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For thrill seekers, mountain biking the new passion (Feature)

Published on June 14th, 2013

Written by: South Asia News Services

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Vamini Sethi, 27, doesn’t look physically strong. But give her a mountain bike and she re-defines toughness. For her riding through craggy terrain, dirt roads and treacherous paths are like child’s play.

Sethi, a banker by profession, is part of a group that is regular at mountain biking events – a trend that is catching up among thrill seekers for that extra adrenaline rush.

“Mountain bicycling challenges every bit of you and requires perfect synchronisation of mind and body. It tests your endurance and willpower. Every time your body gives up, your mind encourages you to pedal harder,” Sethi told IANS.

Sethi, who owns two high-end bikes – Trek 2.1 and Trek 4300 – said the thrill keeps all of them going.

“You are not competing with anyone, but just with yourself. The thrill you get after completing a difficult terrain…that feeling is great,” she said.

Like her, there are many biking enthusiasts who are getting into this niche area for the love of the thrill and the challenge it offers, Sethi said.

The numbers are slowly growing, despite it being an expensive hobby.

Some of the credit for making mountain biking popular goes to the Himalayan Adventure Sports and Tourism Promotion Association (HASTPA).

Formed in 2005, it is the brainchild of Mohit Sood, who with the support of a British friend decided to venture into this unknown territory.

Ever since then, he has been successfully organising the MTB Himalaya international biking challenge, a gruelling seven-day trail from Shimla to Kullu, covering 550 kilometres.

“Mountain bicycling is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires passion and ultimately gives you the thrill after you successfully ride through a difficult and dangerous terrain,” Sood told IANS over the phone from Shimla.

“It is a combination of man and machine where mental alertness and flexibility on two-wheels determines the final outcome,” he added.

Sood knew the journey would be ardours and difficult, but he persisted. Today, he is a happy man.

“It was hard to get participants initially. In our first year we had only eight Indian participants but last year we had 82 Indian participants. So, the numbers show a drastic change in the mindset towards this sport,” said Sood.

Now, many international bikers from Europe and the US participate in the annual event.

But for many, the money sometimes acts as a deterrent.

“You have to spend a lot when it comes to hard-core bicycling. People find it pretty absurd when you tell them that you have spent almost two lakh rupees on your riding gear,” said Varun Sharma, a software professional.

“To them it might be a silly splurge, but to me it is a life-long investment. Many do get discouraged when they hear that they have to spend so much,” said Sharma, who owns two bicycles worth Rs.1.5 lakh.

It is just not buying an expensive bike. One has to buy the entire safety gear too.

Sharma said extra focus has to be given to a better headlight, tail light, helmet, extra tubes, a speedometer, gloves, water sippers and gel seat cover for a comfortable and safer ride.

“Only those who are serious about it would invest in such things. It is not a hobby, but your passion,” he added.

Harshman Singh is another regular rider and owns the Cycledelic Sport Shop in Model Town in north Delhi.

“Things have changed quite a lot now. With foreign makers flooding the market, there are various options for cycle enthusiasts. Though many still prefer MTB (mountain bike) over ATB (all terrain bike) because of the looks and fat tyres, the serious cyclists understand the nuances of these types,” he said, adding the price starts from Rs.9,500 and goes up to Rs.4 lakhs.

The helmets start at Rs. 1,000 and go up to Rs. 8,000.

According to Sood, many living in the city get disheartened when they don’t find the right terrain.

“The absence of dirt-paths in the city to practise is a disadvantage for those who want to take mountain bicycling seriously,” Sood explained.

To give riders a taste of off-roading, in which a bike is ridden on unsurfaced roads or tracks, Firefox Bikers, the sole distributor of Trex bikes, recently organised an event in the outskirts of Delhi. The response was overwhelming.

Though mountain biking is mostly confined to men, Sethi hopes more women would soon join.

“Let’s admit men are physically stronger than women. I had to undergo a lot of practice to be where I am. It wasn’t easy.

“Getting up early in the morning, cycling on the Faridabad-Gurgaon road with my husband in the car watching me; it requires both mental strength and support. At the end, it is all about passion,” she said.

(Shilpa Raina can be contacted at shilpa.r@ians.in)

IANS 2013-06-14 13:04:50

mountain bike or road bike

Exclusive interview: Klaus Mueller, President of Cycling Australia – Part 2

Cycling Australia is Australia’s premier cycling body. Traditionally the organisation has catered primarily to overseeing elite cycling in this country, but exciting times lie ahead for Cycling Australia and at the helm is President Klaus Mueller.

Read part one of Kate’s interview with Klaus Mueller.

