We once again celebrated the Yuba City Nagar Kirtan, the largest Sikh festival in the United States!
Beginning in 1979, the Yuba City Nagar Kirtan has long drawn crowds from across California, the country and beyond. The festival happens on the first weekend of November celebrating the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib as the 11th Guru of the Sikhs. The Nagar Kirtan festival culminates on Sunday with a large procession through Yuba City, CA led by the Guru Granth Sahib. This year, it took place on the November 3-5, 2023 weekend.
In cycling, a “century” ride covers 100 miles in one day. The original version of this 100-mile ride was organized by Jaskaran Singh Gill in 2012 as a one-way route from Stockton to the Yuba City Nagar Kirtan to celebrate the centennial of the first Gurdwara in the US.
Back in 2019, a group of Sikh cyclists re-did the original route from Stockton to Yuba City, and this planted the seed of Sikh Cycling Club today. We’ve organized this ride in the three years since but as a round-trip route from West Sacramento to Yuba City and back.
We had 11 cyclists in our group this year — three of whom did half the route and finished at the Nagar Kirtan. We had a tailwind on the way out but had to fight that wind on the way back. A few of our group did a heroic job pulling the rest of the cyclists through the wind to return safely in West Sacramento.
This is Sikh Cycling Club’s signature event of the year and our longest ride. It’s a big achievement for many of us, and we’re happy to be able to represent at the Yuba City Nagar Kirtan alongside the rest of the Sikh community. We’re excited to return next year.
Sikh Cycling Club 