World Bicycle Day 2021: Lucknow cyclists give a thumbs up to UP's first cycling track

On this World Bicycle Day, cyclists, sports lovers and fitness enthusiasts have a lot to cheer as the city is all set to get an

indoor velodrome

at

Guru Gobind Singh Sports College

campus, now.
The cycling track arena will be the first of its kind facility in the state of Uttar Pradesh and it is expected to benefit professional as well as aspiring cyclists.

Lucknow's cycling enthusiasts and professionals share their thoughts and feelings on getting an international-level cycling velodrome.
“The velodrome is a much-needed facility especially for upcoming cyclists of Uttar Pradesh. As there has been no cycling track for practice in the entire state, our cycling players have delivered only satisfactory performance in the national championships till now. But restarting a long-awaited project of the velodrome in the capital, is a welcome move and all the players of cycling are very happy and confident about their future,” says

Anand Kishore Pandey

, Assistant Secretary,

Uttar Pradesh Olympic Association

and General Secretary,

Pedalyatri

,

Cycling Association

, Uttar Pradesh.

For the national and international level cyclists, it is like a dream come true. “The first of its kind facility in the state is expected to benefit the professional as well as an aspiring professional cyclist. The velodrome is the banked circular cycling track. The shorter track is of 250 meters banked at an angle of approximately 45° and the longer track is of 333.33 meters banked at an angle of approximately 32°. Let us see which kind of velodrome we are getting. We are eagerly looking forward to getting it completed soon,” shares Rajesh Verma, an international-level cyclist.
Echoing a similar feeling, Ansh Panday, a national level cyclist from the city, says, “I am very happy to know that the international level cycling track will be soon starting in Lucknow. Being a national player in cycling, I was not able to deliver my hundred percent at the highest level due to lack of practice and essential facilities."

Not only professionals but even fitness enthusiasts and sports lovers have many reasons to cheer about. “Making of the velodrome will expose the city to this beautiful sport. This step will encourage youngsters to take it as a sport as well as motivate people to take environment-friendly cycling as a way of commuting and that will help in reducing the ever-increasing air pollution in the city,” feels Prof Sudeep Kumar, SGPGI, Lucknow. “Encouraged by this, a number of youths interested in sports shall be able to pursue their passion and improve their skills," says Sanjay Agarwal, a cycling enthusiast. Anjali Chaurasia, another cycling enthusiast and Assistant Commissioner, (Mobile squad),

Commercial Tax Department

, Barabanki says, “It is expected that the velodrome will also help in bringing national and international tournaments to the city. By getting this type of international level facilities, the players can bring laurels to the state. Also, the cycling track will surely help all Lucknow cyclists to improve their performance.”

“In cycling, we can see constantly changing speed, smaller and bigger accelerations which many times knock you off the race. The cycling track is mostly about extremely hard accelerations and being able to repeat them as many times as possible and ride safely in a group. That means hitting your sub-maximal, maximal watts multiply times. This cycling track will surely help athletes to achieve next-level goal i.e IRON MAN,” says Nisheet Jaiswal another fitness enthusiast and businessman from the city.

“I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying. Hope this cycling track will help an athlete to come up with good pace and energy,” says Mukesh Ladkani, a cyclist and businessman.

“The international standard velodrome would certainly help cyclists to prepare well for national and international events,” asserts Sneha Jaiswal, a cyclist and a teacher by profession.

“Cities are generally confronted with problems such as congestion, air and noise pollution and of course road accidents whereas indoors is really the way things have to go for speed events. Even in good climates it’s too windy or too hot to establish high speed and makes it convenient for training. Hope this facility will help cyclists like us,” adds Dr Pradeep Yadav, a fitness enthusiast and a dentist by profession.