Preeti's Guinness World Records as A Cyclist Prove It's Never Too Late To Achieve Your Dream #EmbraceEquity

By Ruchi Sharma

When we were still getting acquainted with the growing concept of female solo travel, we got to know about a female solo cyclist! And that too is not an ordinary one. Preeti Maske is a force to be reckoned with and already has three Guinness records in her name. Unbelievable isn’t it?

Pic Source: ABP

Preeti opted for cycling mainly to achieve her fitness goals and got into it accidentally in 2017 but since that day she embarked on a journey which is full of inspiration for everyone. In her words from a website, “I used to play hockey and basketball, and had taken part in many marathons and cycling events. But after school, I lost touch with sports for two decades. Then suddenly, cycling came back into my life at the perfect moment”.

She is a proud housewife, a mother of two beautiful children and was about to turn 40 but when has age restricted anyone from achieving their dreams? She said, “When you are a housewife, a mother of two, and you turn 40, you feel like there’s nothing left to do anymore since you’ve lived only for your children and your family. That’s when I found cycling, and it completely turned my life around. Above all, it gave me my own identity”. Importance of having your own identity is given a totally new meaning by Preeti.

Pic Source: The Bridge

Her Guinness World Records are a testimony for her heardwork, grit and determination. Her records include: Fastest cycle journey of the Manali-Leh highway (female), Fastest 300 km by Standard Bicycle (WUCA) (team of 8) (road) (female) and Fastest India W-E crossing by Standard Bicycle (WUCA) (Female) (Solo). She recently accomplished another record too by covering 12 states in just 11 days for raising awareness for organ donation.

Achieving these feats involve a lot of hard work. She trains very hard with her regime consisting of cross training, weekdays involve working on her strength and stamina while weekends are all about cycling. “If I have extra time, I train for a couple of hours on my Smart Trainer at home. I also swim three or four days a week” She said in one of her interviews.

Pic Source:HT

She designs the events herself and works minutely on gathering her support crew because even though she is a cycles solo but having a strong support crew is important. Wow, this tells us the effort that goes behind each of her expeditions. She also tries to design her event in as budget friendly as possible. Cycling in some of the areas is difficult due to their climate and topography. When she set on her record setting journey from Gujarat to Arunachal, in one of the places she mentioned, “ “It was so bad that even after cycling all night, I was only able to cover 70km. We couldn’t even stop anywhere because of the construction.” That definitely sounds scary.

Her determination and grit is extremely inspirational and we are sure there are many more records we will see in her name very soon. India has a n unparalleled beauty but from a cyclist's vision going through the natural terrains up close, it must be a surreal experience. 

Well done Preeti! We are super proud of your achievements and wish you the best for your amazing journey.

Feeling inspired? Check out another story- 'Inspirational Journey of Khushi’s Fight Against Period Taboos'.

Interview snippets from cntraveller.in and Information Sources: Guinnessworldrecords, IndianExpress & ABP Live, Pic in Banner Source: ET