Indian Cycling
A schoolmate of mine has published a piece on Indian cycling, tied to the Asian Track Cup currently being held in Delhi. Thought I'd share it... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/cycling/Bicycle-dreams-The-changing-face-of-Indian-cycling/articleshow/49858447.cms
It's an awesome country to cycle and you'd think potential for some riders to emerge in the face of all sorts of challenges. Wonder if the emergence of lycra clad IT-wallahs scene in Bangalore could kick start something.
It's an awesome country to cycle and you'd think potential for some riders to emerge in the face of all sorts of challenges. Wonder if the emergence of lycra clad IT-wallahs scene in Bangalore could kick start something.
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Nice piece. Deborah has been a rising star for a couple of years now. Couple of medals in the Asian cycling championships in the juniors a couple of years ago. Seem to remember that she with another girl, Manorama, was also offered to train in South Korea by their federation after that performance.
There's also that fellow from the Specialized Kynkyny team that went to Belgium for criterium racing. Naveen John, I think. Well to do person, unlike those listed in the above article. Though, success for him would be more CK Nayudu than Kapil Dev...
Pune is also a well growing region for leisure cyclists. That said, as with all sports, would say it's the rural areas that are key to having a sustainable base and quality pool of talent too.0 -
Bangalore is a sprawling city with crowded and poorly-surfaced roads. Cycling is popular as a form of transport, but on single-speed bikes designed to withstand potholes. I saw no signs of a lycra culture when I was there.A schoolmate of mine has published a piece on Indian cycling, tied to the Asian Track Cup currently being held in Delhi. Thought I'd share it... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/more-sports/cycling/Bicycle-dreams-The-changing-face-of-Indian-cycling/articleshow/49858447.cms
It's an awesome country to cycle and you'd think potential for some riders to emerge in the face of all sorts of challenges. Wonder if the emergence of lycra clad IT-wallahs scene in Bangalore could kick start something.0 -
Thanks for the info Wombly Knees. Didn't know about Specialized Kynkyny or Naveen John.
A couple of interesting relatively recent pieces on them here:
http://cyclingiq.com/2015/06/17/revisited-indias-specialized-kynkyny-cycling-team/
http://cyclingiq.com/2015/06/18/revisited-indias-specialized-kynkyny-cycling-team-part-ii/
http://cyclingiq.com/2015/06/18/naveen-john-diary-bangalore-to-belgium/
Challenge as ever seems to be funding. Wonder if a Qhubeka style approach might take off in India? Though I don't see many corporates backing cycling (over cricket, football etc) at the moment.
ManOfKent - when were you in Bangalore? Admittedly I don't think its crawling with lycra, but there does seem to be a developing scene with at least a couple of dozen riders out on some swanky bikes... As soon as you get out most Indian cities the roads get a lot quieter and much more pleasant to ride. Both Pune and Bangalore have the additional advantage that countryside around them is quite attractive to cycle in...
The existence of a shop like BumsOnTheSaddle suggest there is a road cycling scene. They were able to courier a 11speed Sram chain up to me when I was recently out riding in the North...0 -
I was in Bangalore in August, on a business trip to the Whitefields area. That's a village that's been swallowed up into the ever-expanding city, without any sign of town planning or recognisable infrastructure. I did see something on the company's internal messaging system from a keen cyclist and perhaps if I'd ventured further afield at the weekend I might have spotted some roadies. As with London and other large cities, getting out into the countryside is probably something of a faff, not least because traffic jams in Bangalore can strand people for hours.
Relative to parts of India, the climate in Bangalore is temperate. Cycling must be pretty hard in some other areas which see extremes of weather.0 -
It would be awesome to see another Qhubeka type scene emerge. Let's not forget Froome started out on mountain bikes in Kenya etc... So infrastructure shouldn't be a determining factor.
Only needs one wealthy business man/group of friends to become obsessed with the sport and chuck some money into it.BikeRadar Communities Manager0 -
I was in Bangalore in August, on a business trip to the Whitefields area. That's a village that's been swallowed up into the ever-expanding city, without any sign of town planning or recognisable infrastructure. I did see something on the company's internal messaging system from a keen cyclist and perhaps if I'd ventured further afield at the weekend I might have spotted some roadies. As with London and other large cities, getting out into the countryside is probably something of a faff, not least because traffic jams in Bangalore can strand people for hours.
Relative to parts of India, the climate in Bangalore is temperate. Cycling must be pretty hard in some other areas which see extremes of weather.
The name Bangalore and the phrase 'town planning' have never been acquainted
Just got back from Mumbai, saw one cyclist in a Giant jersey riding in Bandra around Lands End. Cannot imagine how anyone rides a bike unless they have to, there0 -
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Big cities not ideal for road riding?
