Goemkarponn Desk
MARGAO: Xaxti Riders, Goa’s most popular cycling club, will be holding its annual bicycling event, Xaxti 100 – 2021 on Sunday, February 7.
A record 400 cyclists will participate in Xaxti Riders’ signature, 100-km cycle ride.
Xaxti 100 – 2021 will be flagged-off by Dr Vishwajeet Faldesai, an accomplished cyclist and Medical Superintendent at the ESI Hospital, Margao.
Xaxti 100 – 2021 will start from Ravindra Bhavan, Margao, at 6:45 am. The cyclists will ride through the lush green parts of South Goa’s hinterland. This hilly and flat landscape includes Caurem, Sulcorna, Curpem, and Zambaulim, among others.
Timed with the return of the finishers, Xaxti Riders will release the first-ever book written on Indian cycling history, The Bicycle Diaries.
The Bicycle Diaries will be released at 11:30 pm in Ravindra Bhavan, Margao by Dr Belinda Viegas-Mueller, Goa’s foremost cyclist and an accomplished randonneur.
A consulting psychiatrist, Dr Belinda is mentioned in the Limca Book of Records for being the only Indian woman cyclist to have completed three 1,200km rides in one calendar year. Each of these 1,200-km brevets was completed in less than 90 hours.
Authored by the cycling couple, Anoop Babani and Savia Viegas, The Bicycle Diaries traces the historic and incredible global journeys undertaken by twelve Indian cyclists a century ago.