Before getting hooked on mountain biking, this young man served the role of a University Hockey Captain in Manipal University and won several games in table tennis and cross country runs during his graduation and post-grad days.
Kiran Kumar Raju popularly known as KKR (30 years), a Bangalore-based Mountain bike rider is 2015 MTB Indian National Champion in the ITT. He has been actively racing since 2011 and has podiumed close to 36 major races (21 wins) including Road races, MTB and Duathlons. Among his best results, he has also qualified for MTB Asian Championships to be held in August’2016 in Malaysia after his grand success in Nationals.
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He also holds the endurance feat of being the first youngest Indian to qualify for RAAM(Race across America) in the year 2011, by cycling a distance of 626 km in 32 hours on Bangalore-Ooty-Bangalore route via Kalhatty climb.
KKR is a unique combination of speed, skill and style. He has been nurturing the passion for racing mountain bikes for a long time now and is now chasing a dream to compete in Absa Cape Epic in 2017, an annual mountain bike stage race held in the Western Cape, South Africa which enjoys the same status as that of Tour De France in the World cycling. This race has long held the reputation of being a brutal test of endurance, both mental and physical.
Curious to know more about him? Read on…
How did Mountain Biking happen??
In 2009 when he was pursuing MTech, he chanced upon a newspaper article on Tour of Nilgiris ride. This got him excited but he had missed the registration deadline by then. He waited until the next year to participate in the tour ride, however due to high registration fees; he had to drop the idea of participating in the tour and instead did a long practice ride as part of TFN training from Bangalore to Mysore, with TFN volunteers and other cyclists. The experience was so enjoyable that he wanted to do more rides and more often.
In 2011, he borrowed a friend’s bike to compete in his first ever BBCH MTB race and finished third. The track technicalities, bike handling skills and raw muscle power involved in XC racing caught his fancy. He then made a point to participate in every BBCH race (both MTB and Road) that happens once every month to measure his self competence.
He never had a proper racing machine but borrowed/ rented it every time there was a race. During the same time, he started doing brevets and completed the entire Super Randanneur series. In one such events in the year 2011, he participated and finished 600Km Brevet on a Saturday afternoon in less than 29 hours and the very next morning, he went on to participate in the BBCH Road race.
He gave a good competition to the elite cyclists and finished 8th overall. This was fortunately noted and recognized by Kynkyny Wheelsports team put together by Vivek Radhakrishnan and Venkatesh Shivanna then.
Part of the country’s best competitive cycling team – Specialized!
Specialized Kynkyny team has a knack for spotting the brightest young talent at the competitions, nurturing their development and steadily taking them on to being some of the most competitive, respected and the best riders in the country’s cycling circuit. Noticing this young cyclist with raw talent and unrealized potential, wasn’t very difficult for Specialized founder.
After KKR’s brilliant performance in the BBCH series in 2011, he was taken under SKCT Development Team with a promise to eventually make him a part of the MTB Specialized team, which happened to him in 2013 and he was sponsored with a MTB Specialized 29er.
Vivek Radhakrishnan, Director of the Specialized Kynkyny cycling team mentored him and emphasized on the need to put his focus into single day events instead of brevets and train for short distances and work on skill and speed. And it worked like magic!
Testing times:
On a gray morning in February’2013, he met with a serious bike accident and fell off his bicycle violently on the road resulting in a broken lower jaw and deep wounds and bruises on face, arms and legs. He had to undergo 24 stitches on his face and live on a liquid diet for a complete one month.
In one of the post-surgical checks in the hospital, he eavesdropped on his parents conversation when his dad told his mom to ask him quit cycling and focus on work. He just couldn’t control his emotions and started crying and yelling from inside the ward “No. I won’t. I won’t stop cycling ever”.
He admits that the accident and the entire recovery process made him more determined and more attached to cycling. He participated in 6 important races post injury, accruing to podium - 1st place in all the 6 races, which even includes India’s leading international biking event - MTB Shimla and MTB Himalayas, a 7 day stage race covering a total of 620 kms; placing 6th overall.
The year 2014 got pretty hectic workwise limiting his ability to put in quality training hours. He decided to quit his job and dedicate his entire year exclusively in training for MTB National Championships’2015 to be held in Pune. Parents supported his decision and let him follow his passion, close friends backed up morally and financially at all the times.
Over a span of few months, he exhausted his entire savings and needed minimum amount of money to support his race expenses at the least, he admits. He joined RFL in July’2015 for a duration of 4 months, who he stresses, were very supportive and gave him the flexibility to train and participate in races, alongside work.
Coached by Naveen John for Nationals:
Kiran is a highly ambitious and hardworking guy. His win in multiple competitions was a natural consequence of the hard work he had put in his training sessions. Being aware of his dedication and the circumstances he was training in, Vivek, the team director and Naveen John (NJ), counseled him.
NJ took him into his coaching program which was entirely dependent on Kiran’s commitment levels. Kiran says he maintained a healthy relationship with his coach and was given mid-year goals in his preparation for Nationals with the support of local races. The result was out there! – He won the Nationals ITT Mountain biking championship’ 2015 and MTB Kerala’ 2016. The win at Kerala reassured his dominance in XC racing in INDIA, as it is considered as one of best races in the country with course conditions being technical and gnarly.
His training regime is race specific and very exhaustive with equal emphasis on rest and nutrition. As part of the cross training and what he considers as an ease of time during the hectic training schedules, he attends Frisbee practice with his team.
He believes that this sport has given him so much and taught him a lot of values that he plans to give back to this community in his own ways over a period of time. It has not escaped our notice that he has earlier donated his prize money from MTB Coorg race win to Indian U23 team which took part in World Championships.
He has laid out his goals for 2016 and is currently training for the next two major races - Asian championships and Absa cape. He has also earned a wild card entry to 2 day MTB stage race, Sri Lanka in April’ 2016. He envisions himself riding professionally and essentially living his passion. As a matter of fact, Specialized team in India is dissolved and the equipment and accessories needed to participate and train in these races is very expensive and is a challenge though he confirms that it doesn’t deter his spirits and determination.
We wish Kiran all the very best for his upcoming races!
