Cyclothon brings back memories of Mumbai cycling's golden past

MUMBAI: Sunday's BSA Hercules Cyclothon provoked memories of a golden age of Indian cycling when Indians not only aspired to become professionals, but became pros and competed in Italy and the US. An age when there were stage races from Pune to Vadodara via Mumbai, Bombay to Goa and the pinnacle, Mumbai to Delhi a 1400 km race over 10 days with nine days of racing, the biggest in Asia then.

One of the key figures in that era, Bapoo Malcolm, was far away from the Sunday's cyclothon and didn't even watch it as he didn't have cable TV at home. But he revealed that the first internationals to compete in India were not the ones who did on Sunday but the ones from Lithuania, Canada and Wales who came for the 1989 Mumbai-Delhi stage race, a pro- am event staged with great help from cyclists like Tempton Cooper, Mehernosh Hakim, also a national champ, among others. 
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