Many sports in Australia are fighting to attract new participants and to retain those already enjoying their chosen sport.

It’s a competitive environment and one full of challenges.

These challenges, however, are not lost on Mueller.

“Cycling is a good sport. It’s healthy, it’s environmentally friendly, it ticks all the boxes,” he said.

“I think the biggest challenge that cycling actually faces in attracting people into the sport is that as a society we are becoming increasingly risk adverse.”

As sports face increased competition to attract and retain participants in a highly competitive environment, Cycling Australia is currently undertaking a range of programs to meet the needs of cyclists in Australia.

“I think the real growth is going to be more in participation or recreational cycling. I think that’s the case in all sport. That’s where the trends are going,” he said.

“People don’t want to go into stuff that’s organized, where you have to turn up at two o’clock on a Saturday afternoon. They (participants) want flexibility.”

Cycling Australia is also keen to see an increase in women’s participation. Currently, women make up around fifteen percent of Cycling Australia’s membership.

“Aspirationally we would want 50 percent of our membership to be women. As an organisation we need to create a whole range of products that cater for people other than competition cyclists,” Mueller noted.

“Traditionally, we’ve been a competition organisation and we’ve got to stop being a competition organisation.

“We’ve got to continue to look after that sector but we can’t be exclusively that, because that’s not where the growth’s going to be.

“That’s not where the demand is and we’ve got to meet the demand.”

Cycling Australia is currently busy working with a range of groups to help them meet these targets. With the addition of Jon Leighton, President of Bicycle NSW to the board, new alliances are forming.

These future plans include attracting and holding world class cycling events in a range of disciplines.

“What we’re now doing is, we’re changing that whole paradigm completely around and we’ve got a deal with the UCI (for) any event in Australia,” Mueller said.

“We’ve rolled out a whole range of events we want for mountain biking, from World Championships to World Cups to more local events and there’s a whole raft of events between now and I think about 2020.

“Some of those events, look all of those events, in fact, have now been put out to the various states and the states now bid on those and then we become the entity that then contracts with the UCI for those events. They will now be our events.

“We’ll obtain the hosting fees from the various states and so if say Queenslandwants the World Mountain Biking Championship, they will bid with us and then we will go to the UCI with the financial package in place and we now say to the UCI ‘In 2017 we want the World Mountain Bike Championship’.

“We’re going through exactly the same process with track, so we’re going along saying these are all the track events, international events that we want to put on.

“So by that process we are not only going to secure our financial future, hopefully, but we bring to Australia a whole lot of elite events, in relation to mountain bike and road and track between now and the year 2020.

“This is a long term vision and it includes a real big dip at getting another Road Championship, which quite candidly, I didn’t think would happen again in my lifetime.

“We want to put a package to the UCI which makes us financially attractive to them.”

Cycling Australia is also branching out into other facets of cycling activities for everyday riders and fans.

“We’re now putting tours into Europe, so if you want to go to the Tour de France and have literally what is the best tour group and you want to follow it,” he said.

“We’re the only ASO accredited tour group that follows the Tour de France, so you get exclusive access to where the riders are, to the best spots on the finishing line.

“We’re putting on those tours and to the World Championships as well, we’re putting on lifestyle and bike shows, which we’ve been doing for the last couple of years.

“We’re going to try to create a whole lot of membership benefit schemes which will attract more people for a whole range of reasons. Through that whole commercialisation process we hope to build up our numbers enormously.”

Mueller is passionate about cycling and about it’s future in Australia. He has plenty of plans to progress the sport but he also takes time to reflect on his three years as President of Cycling Australia.

“The highlight would probably have been the fact that we’ve conducted multiple World Championships in Australia. We managed to bring the World Road Championships to Australia,” he said.

“I wasn’t president in the formative years, I mean I was on the board, but I was President by the time the event was held.

“Look, I just got an enormous buzz to see the Australian public support it like they did.

“The World Track Championships in Melbourne were another spectacular success.”

Mueller is proud of his involvement in bringing these world class events to Australia but it is when talking about individual performances that the cycling fan comes out.

His passion for track and road cycling is evident as he continues to reflect on some of the standout performances over his time as President of Cycling Australia.

“You can get a buzz out of individual performances at various events,” he said.

“Watching Michael Matthews win the U23s in Geelong was a great buzz.

“Rachel Neylan was second in Holland last year and I got an enormous personal thrill out of that. I just thought for her to be chasing down the second last lap (with) Marianna Vos was just, it sent a chill up and down my spine.”

And there are of course the performances of Cadel Evans and Anna Meares that possibly stand out the most.

“Look Cadel Evans’ win in the Tour de France has got to be one of the stand out highlights for anyone. And to watch the way the Australian crowd responded,” he commented.

