Daredevils' Path To Glory

The history of mountain biking in India is short and sweet. MTB Himalaya is the perfect prologue to it.

- Mukul Kashyap

Once considered a humble mode of transport, cycling is swiftly emerging as an adventure sport in its own right in India. And there is one event that has been making a statement about it since 2005.

MTB Himalaya is an annual mountain biking event that takes place in Himachal Pradesh, attracting professional cyclists from around the world. Reason? Challenging raw terrain and an opportunity to bike around some of the world’s tallest mountains.

“We started MTB Himachal with the support of the state tourism department. The first edition had 28 riders, mostly from foreign countries. They were mostly friends and referrals from abroad. In 2012, we added a weekend event called MTB Shimla. The total participation between the two events had increased to 250 riders. The quality of the participants has gone up and we have quite a few champions from Portugal, Spain and Norway who have started participating in the event. We have managed to attract top talent from across the world, in spite of our infrastructure not being adequate. The charm of the Himalayas and the opportunity to race in rugged natural conditions is what attracts riders to this event,” Ashish Sood, one of the organisers, says.

The trail