Who knew.
And we moan about London...0 -
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You might.
I dont. Dont ride in London.
You're in a picky mood. Heading into the recruiting dead zone of Dec?0 -
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I am in a bad mood. Nothing to do with work.
Apols.
No worries0 -
[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19749659#p19749659]Richmond Racer 2[/url] wrote:The name Bangalore and the phrase 'town planning' have never been acquainted
I think town planning and being good for cycling are not correlated.0 -
As I said, the Indian countryside has much nicer cycling that in Indian cities. The only city that has been 'planned' is Chandigarh and that was in the 60s so little provision for cycling. I wouldn't want to drive in Mumbai, let alone cycle! In the Ghats or Himalayas, I'm there!0
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So found Naveen's blog now. Interesting read on some actual road racing in India...
http://www.naveenjohn.com/
ManOfKent, check out the racing on Bangalore roads!
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It's because people who've grown up in certain traffic conditions can handle it. People say similar things about driving in India. Yet so many do.[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19749659#p19749659]Richmond Racer 2[/url] wrote:The name Bangalore and the phrase 'town planning' have never been acquainted
Just got back from Mumbai, saw one cyclist in a Giant jersey riding in Bandra around Lands End. Cannot imagine how anyone rides a bike unless they have to, there0 -
Mumbai has one of the best planned suburbs, Navi Mumbai. Nice place to live in in comparison to Mumbai. Hardly a cycling hot-spot, though.As I said, the Indian countryside has much nicer cycling that in Indian cities. The only city that has been 'planned' is Chandigarh and that was in the 60s so little provision for cycling. I wouldn't want to drive in Mumbai, let alone cycle! In the Ghats or Himalayas, I'm there!
But you know cycling as a sport has a long way to go when you see a road race on a December morning in Pune and only a week later do you see in the papers that it was indeed the national championships.0 -
Slightly OT as this is track, but Deobrah Herold doing well. Up to fourth in the UCI individual 500m rankings - just above Katy Marchant and Juliana Gaviria (older sister to Fernando)...
She's got the sort of back story that Frenchie would have loved.Deborah, a 20-year-old from the Andamans, is the biggest name in the current Indian squad and her story is one of inspiration, for when the devastating 2004 tsunami hit Port Blair, a nine-year-old Deborah had to spend over a week stuck in a tree until help arrived.
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I'm actually in Bangalore right now - this was the Outer Ring Road on Friday morning : it's a bit quieter at the weekend but still not good.
Can take a couple of hours to do 5 miles (literally !) and the road surface is awful. Pollution is heavy too.
Lots of people are riding motorbikes or scooters to get through traffic a bit quicker, but I've only seen one bike, a heavy clunker thing parked-up.
Out in the countryside is doubtless better, but if you live in the city, you'd have to get there - and if you live in the countryside, you'd have to endure this traffic to get in to work...0 -
Just seen that Naveen John is now a member of Australian CT team, State of Matter Racing.
Regarding the Outer Ring Road, it's one of the major roads in Bengaluru... Not surprising that it's overcrowded. Just need to avoid the main roads.0 -
I was listening to the radio last night and they mentioned the problem with the roads. Not sure you'd want to ride a road bike on them!
http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/india/dee ... 32472.html
https://www.change.org/p/shri-nitin-jai ... mmediately0 -
The petition is rubbish, to be fair. Local roads come under there purview of the municipal corporation, or State Govts, not the central government. And that is ignoring the efficacy of online petitions, especially here.
Tenders are fucked... But, despite all the bad roads, there are roads where cycling is fine. Just have to avoid the main roads. Bengaluru is one of the worse cities road wise.0 -
From across the border but this is a wonderful little summary of the first Tour de Mohamad held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (what was nwfp), up on the Afghan border.
https://youtu.be/T3AALXuEyhw0 -
That looks awesome!BikeRadar Communities Manager0
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Didn't know of this, and would've expected the nwfp and fata regions to be the hardest to host a sporting event in.
Quick search returned this, unsurprisingly
http://tribune.com.pk/story/887570/tour ... nish-line/0 -
Naveen John and Arvind Panwar racing the time trial world championships. We're winning the worlds, I tell you.0
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wombly knees wrote:Naveen John and Arvind Panwar racing the time trial world championships. We're winning the worlds, I tell you.
At least they can handle the heat! 0 -
Yes, and given him being a Bangalore-an, the only issue I see is him liking the roads so much that he covers every inch and effectively does an extra lap to fall five minutes behind.0
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So... Naveen John came in at 55th - 7mins 48 down and Arvind Panwar a few positions lower and 13 mins down...
FWIW both the Pakistan riders came in about 16 mins down0 -
Thought this photo of Naveen was Frenchie-esque..
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