Two Manchester men are campaigning for fitness and mental health by cycling mainly during the night and visiting different landmarks and tourist attractions in Greater Manchester.
Noor Alam, 36, and Ahtsham Arfan, 41, have been friends for about 15 years and decided to take up cycling for their physical and mental health.
They decided to make videos of their mainly nocturnal adventures and shared them on YouTube. They have received a great response since they started '2 Muslim Night Riders'.
Ahtsham, who has worked as a teacher and is presently a civil servant said: “We decided to start exercising when the lockdown began - for weight loss and to get fit. We opted to go on night bike rides as we are busy with family and work during the day. Our city is very peaceful and beautiful at night and is actually very safe, but we ride through familiar areas and avoid alleyways and dark places just in case.”
“Due to a lack of exercise my health wasn’t too good, I had aches and pains and would tire easily. After cycling regularly it has had a good impact on my life in general. I have more energy now.”
Noor Alam works as a media technician and has previously been employed at the BBC. He has the technical knowledge and is behind the editing and soundtracks of their videos. The videos are professionally made and create a sense of peace and tranquillity.
He said: “We aim to break down barriers and tackle negativity by being pro-active, we have so much fun bike riding; it brings out our inner child as compared to other more strenuous activities. When we cycle on scenic routes, the beauty of nature creates positivity. Cycling is a gentle exercise that anyone can get involved with.
“We have so much free time due to the lockdown so we have the opportunity to carry out exercise and community work at the same time. We started the project six months ago and now have more than 3,000 subscribers and 1,000 views of our videos on average. Our ethos is that if one person benefits from our message we are happy.”
Their objective is to get youngsters involved in cycling rather than spending all their time on computer games or in front of the TV.
They meet and talk to many different types of people such as a security guard at the Manchester City stadium who is actually a fan of Manchester United.
Noor added: “We have come across many wonderful people on our journeys and we interact with people from different backgrounds regardless of colour or race. Our religion teaches us to love and respect everyone. We believe in not focussing on nationality but on humanity.
“We have many upcoming projects with various cycling groups and others who want to collaborate with us. We have had a good response from young people who we encourage to become more active. We want to keep them out of trouble.
“There are so many different cycling routes we want to explore and share with our followers. So far, we have visited Media City in Salford and the Etihad Stadium and Manchester Piccadilly.”
2 Muslim Night Riders was established in part due to the innovative mentoring program at propheticpath.co.uk - a holistic health care and lifestyle hub for improving mental, spiritual and physical health.
Both Noor Alam and Ahtsham are volunteers and their adventures can be viewed here
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