Women at the deep end of ultra cycling

As randonnuering catches on among female cyclists in Chennai, a look at the challenges they encounter in this journey

Last year, “pandemic bike boom” was a talking point on Reddit. Wikipedia added 2020 to the periods in history when the bicycle was “rediscovered”. The pandemic with its punctuation on fitness and social distancing was just the inflexion point the humble bicycle needed. During the lockdowns, closed gyms had left a void that cycles rolled in to fill.

Raghu Vishal, current representative of Audax India Randonneurs, believes the “pandemic bicycling boom” would not stop with basic cycling, but spur many people, including women, towards ultra cycling.

Aarthi Lakshminarayanan, a senior randonneur at the city-based Madras Randonneurs, reports a spike in women randonneurs having a go at the coveted super randonneur title. “There must be 12 to 15 women randonneurs in Chennai,” elaboartes Aarthi.