Pune: Solely covering 6,225 km on the Golden Quadrilateral route on a cycle, electronic-telecom Engineer Sunil Kukade has advice for all. On a mission ‘Hope’, Health, Optimism, Peace and Environment, he wants everyone to ride a cycle to reduce traffic and pollution.
Hailing from Nagpur, the engineer who settled in Pune some 15 years ago, was inspired by many Puneiets who cycle to Lonavla and back to the city. Hence, he started his journey into sports by participating in marathons conducted in Pune and Mumbai from 2014. Gradually, his interest in cycling grew and from the year 2018, he started participating in local cycling events. He participated in cycle marathons like ‘Brevet de Randonneurs Mondiaux’ (BRM) and joined the clubs called ‘Pune Randonneurs’ where he competed with other participants in timed event cycling.
His first cycle journey was from Pune to Visakhapatnam via Hyderabad, which he completed in seven days and continued cycling from Pune to Nagpur and Pune to Pandharpur. He used to cycle for his self endurance.
With mission Hope, he started his Golden Quadrilateral cycling expedition on December 2, 2019. He used to complete 200 km daily and rest at night in highway motels.
While interacting with Sakal Times, Kukade said, “Golden Quadrilateral route was a dream of Late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the former prime minister of India, I rode my cycle in almost 10 states of India. I experienced different cultures, cuisines, dialects, accents and people from these states. The people were kind and motivated me to complete this journey”.
I want to tell people to use cycles, which will reduce traffic and number of accidents too. His future plan includes completing a Europe Tour starting from France on a cycle.
