Dare devilry: A participant at the Hercules Roadeos mountain biking challenge in Chennai on Sunday.

CHENNAI: A cyclist blazes across a dirt track – effortlessly navigating peaks and valleys along the way; unstopped by a bed of stones and steep ascents, he finally meets his match at a blind curve leading up to a bridge made of wooden planks. The impact of Harish Ramkumar's fall is not severe as it is just a sport and the mountain biking experience is simulated.

He pulls up in a flash to complete the lap. He was one of the 320 participants at the Hercules Roadeos mountain biking challenge held here on Sunday.

Students of Classes 8 – 12 hit the turf to showcase their biking skills.

“I have never done something like this before and would like to do it more often,” said Harish, a Class 9 student.

The participants had to pedal their way through a series of obstacles to complete two laps while their progress was being timed.

Prasanna Krishna, general secretary of the Cycling Association of Chennai, said that the right time to promote cycling was when someone is young.

Cycling for fun

“If they understand that cycling can be fun at this age, they might make better choices when they grow up.”

TI Cycles which organised the event said that similar programmes would be rolled out in residential localities soon to give teenagers a chance to experience adventure sporting.

Pointing out that one can greatly increase their balance and control by participating in biking challenges, S. Sadhik, a Class XII student of Porur Government High School, said with a smile “The obstacles, however, were a lot easier to negotiate than riding on city streets.”