INCLUSIVE TANDEM CYCLING EXPEDITION

Summiting4Hope, a social initiative founded by two trained and professional mountaineers Anusha Subramanian and Guneet Puri with the intention to rehabilitate the people of Uttarakhand who lost their property and livelihood during the 2013 June floods. After the successful completion of three projects in Uttarakhand along with the support of Leap Foundation, Dehradun, S4H has been in constant look out to support causes where they see value and resonate with. One such cause that we have picked up this year is that of inclusivity of Persons with Disability into main stream. Towards this cause we are supporting Adventure Beyond Barriers Foundation, a Pune based Non-Profit organisation promoted by Divyanshu Ganatra, the first blind solo Para Glider in India.

ABBF is promoting adventure sports among persons with disability and doing this with a difference. The organisation promotes inclusion by enabling Persons with Disability and able bodied people to participate in Adventure Sports together. The first step towards supporting ABBF started at an individual level with Anusha joining as a sighted ally for an adventure camp and trek with ABBF’s blind participants. Since then she and her partners Guneet and Shashi Bahuguna at S4H have attended workshops at ABBF to understand how to deal with persons with disability in the outdoors.

This year S4H is embarking on a larger mission to support ABBF. Anusha is participating in ABBF’s M2K 2017 Tandem Cycling expedition in Ladakh. She will be riding along with the blind participants a distance of 550 Km from Manali to Khardungla. The expedition that will include 10 blind and 10 sighted participants along with few solo riders will ride to promote inclusion through adventure and experience the adrenaline rush.

S4H will also raise funds for 5 teams participating in M2K through its network. The donors can directly contribute via this crowdfunding link to ABBF.

What if someone told you that you could have an unimaginable load of fun, make the world a better place, and push your own boundaries at the same time? What if someone told you that you could do your bit to shatter stereotype, change perspectives, and clarify misconceptions while breaking personal records and fostering new relationships? What if someone told you that all this and more can happen in less than two weeks this August?

Adventures Beyond Barriers Foundation (ABBF) is telling you just that. Except we need your help.

ABBF is India’s leading adventure sports organization that caters to Persons with Disability as well as able-bodied adventurers. The Foundation works across five verticals including trekking, scuba diving, paragliding, and mountaineering, and facilitates opportunities for people to come together and experience the thrill of adventure independent of disability. Over July and August 2017, the team is all set to push even higher boundaries. Later this year (July 29th to August 10th, and August 12th to August 24th 2017), ABBF will be facilitating India’s first blind-and-sighted tandem cycling expedition in the Himalayas, where ten tandem pairs (with one blind cyclist each) will cycle over five hundred kilometres from Manali to Khardung La in less than two weeks.

Over the course of the two weeks, cyclists will push the limits of their physical endurance and mental fortitude, forge relationships and build empathy.,At its core, #M2K2017 is the chance for cyclists to discover new perspectives while simultaneously spreading the message of inclusivity and accessibility. If this isn’t a win-win, what is?

Yet, expeditions like #M2K2017 do not come easy and they definitely do not come cheap. This is where we need your help. ABBF Is committed to providing all our participants with the experience of a lifetime with no compromise on safety and quality. This means that we not only need to provide for all our cyclists' accommodation, food, and living expenses, but we also need to account for the costs of the tandem cycle and maintenance, support vehicle and basic medical requirements, as well as the expenditure of the practice runs in the months leading up to the event. This is where you step in.

We need you to support us, to fuel this expedition, make it happen. By contributing as much as you can, you are helping the cyclists truly imbibe the spirit of inclusion and adopt a new world view. Cyclists with disability, sighted captains, and solo cyclists alike will benefit from your generosity, allowing them to experience the power of play in action. Join us in this adventure, this revolution to change the way disability is understood today.

UPDATE

ABBF has a new partner for #M2K2017! Summiting4Hope is a social initiative by Anusha Subramanian and Guneet Puri committed to a variety of causes including enabling the inclusion of Persons with Disability in mainstream society. Anusha will be joining the team as a solo cyclist and S4H will help ABBF raise funds towards the expedition. We are grateful for their help and cannot wait to have Anusha join us!