Rural Bicycle Tour With the onset of dawn on 21st March 2010, IITK community and rural Kanpur witnessed the unfolding of an extraordinary event. To mark the completion of 50 glorious years, IIT Kanpur organized yet another sporting event 'Rural Bicycle Excursion', a tribute to the indomitable spirit of the institute.
Brimming with enthusiasm and confidence, over 1000 students, alumni, faculty and staff of IIT Kanpur rode their bicycles along the kaccha and pukka roads of rural Kanpur. The tour was intended to promote a healthy, sustainable lifestyle and interaction between IITK community and rural community. It was organized by the Bumpy Trails bicycling group along with the IITK Adventure Club.
The tour began at 6:00 AM from the Students Activities Centre of the campus and ended at 3:00 PM. There were two levels of the tour - a 65 Km loop for experienced riders and a 25 Km loop for everyone. There were several attractions along the two routes like the village of Lodhar where NGO Jagriti runs a school, the famous Shobhan mandir, several beautiful and unusual bird species like Kingfishers, Pied Myna, little egrets, etc. As soon as the news reached the rural areas that IITK techies would be passing by they all gathered to cheer up the riders. Also, there was an exchange of words between them.
To make this event of such a magnitude a success several preparations were done. Thirteen volunteer stations were set up along the route managed by the volunteers who were serving energy drinks and refreshments to the participants. Support vehicles were stationed at key points along the route. The district authorities were also informed about the tour and number of police, civic, and health measures were put in place.
On the whole event was a huge success and everything went very smoothly. Participants showed no signs of fatigue even after hours of cycling. Rather they finished the tours with radiant smiles on their faces.

For the 25 Km tour instructions Click here

For the 65 Km tour instructions Click here

For press coverage of the bicycle tour Click here