BICYCLE KICK

Meet the three-star general who prefers pedalling to driving

- SANJAY AHLAWAT

If regulations had allowed it, there would have been a signboard that said Flag Cycles, along with Flag Cars, in the parking lots of military stations where Lieutenant General Anil Puri has served.

On Wednesdays, when the Army allows the personnel in its headquarters to wear civvies, one may spot a smart gentleman, greying slightly over the ears, quietly parking his bicycle, walking up the front steps, and returning salutes from the officers around. That would be the 59-year-old Puri, who pedalled the 90-hour, 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris circuit—France’s oldest cycling event— in 2019.

The three-star general is so passionate about cycling that his bicycle has clocked more kilometres than his car. The odometer of his 10-year-old car reads 25,000km; the odometer of his bicycle, which he bought along with his car, reads 68,000km—around 1.7 times the circumference of the earth.