ChromeChainstay
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Mr. Grewals • Rishi, Ranjeet, Alexi ~ has entered the discussion • articles photos ~ GT, Yeti, Serotta, Clark Kent
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ChromeChainstay
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and Ranjeet and Rishi
ChromeChainstay
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https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-06-25-sp-6967-story.html
June 25, 1993 12 AM PT
TIMES STAFF WRITER
BIG BEAR LAKE — On a recent sun-kissed morning in the San Bernardino Mountains, it was becoming abundantly clear that Rishi Grewal’s gastronomic lexicon is, uh, different.
Meat, particularly red meat, is shunned. Dairy products and other refined foods suffer a similar fate. As he extols the virtues of beet and garlic juice, Cytomax--an energy drink--and handfuls of vitamins and minerals, Grewal slices fresh fruit into bite-sized wedges. That done, he returns to the kitchen to fetch unfiltered apple juice, rice milk, granola, bananas and plain, nonfat yogurt.
It’s breakfast at Grewal’s, and afterward, Rishi goes lightly.
He pedals a high-tech, titanium mountain bike, its butyl and chro-moly components--from shifters to hubs to cranks--as intricate and feather-light as his morning meal.
Up he goes, climbing about 1,200 feet on dirt trails at the Snow Summit ski resort. He will eventually come racing down, covered in a film of dust, on two wheels and a prayer.
Rishi Grewal is a professional mountain bike racer, excelling in an endeavor that has captivated a certain yuppiefied segment of society. The sturdy bikes with thick, knobby tires have become such the rage that a cottage industry has surfaced as a manufacturing force.
Still, professionals such as Grewal are as anonymous as L.A. taxi drivers. Grewal and his fiancee, cycling pro Tammy Jacques, live in the far reaches of the Rockies near Carbondale, Colo., where they train in solitude.
Much of their time also is devoted to their anatomies.
Organic food alone will not ensure premium performances, so Grewal has enlisted holistic medical practitioners to sustain body and mind. He studies his biorhythms and searches for the perfect masseuse.
But despite the preoccupation with health, he has been unable to match the sport’s royalty--John Tomac, Daryl Price and Ned Overend--and he thinks he knows why.
Grewal, 26, suffers from Candida albicans, a natural yeast that grows in the intestines, the result of antibiotics having worn down the immune system. If neglected too long, as happened with Grewal, Candida turns into spores and bores its way through the small intestine. From there it enters the blood stream and circulates in the organs, where it colonizes like little aliens.
“You have foggy thinking, foggy vision,” Grewal said. “You just feel terrible.”
Physicians told Grewal he probably eroded his immune system by taking antibiotics to combat chest colds during his road-racing days in the 1980s. Jacques, who once suffered from Candida, thinks the problem became serious after Grewal completed a mountain bike tour in southern India four years ago.
Grewal, whose father, Jasjit, is a Sikh from India’s Punjab, joined a promotional tour for an Indian airline when his brother, Alexi, refused. He was advertised as an American-Indian cycling champion, a title more appropriate for Alexi, who won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic road race.
Rishi rode through rain forests, deserts and coffee plantations, ending the tour in Bombay. The journey was as unsanitary as it was exotic. Organizers were unable to provide much bottled drinking water, so Grewal drank beer and Scotch. Good food also was lacking. Grewal returned with a parasite, and eventually a serious case of Candida.
His condition has been aggressively treated and he says recovery is just around the next uphill switchback. It was apparent in his second-place finish at the Jeep National Championship Series opener here last month that his endurance had improved markedly.
But last week at Mt. Snow, Vt., Grewal had to drop out of a race because he was too weak to continue. He had quit taking his medication and the Candida suddenly returned.
“I’m not the toughest person on earth, which is too bad because if I was, people would have problems,” Grewal said. “I’m unstoppable at times.”
While getting a massage later in the day, he suggested another explanation: “I look at the Grewals . . . we’re crossbred too much. Swedish, Indian. There are genetic problems they don’t even know about. The genes are all messed up.”
