At 53, pedal power v/s horse power

He sells imitation jewellery for a living, but his real passion is speed cycling. Meet Dombivli’s Vinod Punamiya, 53, who beat Central Railway’s pride Deccan Queen by 13 minutes in a cycle versus train race in 2007, at the age of 51.

Punamiya now wants to emulate his 2007 feat by challenging Central Railways Chennai-Dadar Express in October this year.

Punamiya idolises late Bollywood character actor Jankidas Mehra, a reputed cycling champion. “Jankidas was one individual I look up to. He didn’t cycle for individual glory but took pride in representing the country in the 1938 Sydney Olympics,” said Vinod.

To his credit, Vinod has won gold in the state level championship, silver in the national level championship. He has represented India at the world championship in Italy in 1985 and has plans to take part in the world championship in Australia in October this year.

“When I first told my wife about my resolve to take on the Deccan Queen in cycle versus train race, my wife got scared. In speed cycling you cycle at speeds close to 120 km per hour, a slight mishap can be fatal,” said Vinod.

He added, “Hence I would practice in the night at around 2 am when there was less traffic on the roads. First I raced with trucks and vehicles. When my confidence grew, I first tried to beat Deccan Queen in 1985, but failed. I tried again in 1990 and then gave up the dream.”

Prior to his attempt in 2007, Vinod did a survey of the entire route and took up swimming to increase his stamina. His diet consisted of green leafy vegetables and lots of fruit juices.

In March 2007, he finally decided to take the Deccan Queen on and began his pursuit from Balewadi near Pune railway station at 7.10 am. “Initially till Lonavala, I was playing the catching up game with the train. But as the Ghat section began I got the advantage and beat the train at Dadar by a good 13 minutes,” claimed Vinod.

He now plans to race against Chennai-Dadar Express, in October, over a distance of 1,200 km non-stop. “The train takes 24 hours from starting point to destination. I plan to complete the journey in 23 hours. I plan to start from Chennai at 6 am and reach Dadar next day at 5 am before the train arrives.”