In the history of mountain biking in the country, India will flag off an ace team of two mountain bikers for the first time to participate in the elite Trans Alps Mountain Terrain Biking (MTB) challenge.
Two of the ace bikers chosen for the race, Shiven Sharma and Devendar Thakur, who are sponsored by Hastpa and Hero cycles, come from remote parts of Himachal Pradesh, possessing nothing but strong passion for mountain biking.
Recalling his time when he first started cycling, Thakur said, “It all started in my childhood when I used to play basketball and travel long way to reach the ground. Then I thought of using my cycle to travel the distance as it will also increase my physical abilities,” said the 22-year-old.
“My first biking experience was at MTB Shimla 2013. It was a very good and learning experience for me as this was the first time I was participating in a race. For practice I normally ride for 20 km at maximum but this race (MTB Shimla 2013) was for 120 km. So I tried my best and stretched my limits to bag second position” he further added.
His teammate Shiven says, “I used to ride cycle in my childhood but the passion for mountain biking came in my mind only few years back. I had my first MTB race in 2012 and I was just 14 years old then,” said Shiven.
“I started at a very basic level and had no skills and knowledge about biking at that time. During my first race I did very well but was declared as did not finish (DNF) because I removed my helmet thinking that it is an uphill and there is no danger in doing it. Also I was feeling very hot during the race so I removed it. I had mixed emotions as I was scared about the fact that there were many big faces with whom I was competing but on the other hand I also felt very happy as I was at the second position but unfortunately I was disqualified,” he recalls.