BANGALORE: It is 5am and a biting cold wind sweeps through Kumbarhalla, a remote village located 10km from Jamakhandi, India's Mecca of cycling. The sun is still a long way from topping the horizon, but 24-year-old Mahadev Kurani alias Madappa, a national-level cyclist, silently slips out of his dingy house with his Singapore-made Trek bicycle.

Racing against time, Kurani pumps the pedals hard as he zips on the Bijapur-Dharwad state highway on his way to Jamakhandi . He is joined by several other riders on the stretch, but while they head for the Jamkhandi stadium to hone their cycling skills, Kurani turns towards the Jamakhandi bus stand where he works as a security guard at one of the ATMs of a nationalised bank.

Olympians would say that it's the journey rather than the destination that makes the event so special. Kurani, though, wonders if he would ever arrive. A national cycling champion with four gold medals to his name, Kurani believes he has plenty more to give. But stuck in mounting debt, he had to give up cycling to help his family make ends meet. The daily sprint to work at the ATM serves as his only means of keeping in touch with the sport.

He draws a pittance — Rs 4,800 — in salary every month, much of it goes towards repaying the Rs 60,000 mortgage taken against his family's acre of land. The money was borrowed six years ago from a local financier to fund his bike. The rest is given to his mother to take care of the family.

"What to do?" Kurani asks rhetorically. "If I do not work, we will lose the acre of dry farmland that was mortgaged to buy my bicycle. The land is the only hope for my family. Being the eldest, I have to look after my parents, brother and sister. The priority is to settle the loan as the interest piles up by the day. There was a time when I hoped the state government would recognise my achievements, but all I got was disappointment and insults. The creditors are not bothered with all these stories. I simply have to settle the debt or we will lose our land. So I had to join as a security guard."

Kurani was drawn to the sport when he was in Std VIII. Success stories of several other cyclists from Jamakhandi spurred his dream of becoming an international athlete. He began by covering between 50 and 100km on an ordinary cycle. Soon he began to participate in state and national-level events. His dream began to take definite shape. The imported cycle was procured in 2007.

"I was initiated into the sport by my grandfather when I was in high school," Kurani said. "He was a national-level cyclist and he motivated me to take up cycling. While in school, I took part in several national and state-level cycling competitions, either borrowing cycles from friends or using an ordinary bike. There are basically two types of events in cycling: Velodrome events and cross-country races. Both require different kinds of cycles. But I used to practise both events on the same bike. It was only when I was selected for the international race in Chennai that I had to buy an imported cycle to stay on par with the competition."

Buying an imported cycle was no easy decision for Kurani, coming as he did from a family that struggled to make ends meet. His father, Manik, worked as a peon at an ITI college in Bagalkot and his earnings barely took care of his own needs in the city. The rest of the family relied heavily on the acre of land for a living.

"I did not want to miss out on an international race in Chennai, so I decided to buy an imported cycle by raising a loan," Kurani said. "When none came forward to give me a loan, I mortgaged the land and bought this cycle from Singapore for Rs 60,000. Every year I had to pay an interest of Rs 18,000 failing which I would lose my land. Initially I began repaying the loan with whatever money I won at competitions. But it was not enough as considerable money was spent on my travel and maintenance of the cycle. In fact, to support the family, my younger brother gave up schooling and began working. We still fell short."

Though he finished 14th at the race in Chennai, Kurani refused to be put off. The following year he finished 5th, but by then his bike, while still streets ahead of an ordinary bike, had become outdated for international competitions. He still continues to cover 150 to 200 kms in four to five hours with a maximum speed of 45 km per hour merely by pedalling to work. He hopes to get back into competitive cycling in a few months once the loan is repaid. He says he tried securing a constable post with the police and a job in the Railways under sports quota, but both moves didn't work out.

"Meanwhile, I kept winning medals at both nationals and state level events in various states," Kurani said. "So far I have won four gold, three silver and four bronze medals at the national level besides several state awards."

He believes he could achieve a lot more if he had a cycle which is on par with the rest of the competition. But he realises that it is beyond his very limited means.

"I have finished fifth in an international event on an entry-level racing cycle," Kurani said. "If I had an advanced bike I would have definitely made the country proud. But I'm going through such an ordeal for Rs 60,000. Where would I get the money to finance a bike worth Rs 3 or 4 lakh?"

Government cycle of no use

While training at the Sports Hostel in Bijapur during his college days, the government provided him with a cycle. "If I had entered any race with that cycle, either I would have fractured a few bones or I would have raced so cautiously that it would not have made any sense participating," Kurani said. "The bike failed to meet basic requirements for competitions. When they placed the order for the cycles, the authorities showed cycles worth Rs 2 lakh each. What we got was entirely something else. I gave the cycle away to a poor guy in my village, who was beginning to learn the basics of cycling."