I quit my job to pursue career in cycling

Dadarides founder Salome Kanini [Courtesy]

When Salome Kanini resigned one morning in 2016 to pursue her interest in cycling, both her peers and parents thought she had made a terrible decision. 

She was then a personal assistant to a Senator.

“After leaving my job and started to live off my savings, I knew there was no way I could have survived without another job for long but this time I was very specific with what I wanted,” she says.

“I needed an employer who would allow me to pursue cycling whenever I needed and especially during races,” she says.

Most of the companies that offered to employ her, however, couldn’t give in to her wish, so she was jobless for a while.

A few months down the line and when she was almost exhausting her savings and on the edge of giving up on her dream, she got a job at a company that granted her wish on one condition – she couldn’t be paid for the days she would be away from work.

One day as she was watching TV in the evening, she saw an advert for a cycling event that was to take place in Machakos County and thought of giving it a try.

“I discovered it was just a 50km race and decided to go for it. I ended up in position three in the women’s category and that inspired me to put in more effort and polish my cycling skills,” she adds.

Dadarides founder Salome Kanini in action with riders [Courtesy]

“In 2019, I took part in the Sokoke Forest MTB challenge - Watamu where I was the winner. The same year I emerged third at the MTN MTB Challenge in Nairobi, in the 35km race.

“In 2017, I participated in Gatamaiyu Road Race (90km) where I emerged second. In 2019 again, I represented Kenya for the first time in cycling races at the All-Africa Games,” says Kanini.

In 2018, she started DadaRides, an outfit whose goal is to build a community of female cyclists in and out of Nairobi. “If I joined cycling for money, I could have given up already. Sponsorships are hard to come by since professional cycling is still a new concept in Kenya and this is why I started DadaRides.

“My aim is to build a community of cyclists and to change all the misconceptions associated with it,” she says.

In her efforts to create a safe and comfortable space where women interested in cycling can train, in March, Kanini and 19 members of DadaRides cycled from Nairobi to Mombasa to raise funds for a toilet at Ngong Forest sanctuary. Their three-day journey began at Nairobi city centre and they made stopovers in Kibwezi and Voi.

She plans to establish a bike parking rack at Ngong Forest sanctuary.

“I realised nothing is impossible as long as you have the will and the interest to pursue it,” she says.