Hero Cycles Urges Ludhiana City to push the pedal towards a healthier and happy life!

Ludhiana, June 15, 2016: Hero Cycles, the world’s leading bicycle manufacturer, has launched a new awareness campaign to promote cycling among the residents of Ludhiana and encourage them to take to the environmental-friendly two-wheeler as their health and fitness partner. The campaign was officially unveiled today by Hero Cycles Chairman and Managing Director, Mr.Pankaj Munjal at OP Munjal Rakh Bagh in the presence of leading fitness trainer Ms Vesna Jacob who spoke in depth about the health benefits of cycling in daily life.The campaign drew in a large number of children, ladies and fellow city residents who have vowed to adopt bicycles as a daily mode of transport, and limit the use of automobiles for environmental and health benefits.
Hero Cycles maintains and manages a cycling hub with dedicated cycling tracks at Rakh Bagh which is hugely popular with local residents who come in large numbers to cycle each day. Hero Cycles also has set up cycle docking stations at the Panjab Agricultural University campus where awareness messages are doled out to the University community. To encourage people to adopt cycling as a healthy lifestyle practice. “With our cities growing more congested, with lifestyle diseases on the rise and degradation of air quality a major concern, we realize that returning to cycling as a basic transport solution can be a major help in addressing these issues. This is why we have been promoting cycling and green transport initiatives across the country. We are working at promoting cycling as both an environment and health friendly practice. A lot of young people in India are today actively taking to cycling as a lifestyle sport and this culture needs to be promoted in every town and city. Our campaign aims to draw people back to the culture of cycling by raising awareness about its health benefits which are immense,” said Mr. Pankaj Munjal, Chairman and Managing Director, Hero Cycles.
Leading Delhi-based fitness expert Ms Vesna Jacob who promotes the concept of healthy living, said cycling is one of the best exercises for good heart health, for controlling weight and for increasing the longevity and health of the bones.
“Cycling is one of the best cardio exercises for people of all age groups. It helps burn calories, helps build stamina and strengthens muscles. Being a low impact exercise, it is also soft on the joints and unlike hard gym training sessions, it doesn’t put you at risk of overuse injuries or sprains. This is why it can also be taken up by elderly people without the threat of augmenting pain in the joints. According to World Health Organization guidelines, adults aged between 18–64 years need weekly aerobic exercise of 150 minutes, and cycling every day is a wonderful way of achieving this target. Not just muscles, cycling also helps strengthen the bones and helps prevent osteoporosis,” said Vesna, a Bosnian Pilates expert who has made India her home for the past 10 years.
She is the founder of New Delhi based Vesna’s Wellness Studio. Apart from proving Pilates training, Vesna is also an enthusiastic proponent of healthy living.
Despite the fact that India still falls in the lower income bracket of countries where it is possible for more people to afford a bicycle than a car, our choc a bloc cities are adding thousands of four wheelers every day. The new campaign aims to change the social consciousness about cycling. Notably, Hero Cycles has persistently campaigned for promoting cycling as a health and environment friendly practice in Indian cities. The organization also supported the recent car rationing initiative in Delhi by introducing a ‘Cycle to Work’ campaign’ as a means to reduce air pollution and improve air quality. It has also partnered IIFA and roped in leading Bollywood celebrities to spread the cause of adopting cycling as a green transport mechanism. Mr Munjal, who has for several years actively campaigned for India’s cities to be made more bicycle friendly feels raising social awareness among people and increasing the acceptability of cycling among the urban elite is an important social initiative. He also advocates the need for transport and urban development policies to make roads safer and convenient for bicyclists.