04 Dec 2019  |   03:52am IST

The biker girls come zooming in

Asia’s Largest Biking Festival, the India Bike Week 2019, will see these women bikers speak on work life balance and their passion for biking.

Team Café

Yes they have a life. On two wheels. They roar into the

sunset, setting off at sunrise, weave around paths not trodden, kicking dirt. Some developed their passion for biking from their dads and other relatives and friends. Many took to biking like ducks to water on their own.

And yet, as women they balance their lives. Guess that’s what biking teaches you. The Moto Women’s Meet is a special section at the festival that will see women bikers speak on work life balance and their passion for biking.

Meet the ladies who love to ride, not just bikes but the crest of life

From Hubli to endless horizons

Candida Louis

From Hubli, Candida’s tryst with biking began when her father used to take her along on motorcycle journeys.

During school days, Candia used to be the pillion rider on her dad’s motorcycle when he rode to his sister’s place in Goa. This made Candida fall in love with bikes and travelling.

In 2016, her father gifted her a bike on her birthday and from there on, Candida never looked back. After winning several prestigious biking awards and leading numerous biking tours in India and abroad, Candida took her passion to a whole new level in 2018 by biking solo all the way from Bangalore to Sydney on a Bajaj Dominar 400.

She has also covered the Khardung La Pass, one of the highest motorable roads in the world and Gurez on the India-Pakistan border. Her overseas motorcycle expeditions include countries such as South Africa, Swaziland, Indonesia, Cambodia, USA and Australia.

Solo bike rider across 64 countries, starting from India

Dr. Maral Yazarloo-Pattrick

is an Iran-born motor-biking world record holder, fashion designer, artist, marketing professional, motivational speaker and campaigner of women’s rights.

In March 2017, Dr. Maral Yazarloo-Pattrick commenced a solo world biking tour across seven continents (Asia, Australia, North America, South America, Antarctica, Africa and Europe) with no backup or team.

The ride started from India and through 18 consecutive months, Maral covered 64 countries and traversed over 110,000 km. This solo bike ride is set to break stereotypes and create the world record for women bikers in Asia and Middle East.

Maral is currently campaigning for Iranian women to get permission and licences to ride motorbikes. She is also an advocate for awareness about rape and domestic violence on women.

The dentist who has cut her teeth on world biking circuits

Dr.Neharika Yadav Pandey:

Having smashed stereotypes with her performances on the race tracks across the world, dentist and superbike racer Neharika Yadav will speak at IBW 2019. She boasts of being the only female alongside 33 male racers in the 1000cc category at the JKTyre Superbike Championship, over three consecutive years - 2015, 2016, and 2017 - clocking a best time of 2.18 seconds.

Neharika, has ridden at the Sepang International Circuit (Malayasia) and the Mugello Circuit (Italy) among others. The Gurgaon-based superbike racer comes from an adventure-loving background with her mother and father being car rally drivers. That’s where the passion for speed racing took root.

Neharika recently delivered two TED talks to inspire people to live life to the fullest and overcome their fears.

First Indian athlete to win a world title in motorspor

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Aishwarya Pissay

– She is an Indian circuit and off-road motorcycle racer, recently became the first-ever Indian athlete to win a world title in motorsport. In August, 2019 she made history by becoming the First Indian athlete to win a world title in Motorsport, winning the FIM World cup in the women’s category at the final round at the championship in Hungary. She is also the first Indian woman to win 6 National titles in Circuit Racing and Rally Championship combined.

Aishwary found her passion in racing as she turned 18, while going on road trips around her home town of Bengaluru, consequently learning how to master the art of riding a bike. This hobby grew into a profession as she won 4 National titles in Road Racing and Rally Championship in 2016 and 2017 and competed in the National Rally Championship in 2018, winning it as well. She also became the first Indian woman to compete in the Baja Aragon World Rally in Spain held in 2018.

Kid her not. At 23 she has hit a peak with more to come

Anam Hashim

is an Indian youngest female stunt rider at 23 years. She made history for being the first woman to ride to Ladakh’s Khardung La, a treacherous trip, on a TVS Scooty Zest. At the age of ten, Anam started riding her father’s bike on the streets of her hometown Shimla in Himachal Pradesh. She went on to attempt her first stunt on a Honda Activa when she was only 16 years old. Anam will be speaking at IBW 2019 on work life balance and their passion for biking.

A role model who has ridden 100 bike models

Sonia Jain

is a competitive motorcyclist and long distance rider. Not just a common one at that. She recently created history – her name appeared in the Limca Book of Records along with India Book Of Records (IBR) for 2017 — for riding 100 different models of motorcycles. With this achievement, Sonia became the first woman from India to have had ridden the highest number of motorcycles ever, as of August 16, 2016.She rode each bike for a minimum of 5 km to 500 km. The motorbikes varied from 60 cc, 63 kg Sunny to 1811 cc and the 360 kg Indian Roadmaster.

Hailing from Delhi, her journey started right after her education when, just to be able to win a bike, she participated and won ‘The India Bike Rally’ (2009)

(India Bike Week - will be held on 6th and 7th of December at Vagator, Goa)