In India, the most common joke(read fact) about doing Engineering is "You first get into Engineering, then you decide what you want to do with your life. " Although Shiven's early years panned out a lot differently than those lost in the rat race of competitive examinations, this 20 year old Mechanical Engineer chose Engineering because he wanted to pursue his childhood dream of riding in the mountains, and his initial dream of serving the country did not offer him the liberty to pursue Mountain biking as a hobby. As strange as this sounds, Shiven's love for cycling was evident from a very early stage of his life. He started cycling just like any other kid in North India, going for groceries or to tuitions on cycle but from 10th class onwards, he wanted to experience what it is like to cycle in the mountains with no peddling while going downhill. Moreover, he used to visit his father who was posted in Himachal during the summer holidays and grew envious watching the other kids take their cycles to the mountains and he couldn't bring his cycle from back home. This inspired him to get a geared bicycle but that didn't quite work out as his father soon got transferred to Haryana and he couldn't ride his bicycle on the hills as he had dreamt of. So he started researching online about his passion for biking in the hills on the internet and came to know that this sport was called mountain biking in India.

While going through the net, he saw a racing event happening in Shimla and told his parents that he wanted to take part in it. This was the first race of his life and here he would meet racers who were already cycling at National or International levels.

He realized that such sporting events such as these happen every year in India at the National or Zonal level and he was determined to pursue this as his hobby and gradually, started taking part in many more races at the zonal or national level in the years to come. It's the strive to do better for himself or for his country that drives him to cycle in the difficult mountain terrain.

The Ladakh Cycling Challenge experience

In India, mountain races are rarely held in subzero temperatures. When we asked Shiven about the Ladakh Cycling Challenge of 2020,he mentioned that it's a first for him,as this was the coldest temperature he cycled in( before the Ladakh Cycling Challenge, 5°C was the minimum temperature he had been to and in Ladakh, the temperature was in the -5° to 0°C). He also mentions that India is a land of contrasting climates and although he had raced both in Kerala at 30-35°C and also in Pune where temperatures dip south of 20°C, this was a whole different ball game altogether.

In this October race, the starting temperature at Leh was 5°C and as they moved on to the passes over the next 2 days, the temperature kept dipping significantly. On day 3,he cycled over Tanglang La pass at an elevation of 5328 metres, where the oxygen was low and the air was cold and icy, making it difficult to breathe and put effort on the paddle.

At the summit,Shiven says that the temperature falls to -7°C, creating a lot of difficulty for the racers. The drinks get frozen, and athletes have to take care of their nutrition while protecting themselves from the howling winds which also leads to the wind chill effect, making them feel colder!

Picture of Shiven in Leh by Praveen Jayakaran (L)

On the first day, he admits that he was totally unprepared for such low temperatures, let alone cycling in them, and his upper body was almost completely frozen. His legs were fine due to the constant paddling but he was genuinely afraid of getting a frostbite due to the extreme climatic conditions. In cases like these, it's always advisable to choose the warmest socks you have for winter in order to survive these weather conditions. Shiven also recommends wearing the right accessories to battle the extreme cold climates!

Next day, the cyclists had to cycle to Khardung La pass, said to be the world's highest motorable pass at 5600 metres which had even lower temperatures but this time, Shiven was mentally prepared for the freezing cold. He wore 2 layers of gloves,one inner layer & one climbing glove along with an extra fleece layer over his biking gear. All these made him feel a lot less colder than the last day although he mentions how difficult it is to actually push yourself to ride in these temperatures due to low oxygen.

In his words, "If you are pushing yourself for 1 minute, you will invariably be catching your breath for the next 10 minutes"

Shiven has achieved a lot at the national and international level as a young Indian mountain biker. Image courtesy Chenthil Mohan.

Paddling his way to the top

It's said that adversity brings out the best in us. In life, people remember the struggles only when the results go your way. Fortunately for Shiven, his favourite event, MTB Kerala( which happens to be the first ever Indian event to be listed on the International Cycling Calender) was where he achieved third position in 2019, thus becoming the first Indian cyclist to be in the podium of an International race! The race was won by a Canadian cyclist while an Iranian racer got the 2nd position.

