Tour of Nilgiris, (2009, 2011, 2016), Tour of Friendship, (2016, 2019), Giro delle Dolomiti (2015, 2019), Tour of Bintan (2018), Bangalore Cycling championships — these are just some of the noted achievements of neurosurgeon Dr Arvind Bhateja. The senior doctor, who works at Sparsh Hospital in Bengaluru, has participated in numerous prominent cycling events over the years. Bhateja embarked on his cycling journey, following his participation at the Tour of Nilgiris in 2009.
“I heard about this tour, which goes through three states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The eight-day tour covers about 1,000 km. I covered over 150 kilometres every day, passing through the Western Ghats, encountering some animals on the way. This is when I started taking cycling seriously and training regularly,” he shares. Describing his relationship with cycles as a ‘life-long love affair, which he never wants to give up’, Bhateja tells us that come rain or shine, he cycles to the hospital.
The owner of eight bicycles (his f irst mountain bike was a Merida), he finds this mode to be the fastest way to get to work in case of medical emergencies. In the past two years, Bhateja has clocked 13,000 kilometres each year. “On weekdays, I usually stick to indoor training. On weekends, I ride to Nandi Hills from home and back, covering 80 kilometres.
Sometimes, I also ride on the Old Madras Road and Nelamangala town,” says the 52-year-old. Bhateja, who has done over 7,000 surgeries to date, also believes that neurosurgery and cycling are similar in many ways. “Very often in neurosurgery, you are tasked with a challenging tumour on which you spend nearly eight hours in the operation theatre.
In the end, if the patient recovers, it is very satisfying. Similarly, it is daunting to start a 100-km ride in the morning, but once I get through the initial discomfort and pain, the end result is very satisfying,” he elaborates. Before swerving towards cycling, Bhateja also gave running a try. The pandemic, however, did cast a shadow, leaving him infected with COVID-19 during the first wave in 2020. While the lockdown posed a challenge, forcing him to cancel most of the cycling events he had signed up for, he decided to take the digital route to keep fit.
“Days after recovering from Covid, I started virtual Everesting with an indoor cycling set-up, using an app called Zwift. It is a workout where you have to achieve the same elevation as that of Mount Everest. I could manage to achieve only 80 per cent of it with a riding time of 12 hours," says Bhateja, adding, “My wife is a general physician who supported me throughout but when I felt I was unable to move, I decided to pull the plug on the attempt.” When asked how he gets time for cycling, he notes that if you are passionate about something, you will find time for it.