"The Hercules MTB Himachal championship was a mountain cycling adventure and an endurance race where 23 amateur and professional Indian and international riders employed all their verve, zest and skills over the mind-blowing landscape of the Himalayan backcountry of Himachal Pradesh.Mountain biking experts Cara Coolbaugh from the US and Cass Gilbert from the UK spent over three months designing the track - and they are difficult taskmasters.
...Riders, including three women, were from the US, Belgium, Hungary, South Africa, Denmark, SINGAPORE the UK, and India. Norbert Szenthihlosi from Hungary won the championship title after beating the 22 other spirited challengers...."
The Singapore girl featured in the above article is none other than gutsy Winnie, who has been globetrotting solo for the past year or so. You can read more about her travels here
She humbly mentioned in passing that she'll be joining a mountain biking ride event in India. Turns out it was an inaugural 9-day enduro MTBing race called the "MTB Himachal 2005" covering hundreds in distance and thousands in elevation, of kilometres over the Indian trans-himalayas! Hats off to Winnie the Pooh!
We learnt that she'd spent a thrifty USD100 for the whole event! O man! That's less than the entry fees to a half-day Action Asia Challenge in Singapore! What a fantastic deal!
Winnie spilled all about how fun the ride was, how fantastic the traildesigners Cass and Cara were, how she'd met the Hungarians, friendly Indians, organisation was great etc. etc.........and how we should all go for it!
So, in October 2006, 11 Singaporeans decided to bite the bullet and head for our first multi-day enduro event! Rina and Steve, Nik and Pling, Becks and her support crew (and sister) Ruth, Smokin' Babe, Chee Han, Foo, Chiku and moi were in for THE BIG EVENT of our lives....and we got more than we bargained for...literally! :P
Akan datang...in next blog!
2 comments:
Hi Ling,
How are you guys? Good to find you online. :-)
Looks like you've kept up the good work in Singapore after MTBH. Nice photos, interesting rides.
I'm mostly a couch potato now, but found some nice trails nearby - and learning to stay upright :-)
- Trilok,
MTB Himachal 2006 participant from Pune
Hi Trilok,
This is only Part 1 of my coverage of the event...haven't had much time to write about the trip...will leave that for a rainy day! :)
Get off that couch and dive into some MTB action!!!
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