“Every brilliant experiment, like every great work of art, begins with an act of imagination.” – Jonah Lehrer
When you start talking about Naveen John, this is probably the quote that best fits his cycling journey. Growing up in Kuwait wandering around shopping malls, cycling remained a stranger to him for a long time.
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In fact, while pursuing an engineering degree at Purdue University in Indiana, his reason for playing the sport was simple: to get healthy and enjoy the social aspect of it.
“During college in the US, I found the sport of cycling. Collegiate cycling in the US is kind of this low-pressure but competitive environment. So I got into US cycling mainly for the social aspect, and I was also super unhealthy, almost 100 pounds, when I got into college. Cycling was a way to get fit, get healthy again, but also take control of my health.
And cycling was never a dream for Naveen. In fact, it was far from it.
“Cycling was never a childhood dream. Getting into the sport was never my goal. It was more of a hobby and it slowly evolved into something more than that,” Naveen said.
But like many others, once he got a taste of the competitive side of cycling, his hobby quickly took off. However, the dream of becoming a national champion never occurred to him. He was happy with his cycling in the USA. But all that changed with a small bet – a harmless joke that was meant to remain in his imagination and never materialized.
“The seed was planted by a friend of mine in college who jokingly said it would be great if I came home to India and tried to win a national title and see how good I was in a country of a billion people,” Naveen said.
Now he was left with a choice: go to his master, or go about his side quest on the bike. The goal remained the same – to win one national title and return to the US.
“So in 2012 I was kind of faced with the decision to finish my Masters in Engineering and come back home to chase this kind of sideline. I decided to go full-on in the sideline and in 2012 I came back to India to try to win my national title. Just one national title. It took me about two years to get the first one, but that was the beginning of my journey in Indian cycling,” said Naenve.
Little did Naveen know that this little bit of teasing with his friend would end up affecting his entire life.
Now, almost 14 years after he came to India on a side trip, Naveen has become a legend of the sport in the country.
KAAM KARO
Naveen became the first rider from the country to sign with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Continental team. Known for his strength in time trials, he won the national title in the event nine times. His most notable season came in 2017 when he won double gold at the national championships in both the time trial and the events, before adding international honors with a strong showing at the 2019 South Asian Games.
However, what really cemented the legend of Naveen was a little clip called ‘Naveen John Did The Double.’ It has since gained a cult following among cycling enthusiasts.
The video is a simple video from the 2017 Road Nationals at Jamkandi, showing Naveen increasing his pace during the race when another rider slides into his slipstream to take advantage. Noticing this, he turns in the saddle and lets him have it, repeatedly yelling, “Kaam karo!” until the rider backs off. To make his point, Naveen then gives him a slight nudge forward, forcing him to take the lead.
Naveen said this is exactly the work ethic needed to succeed in a sport where there is no room for mistakes or excuses. And he says if you want things to happen, make them happen rather than hope for fate.
“In racing, if you want a result, you have to put in the work, no excuses. There’s no sitting back. It’s a mantra I’ve always followed in motorcycle racing. And in the Indian context, we often wait for things to happen, so Kaam karo is a reminder to get the job done and make things happen,” Naveen said. Naveen has become a cycling legend in India (Courtesy: Naveen John)
Added to this is something called the Belgian mindset, which he adopted during his stay in Belgium. The rule of the track is simple: attack until no one can follow you.
But for him, thinking is all about passion – something he saw in sport in Belgium. The love for him, almost like how cricket is in India.
“In Belgium, cycling is not even a sport where a lot of money is made. The passion for cycling in Belgium is pure. And that’s how Belgium taught me the love of sport.”
“They don’t treat it like a job. It’s almost like a passion. That’s a mindset that I’ve kind of adopted and I try to live it every day, you know, I have a hashtag. There’s never a debate in my head about whether I ride a bike every day. It’s a daily ride. I count the days I don’t ride a bike. So I don’t count the days that don’t count. I try to adopt every day,” Naveen said.
NO OLYMPIC DREAM?
So, when you are a national champion in a sport, the next goal is always to achieve great success on the international stage. For cyclists, the Tour de France and the Olympics would be the first two that everyone would aspire to achieve.
But not Naveen. While it may sound surprising these days, not having Olympic ambitions has his reasons – rooted in the gulf he observed between Indian talent and the rest of the world.
“I’ve rubbed shoulders with world champions in the sport, guys who perform at the highest level. So I’m very aware that there’s a gap there.”
“I realized there was a real gap. So I’ve always been grounded. It’s easy to say I want to go to the Olympics, or I plan to go to the Olympics, or I hope to go to the Olympics. It makes it a lot easier to approach sponsors. But the one thing I’ve never said in my career is that I want to go to the Olympics.”
“I might want to represent India at the Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games if things go really well because I think that’s the level I’m really at. I’ve got the numbers, I’ve got the skill set, I’ve got the experience set to compete at.”
“So I was never an Olympic dreamer,” Naveen said. Naveen says he has no hopes for Olympics (Courtesy: Naveen John)
Still, the 39-year-old believes that India will soon have cyclists competing in the Olympics.
“I realize that the Olympics energize the sport and the systems that are passionate about supporting the sport, so I realized how important it is. It is the hope that I have that I will see it in a generation or two, that we will see Indian cyclists in the Olympics,” Naveen said.
PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE
So how does a man who once considered cycling a sideline plan to return to the sport? He got a little philosophical in his answer, but that reflects who he is.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s what drove me and kept me in the sport. The purpose was to plant the seeds for the trees that you’ll never sit under,” Naveen said.
And he is already working towards it by sharing his experiences with young cyclists who continue to keep him on his toes.
“I do it in three ways. One is my coaching. That’s kind of the job. Then I do it with my mentorship. It’s kind of like unpaid work. The reward is actually sharing information and helping the next generation. And the third is creating systems or plugging them into systems that already exist,” Naveen said. Once retired, Naveen tries to nurture talent (Courtesy: Naveen John)
While he may not aspire to be in the Olympics, Naveen wouldn’t mind taking part in it – especially if the games come to India in 2036.
“I’ll be 50 in 2036, so I definitely won’t be competing at that point. If anything, I’d probably be on the coaching side of the fence by then.”
I look forward to hearing from this side of the fence. The year 2036 is definitely not a goal for me as an athlete. It’s definitely something I have when I’m on the coaching side of things.”
You usually ask right at the beginning of the interaction what the sport means to the athlete. But with Naveen, it made sense to save it for last.
“Cycling is a sport that really gives structure to your life and gives your days some meaning. My first national title was really an obsession with a goal, but since then I’ve always enjoyed the process of working towards a goal, setting a goal, coming up with a plan and executing that plan.”
“So for me, cycling gives structure to the days and the process of moving towards a goal is what cycling really gives me,” concluded Naveen.
– The end
Published on:
25 March 2026 19:30 IST
