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: Grant Petersen urged people to think of bicycles as rideable art that could just about save the world. Albert Einstein thought of the Theory of Relativity while riding his bike. Freddie Mercury crooned on and on in 1978 that he wanted to ride his bicycle. “I don’t believe in Peter Pan, Frankenstein or Superman; All I wanna do is bicycle, bicycle, bicycle…” said Mercury. Some of the magic seems to be rubbing off on Indians as well. Now, India is also gearing up to ride the super bike path that Yamaha and Kawasaki are paving. But are motorbikes the only bikes to travel in our fast lanes? While the word BMX conjures up images of sunlight glinting off a chromed surface and man and machine taking off as one, down a track with an inline start and expressive obstacles, how many of us here in India actually think of Bicycle Motor Cross racing as a concrete sport or as a passion that drives many?
Rahul Mulani, BMXer, mountain biker and owner of Gear: The Bike Shop explains that BMX biking came to the fore in India somewhere in the mid 80s. “In 1986-87 we began riding our BMX bikes individually, eventually met the other riders and then began riding together in Mumbai and Pune. In 1988 we had our first contest in Mumbai, which included BMX races and bike trick contests between all the riders in Mumbai and some from Pune.”
Adds Colston Julian, an ex-BMX rider, currently a commercial photographer with saltmanagement.com, “In the mid 90s, the sport almost died down. It saw a revival only in 2002. Unlike today, the internet wasn’t easily accessible in the 90s. Hence, information for training and availability of spares and bikes was scarce. Contests were funded by bicycle manufacturers Hamilton and TI cycles, parents and enthusiasts.”
It was only in the late 90s that a slight headway was made in the promotion of the sport. An organisation called Extreme Sports: Mountain Biking & BMX came up in 1998 in Pune. Three years later RIDE 2026 was formed. Gear: The Bike Shop entered the scene a little later. But the government is still conspicuous by its absence of support. Julian states that they had written to the International Olympic Committee about forming a national body and were turned down. “The situation hasn’t changed much. Thanks to the lack of...
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