Tamil Nadu: Bicycle back with a bang!

Chennai, July 8: On any bright sunny working day, one can see a steady stream of gleaming cars driven by nouveau riche zipping past the chaotic traffic in arterial roads in this megapolis. But tucked in this clutter is also the good old bicycle whose time has come again with riding becoming popular among the gizmo-strapped youth.

Vouching for this is B Ramkumar, a student of Loyola College who counts his latest 'Hercules' as one of his proud possesions.

''Cycle is no longer passe. Riding not only makes me brisk but also gives the feel of good outlook.'' Age is past. For those between 8 and 18, cycling is the in-thing be it for shopping or going to school.

Interestingly, TI Cycles, one of the leading bicycle makers in India who makes the famous Hercules, BSA and Philips brands said its turnover crossed Rs 500 crore for the first time in history hitting Rs 511 crore in 2006-2007 against Rs 466 crore in the previous year reflecting a ten per cent growth.

''This became possible due to higher volumes achieved in the trade segment through new retail initiatives and improving the product range,'' TI President Ram Prasad told sources adding in Tamil Nadu alone the company enjoyed a market share of 50 per cent.

He bets on bicycles as they are healthy and inexpensive. The Tamil Nadu Government also announced the free bicycle scheme for standard XI and XII students giving impetus to sales.

''We have so far supplied six lakh bicycles for the scheme,'' he said adding ''every year we supply about two lakh bicycles to the government.

The government said a total of 4,84,057 students, including 2,59,056 girls, would benefit from the Rs 102.82 crore scheme being implemented in the current year.

A survey across ten different schools across the city by social worker Arul Kumar throws light on some interesting facts. More than 80 per cent of the students aged between 11 and 15 prefer to go to school by cycle. Besides, many IT professionals were also evincing interest in buying latest models of bicycles to keep themselves fit and getting rid of day-to-day stress.

Cycling exercises the heart better than walking 'without the pounding of jogging,' Sriram, an IT professional working for Infosys said.

One can ride a bicycle almost anywhere, at any time of the year, and at low cost, he added, According to Dr Sumathi Natrajan, leading physiotherapist in the city, cycling can have positive effects on feelings, too.

''Cycling has been found to reduce levels of depression and stress, improve mood and raise self-esteem especially among women. It has also been found to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome,'' she said.

World Health Organisation (WHO) reports also suggest increasing physical activity was the best buy for public health and cycling was 'highly suitable activity' for the purpose.

The study further revealed that several recent field experiments included cycling to test the effects of physical activity on health.

The Copenhagen Heart Study, involving 13,375 women and 17,265 men aged 20-90 years found cycling had strong protective function.

In a significant development, PDM Sports, a sports marketing and management firm of Percept Holdings, has tied up with the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) to market cycling as a sport.

The size of the business which had fallen into PDM Sports' lap was worth approximately a crore of rupees.

CFI President Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said ''CFI wishes to seriously promote the sport of cycling. A lot of cities are supporting the use of cycles in comparison to vehicles due to reasons like environmental pollution and traffic congestion.''

UNI