Apr 22, 2023, 5:58 PM IST
The two-day mountain biking (MTB Shimla) competition is flagged off from the historic Ridge ground in Shimla on Friday by Himachal Pradesh's Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh Thakur. Asianet Newsable spoke to one of the oldest participants, Navtej Matharu, who has come from Gurgaon to compete in the race. The 62-year-old left his corporate job years ago to dedicate himself to adventure sports.
"I am 62 years of age and I have come to MTB Shimla for the first time and hope to enjoy and finish the course over the next two days. I do cycling just because I want to keep myself fit. I also do trekking in Himachal and Uttarakhand," he said.
When asked what keeps him motivated, Navtej said: "If you do something regularly then you can get into it. Whatever we do is largely in our minds. If we have control of our mind we can achieve many things. Like if you go on a long trek distance, which is a cross-Himalayan trek -- where you cross three passes -- you need to have strong mental strength, besides physical strength. We get to learn all these things from cycling. In the Aravali hills, we ride on rocks, loose grounds that benefit us in comparison to other cyclists."
"I worked in corporate all my life and because of some instances in my life, I stopped working at the age of 53 years. I started cycling at the age of 55 and now I am 62 years old. I don’t have any corporate life anymore now. I quit my job when I was 53. Now, I have devoted my life to climbing mountains and cycling." he added.
Watch the full interview above