Mtb nationals championship 2015, which was held in Pune, Golf Country Club. Picturesque location, excellent climate, great arrangement, lots of sponsors and everything was favorable to make this event a sensational event ever happened. Riders, cyclist, mountain bikers, national athletes all around the nation gathered at this gorgeous location surrounded by flourishing mountains. All of these temptations forced me to leave my office work and spend a whole day at the event venue.
During these two days, I spent lots of time meeting, talking, discussing, sharing with hell lots of people, few I knew, few I meet the first time, made many new friends, discussed lots cycling, mountain biking and everything related to cycling. And this was obvious as most of the people at the venue are from cycling fraternity.
Giant Starkeen cycles did a good job in executing so many arrangements and make the event look like a huge event, sharing lots of photographs, pictures, huge flex, online marketing and guess what, it did work, as all of these covered the dark truth and secrets which hurt every true cyclist out there.
You must be thinking, I am making baseless rumours to so-called cycling federation event. So I would point out few details:
- Day 1, like all other national sports event, there was an opening ceremony, so cool right. But what u got is riders were made to sit in the sun for hrs while officials enjoyed the canopy and juices. No shade was provided to athletes, and sadly the had to tolerate this behavior from so called cycling federation. Have a look yourself.
- Day 2, I reached venue to support few of my friends who were representing some states in that race. Glad there was a shade this time, but it was so small, that even 50 cyclists can't sit or relax inside it together, resulting many lying under trees so some unused medical tents, registrations counter, etc. And I thought it was a national sports event.
- After a race, riders have to get coupons from team official to have refreshments, and what they get is 1 tiny banana, 2 loaves of bread. What a nutritious breakfast it is right. No eggs, no glucose, no apples. Moreover on asking for extra banana, we were told, that only 1 is allowed from officials. Guess, CFI thinks having egg or more bananas is dangerous. Resulting many participants were carrying own diet. experienced riders.
- Now a national sports race, changing race timings, as they feel like, no prior information to riders. Caused one state missed the race, which was supposed to happen at 2.30, was preponed to 10.30. Even open category master race was preponed, without any msg or information to cyclists who practiced hard whole year.
- Now let's talk about the track, as they mention it was UCI class 3 race course. Just wondering from which angle they found this track as per international standards, just want to meet that guy. No technical challenges just plain track with little uphill section and minor flat downhill, where you can even ride a road bike. And guess what, on asking, we get silly explanations.
- There were two Refreshments zones, and volunteers they have no bloody idea what to do, standing 2km away from riders and showing tiny water bottles.
- First aid, only at the start point. As a result, lots of riders crashed, and they had to wait for a long time to get basic first aid. This shows how much federation is bothered about players. No wonder many good athletes, skip these events, without second thoughts.
- Taking the selfie, capturing photographs are too common, thanks to smartphones, but how can you justify this when race officials who had the sole responsibility of managing the race, were busy in updating their social media and taking selfies in while the race was in progress.
- Songs playing too loud near the start point, that even a dead man would wake up from his coffin. Guess Federation thinks "sheela ki jawani" will improve concentration and encourage riders more.
- No timing chips used in the race, not sure how accurate the timings were in time trial event. To make clear just for CFI, timing chips are not Lays or kurkure, these are computer circuits used to capture accurate timing to microseconds.
And the list is endless.
This is the first national event I attended, and I guess, this was my last too. In history I had attended lots of countless events, and they were much better. Setting up huge banners everywhere with sponsors name in it, don't make an event better. CFI needs to learn a lot from the way international races are organized and improve themselves, than showcasing their arrogance, ignorance and attitudes.
I am a cyclist, I love cycling, I spend time learning new skills, Improving myself, increasing my stamina and energy. Not to get wasted in these kinds of event. I would like to be in events, where I am challenged, where I am treated as a cyclist, not like any favour, I like to be in event where I meet athletes across the world, and where track is so tough to break my bone, so that I can rise up and ride hard next time, instead of jaywalking on race track. I would attend the event, where cycling and cyclist are respected.
