'If I can do it, anyone can!'

Devout Muslim and mother of seven Usma Chaudry tells CW how she refuses to let cultural expectations hold back her passion for long-distance cycling

- Julian Sayarer

“One day I saw a mum putting her child into a seat on her bike, and I thought, ‘I can do that’.” Usma Chaudry is describing to me the moment in 2015 that inspired her to get back into cycling, an activity she had enjoyed as a child but left behind as she grew older and got on with the business of raising a family. By then a mother of six, Chaudry was motivated by the mum loading her child aboard a bicycle to find out about cycling initiatives available in her area. She discovered that she qualified for a free bike on a local scheme Big Birmingham Bikes, which supported less well-off communities with subsidised bikes and tuition in road riding and bike maintenance.

Armed only with her enthusiasm and an inexpensive hybrid bike, Chaudry started an adapted version of British Cycling’s ‘Sofa to 50km’ plan, designed to help develop basic stamina in eight weeks, geared towards new and returning riders. “Pretty soon, British Cycling said I could lead their Breeze group rides,” Chaudry tells me. “They said if we couldn’t do the recommended rides of 20 miles, then anything – even just one or two miles – was fine. So that’s what we did, me and a group of women from my community. Within a few months – August to October 2020 – we went from riding one mile to riding 60.”

Indirectly, the Covid-19 pandemic fasttracked Chaudry’s cycling, particularly her long-distance ambitions. “There’s a charity ride for children with autism that’s normally from London to Manchester, but because of Covid, they opened it to anyone riding 220 miles across two days.” Chaudry opted to ride a 50-mile loop starting from Leicester, and completed the 220-mile distance after just two years of cycling experience.