Shiven says that he values this achievement more because he had an exam 4-5 days before the race, and then had to travel 2 days, also his flight got cancelled in Delhi due to fog and he reached Kerala at 4am in the morning, with the race supposed to start at 8am. He mentions how he surpassed his own expectations and achieved something no one in India had, which made his sleepless nights leading up to the competition fruitful.

In his words; "Human body knows no limits, and if you want to achieve something great, it responds magically".

The art of cycling on difficult terrains

When we asked Shiven about how difficult cycling on the mountains was, and if amateurs who are used to cycling on plain should attempt it, he mentions that anyone who has a little bit of experience of cycling in the plains can try their luck at mountain biking. He highlights that even he was pretty clueless about cycling in the mountains when he started off with his passion.

However he mentions that to ride over some difficult terrains or to move fast over the mountains requires a higher level of fitness and skill.

In his words, "anyone who is comfortable cycling 20-30km on the plains can attempt this sport as an amateur".

Next we asked Shiven about what he usually wears when going on adventures like these. He mentions that apart from places like Ladakh, while racing in summer, he wears an ultra thin base layer and on top of that, his riding jersey which is different from standard mountain clothing in India and aerodynamically fit for cycling. On the bottom, he wears his cycling shorts with padded layers which helps the rider paddle comfortably for more than 2-3 hours.

On top of this, especially if the weather is cold, Shiven wears a half sleeves wind jacket known as the Gillette jackets and these winter wears are specially made for athletes cycling in the mountains because they need to be tight fitted without any loose ends and also aerodynamic and comfortable for paddling long distances. After they cross the finish line however, they do shift to normal merino wool thermals and other layers depending upon the weather conditions. Shiven mentions that after crossing the finish line in Ladakh, he wore hard shell jackets, trousers and skull caps to combat the extreme cold climatic conditions.

Shiven navigating terrains. Top Left : At Keylong, India. Image by Gitesh Gupta | Bottom Left : racing his way to the summit and secured the first position at MTB Kullu, even after suffering a crash in the middle! Image by MTB Kullu | Right : Shiven at Nainital, India.[/caption]

The importance of an eco-conscious traveller

While we start making plans for travels in the post COVID world, the importance of being an eco conscious tourist will be significantly higher. Shiven says that while racing in the mountains or forests, he has seen a lot of tourists and trekkers throw wrappers and packets casually, not caring about the impact it can have on the environment. He also mentions how people are careless enough to pollute highways and roads by throwing plastic bottles and wrappers out of the car.

Like us, he believes that people need to be more responsible and conscious about the damage they can cause to their surroundings and he is glad people going out nowadays are gradually growing more conscious about their surroundings than before.

Finally, we asked this rising star for India to share some tips for all the budding cyclists who are probably looking for that slight push to take their bicycles from the lanes of the city to the slope of the summits.

This is the advice he had for them:
"a) The most common mistake most amateur cyclists make is choosing the improper saddle height which may lead to knee injury or incomplete utilization of the motion of legs.
b) Secondly,there are a lot of people who do a lot of long riding, more than 2-3 hours, even 6 hours at times, and it's important that they plan their nutrition or hydration very carefully.
c) Lastly I believe clothing is extremely important, depending on the temperature where you are riding. Proper clothes will make your ride an enjoyable one while lack of the same may lead to you suffering from climatic conditions".

It's only fair to conclude that our country needs more people like Shiven, whose grit, hunger for success and achievements in tricolor can inspire the next generation of youths to pursue their childhood dreams and hobbies with passion and purpose all throughout their life. Stay tuned with his latest feats via his Instagram.

At Kosha, we believe that life is an adventure and we love talking to athletes who live life to their fullest. Read our blog on Kieren's Triple Trouble Run on the high mountains here.

Share your adventure and experience with us by tagging us @koshatravelwear on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and use #mykoshastory! Motivated by Shiven’s story and want to start prepping? Shop your technical clothing from oc.kosha.co

This post was written by Team Kosha member: Aditya Das.