Cycling is all the rage in the city, whether it’s for fitness, pleasure or to commute. Some enthusiasts have stepped it up a gear, taking to competitive cycling. Among these riders are a handful of techies, some of whom have banded together for their love of fast-paced group rides, along with a few like-minded others, under the umbrella of Trivandrum Roadies Club, a city-based bicycle club. They encourage each other to train for competitions in and around Kerala and mentor newbies in the sport as well.
Anoop Adhur Kutty competing in a race
Anoop Adhur Kutty, a senior HR manager at an MNC, is one of the star performers. Having started cycling four years ago to lose weight and get fit, he participated in his first state meet in 2014, representing Thiruvananthapuram. He finished second in the 33.5 km Individual Time Trail at the Bangalore Bicycle Championships earlier this year. “Cycling is a very addictive sport. When you are extremely fit and your body works at its peak of efficiency it is a blissful state. However, it is important not to get carried away and stay grounded,” he says.
Another one, senior software engineer Suman Satpathy, is currently training to compete in the Tour of Nilgiris, for the second year in a row. It’s an seven-day endurance ride, held every December, which winds its way through 1000-plus km of mostly uphill terrain in the Nilgiri mountain range, traversing Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. “My aim is to cycle at least 300 km per week by November. My target is to be one of the top 10 riders in the competition this year,” says Suman.
Suman got into cycling to commute to work in Technopark back in 2012 and soon became a fan of racing. “My motorcycle was out of commission for a few months after an accident and I was left without transportation. I borrowed a bicycle from a friend and loved cycling so much that I bought myself a hybrid bike. I started going on weekend rides with like-minded people, particularly Louwke van der Steen, a Dutch colleague who used to work in Technopark and a mentor to all of us. From fellow enthusiasts I got to know about cycle racing events and started training for them,” he adds.
John Mathew, a software engineer at an MNC, is a keen mountain biker. “I was an athlete in school so I’ve always been interested in sports,” says John. He took up cycling about a year and a half ago and came in top at several amateur cycling championships, both road races and off-road ones, such as the Trivandrum Cyclathon and Dirt Race Carnival in Kochi. “Mountain biking is much more challenging and riskier than road races. On the road it’s mostly about speed. In the mountains speed and control come into play. It’s also more accident prone because the terrain is unpredictable, often rough with uphill treks, dirt roads and jumps,” he explains. The other core members of their team are Shaun Varghese, who just completed his Plus Two, and Renjith C., a mechanic at a car showroom in the city, both of whom were identified by the techies in the club and both of whom are now rising stars in national professional level podiums.
Team Trivandrum Roadies Club
On weekdays all these competitive riders attempt high speed, high intensity workouts on the road (or on stationery bikes), trying out various terrain, sprinting to Shanghumugham, Kovalam and the likes, racing along the rolling terrain of Vettu Road... John, for instance cycles at least 30 to 40 km a day. “If you are taking part in competitions, daily training is a must - not at the expense of sleep after the hectic schedules of IT life. However, it’s the only way you can build endurance and power. It’s also important to be properly kitted up in gloves, helmet and shin pads to prevent injury,” he adds.
On weekends they go on group rides up to Ponmudi or on long distance (endurance) rides. Riding as a group, they say, protects them from wind factor and gives them an impetus to ride faster. For example, if a 100 km ride usually takes 3 hours 20 minutes, as a group they say they can complete the route in three hours. “On Strava (a cycling app) people create segments and based on their performance it ranks them for that segment. With the app, thus, we are able to judge our place on the leaderboard and improve our timings. On the Ponmudi route there are plenty of off-road trails that are excellent for my training purposes,” explains John.
Suman too says the Ponmudi ride is specially beneficial while training for the Tour of Nilgiris, thanks to its undulating roads. Anoop helped him chart out an initial climbing plan and now he is on a customised training plan with a coach in Bengaluru.
Thanks to various apps and different kinds of sensors available, the performance data of each competitor is now digital. As such many of them also get virtual training from reputed coaches, from around the world. “Also, the competitiveness of the sport is rather poor in the country. Hence, again, it’s important not to get carried away by winning at amateur level. I always tell my team to aim for the top five at national level,” adds Anoop.
