The 1984 Olympic gold medallist and former professional road race cyclist, Alexi Grewal, who was in Udhagamandalam on Thursday, participating in the 1,000 km-long Tour of Nilgiris (TfN), said that the ascent along the Kalhatti Ghat Road, was on par with the challenging mountain stages on the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.
Speaking to The Hindu on one of the rest days of the TfN, known to be one of the toughest bicycling tours organised in India, Mr. Grewal, said that apart from the steep gradient of the Kalhatti Ghat, the fluctuations in temperature from the Segur plateau to the upper slopes, was also another challenge that was unique to cyclists here. “The ascent is definitely extremely challenging, and poses a wide range of challenges for the riders,” he said.
Mr. Grewal also said that despite the traffic along the Indian roads, and the narrow passes on the route that the tour has taken, through Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, he has felt quite at home on the Indian roads. “The Indian motorist doesn’t see a cyclist as an enemy. He’s another person on the road, and I’m not being targeted. In the US on the other hand, you can be in places where the other traffic is unfamiliar and other drivers can be angry. So, I feel very safe here,” he said.
Mr. Grewal's win at the 1984 Summer Olympics remains one of the closest finishes in Olympic history on the undulating road course in Los Angeles.
The victory came amidst the backdrop of allegations of widespread doping amongst athletes from most of the Eastern Bloc countries, and indeed most of the peloton. Mr. Grewal asserts that he had not doped at the time as he felt that he could compete while still clean as only amateur cyclists were allowed to compete in the event in 1984.
However, Mr. Grewal admitted that doping was widespread in cycling at the time, and continues till date. “It (doping) has changed, and become less ruthless in a sense, but it has always been widespread,” he said, pointing to an ingrained culture in the sport that tolerated, and in some cases, encouraged competitive doping. “For instance, when I turned pro and I joined the Dutch Panasonic-Raleigh team, doping was mandatory,” he said.
The TfN will continue on Friday, and riders will complete a circuit from Udhagamandalam to Kodanad and back.