“(Then there’s) Anna Meares both at Melbourne at the World Championships and at the Olympics. I mean to be at London and to be there when she won the sprint, look it was an emotional performance.

“And she so richly deserved it after all she’s been through. She’s such a professional and dedicated athlete as well.”

With a number of successes during his three years as President of Cycling Australia and a prosperous future ahead for the organisation, it certainly is a good time to be a cycling fan and possibly, a good time to be the President.

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Whistler's summer secrets

When the snow disappears in North America's top ski resort... biking takes centre stage

It’s easy to be a bit short-sighted when looking ahead to summer in a ski resort. The thought of the place you love to ski without the thick blanket of snow is quite depressing. However, once the snow has gone, resorts often reveal their full potential. And when the snow melts in Whistler, Canada, a mountain biker’s paradise is released.

Both locals and tourists can be seen rolling through the village on everything from beautifully painted beach cruisers to scratched-up BMXs, and skinny lightweight road bikes to massive, full suspension, downhill beasts.

So whatever type of bike you have, or like to play on, Whistler has a place for you to ride it from morning until night.

Whistler Bike Park mixes freestyle features and jumps with flowing singletrail and technical downhill descents.

Downhill Biking - Whistler Mountain Bike Park

The Whistler Mountain Bike Park offers one of the best downhill biking experiences in the world and has everything from wide open undulating trails like Easy Does It for beginners, through to hair-raising descents filled with rocks, roots and cliffs such as Goat’s Gully. If you’ve never pulled on a full face helmet and donned body armor, and pointed a meaty full suspension downhill bike towards the bottom of a trail, it truly is a unique style of adrenaline rush. It is also far easier than it looks.

Whistler Blackcomb aims to prove this with Ladies Night, which takes place weekly. Full equipment rental, lift ticket and a two-hour lesson only cost $76 and Testosterone Tuesdays offers the same value so the boys can test their metal in the bike park. Both deals mean even those of you used to keeping both feet, and certainly both wheels, on the ground will be bouncing down the bike park in no time.

For the experienced rider Whistler Blackcomb introduced a unique downhill trail - Top of the World - last year, which winds down the mountain from the peak of Whistler Mountain.

XC Biking - Lost Lake Park Cross Country Trails

If you like a bit more balance in your life then maybe the cross-country (XC) riding is for you. Whistler and the surrounding areas have hundreds of free XC trails that make you work for the stunning alpine views and flowing descents, with some grueling but rewarding climbs, perfect for building your ski fitness between seasons.

Lost Lake Park is home to the famous Zappa Trails.

Lost Lake Park’s famous Zappa Trails are a mixture of green and blue trails that vary from easy wide open gravel paths to more technical single track with exciting downhills and features, both natural and man-made.

The rest of the valley has a huge network of trails straight out of a mountain biker’s wildest dreams with single track that has you riding logs over raging rivers, weaving through dense trees and skidding your way around hairpin bends.

Some of the most popular local trails are the flat, but feature filled, A River Runs Through It, the incredible Train Wreck that weaves around genuine old train debris, and the epic full day adventure that is Comfortably Numb (know as Uncomfortable Bum to locals).

Cruising- The Valley Trail

Whistler’s Valley Trail is 40km worth of paved pathways connecting every neighborhood, lake, park, and point of interest in town.

It’s used everyday by hundreds of walkers, joggers and bikers, including locals commuting to work and tourists searching for outdoor adventure. The trail is the perfect place to take a few big comfortable cruisers, complete with picnic baskets hanging on the front and spend the day exploring.

It’ll probably only be a few minutes riding the Valley Trail before you reach that picture perfect spot you were looking for, or bump into a resident black bear.

Howe Sound from the Sea to Sky Highway.

Road Biking - The Sea to Sky Highway

The Sea to Sky Highway, redeveloped for the 2012 Winter Olympics, was been transformed from a narrow and closure-prone route to one of the most beautiful drives on the West Coast.

This newly widened Highway comes complete with a bike lane, so what better way to experience this stunning trip than on your trusty road bike? Every summer this attitude inspires bikers to compete in the GranFondo - an epic race that sees more than 10,000 riders pedal all the way from downtown Vancouver to Whistler.

Grab your road bike, pull on you spandex and take on part of the challenge yourself, even if it is just rolling down to Squamish where the Greyhound Bus will be waiting to drive you back to Whistler. The best time to do so is early morning when there are fewer cars and a beautiful sunrise. Not for the faint of heart but the rewards are amazing views of the Pacific Ocean, Howe Sound and the Coast Mountains.

View from Whistler Peak towards Black Tusk.

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