college and the community of people from our state living in Singapore helped me a lot financially.''
Notably, this isn’t Rana’s first such adventure. In 2017, he cycled 18,671 km across India. Back then, he wished to register his name in the Guinness Book of World Records but couldn’t break the record set by an Australian cyclist.
When asked about his source of inspiration for such journeys, Rana said, "During my trip across India in 2017, I realised that travelling makes you generous and tolerant. You witness the diversity of this beautiful planet and start believing in co-existence. Since childhood, I have been fond of travelling and cycling."