*
Rishi Grewal is the youngest of one of American cycling’s elite--and eccentric--families. The Colorado
Grewals have been a force on the domestic cycling scene since Alexi won his medal in 1984.
Yet, the brothers--Ranjeet, like Rishi, competed on the roads before switching to mountain biking--were known for their tempestuous nature as much as their riding.
Alexi, for instance, spit into a CBS camera lens during a mountain stage of the 1986 Tour de France.
“They didn’t grow up in an affectionate family,” Jacques said. “When I first met Rishi, he needed a lot of comforting.”
Even Jacques, 27, a former member of the U.S. national road-racing team, was warned to stay away from Grewal after they met at a stage race in 1989. At the time, she was studying exercise physiology and chemistry at the University of Utah.
She ignored the advice. And after graduating, Jacques moved to Colorado to be with Grewal, as well as to pursue her own cycling career.
In the 1980s, competitors so disliked the Grewals and their teammates that fights sometimes erupted on the course. In one particularly embarrassing moment at a circuit race in Aspen, Rishi was caught on television fighting with rival Ron Kiefel as they pedaled.
Alexi, though, led the charge. He was known to throw water bottles at motorcycle escorts, to yell at cheering fans. Once, after accepting a third-place trophy in a Mexican race, he took the prize from the podium and set fire to it, in front of everyone.
The Grewals seemed to be fueled by something other than the desire to succeed. Now, they think their tantrums and antics are a reflection of their upbringing.
Jasjit Grewal, who owned an Aspen bicycle shop, was the strictest of disciplinarians and a powerful influence.
“He’s not American, which is OK,” Rishi said. “He has different beliefs on how things should work.”
As the youngest, Rishi escaped much of Jasjit’s wrath because his mother, Martha, took him to Kalispell, Mont., after divorcing Jasjit in 1978.
“But the divorce was very difficult on Rishi,” said Martha, a secretary in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Colorado.
Grewal’s relationship with his father remains tenuous.
“My mom’s support is much better,” Grewal said. “She doesn’t care how I do, just that I’m doing OK. My dad seems to care more how I’m doing (in racing).”
Jasjit is a common sight at mountain bike competition in the Rockies--from Durango to Crested Butte. He owns a 160-acre ranch surrounded by a national forest near Pagosa Springs, an hour east of Durango, where many of the world’s leading mountain bikers, including Ranjeet, reside.
“We don’t get along at all,” Jasjit said of his sons. “We’re not good friends.”
Rishi and Ranjeet are not welcome at the ranch, and although Jasjit, 57, admits the situation hurts, he said he is happier than ever.
“It’s the first time in my life I don’t need my family,” he said. “So many other people adore me. I’m directing my attentions to others than my own flesh and blood.”
On the occasions he attends races, Jasjit roots for his sons, but not vocally.
“It’s always painful,” he said. “We don’t even speak. They still resent the divorce and hold me responsible for all of it.”
Does he foresee a time when relations will be restored?
“It’s unlikely because they hurt me so much,” he said. “I’m immune to the pain they caused me. My boys are a huge disappointment to me. I’ve divorced my entire family.”
Rishi has finished third overall in the national series twice, and fourth in 1991 on the world circuit. But Jasjit lamented recently about his sons’ defeats by Overend, who at 37, is the Nolan Ryan of mountain biking.
“I tell them, ‘You let that old man beat you? How? Why?’ ” Jasjit said. “They’re not near as close to their potential. I don’t think they’re whole in spirit or their honor.”
The Grewals have undoubtedly gone their own directions.
Alexi recently married and lives near Boulder. He is a member of America’s best domestic cycling team, but a rash of injuries has kept him from succeeding this year. He suffered a broken back in a crash last year, then crashed hard again in April.
Ranjeet, who retired from road racing in 1986, re-entered the scene as a mountain bike racer, and was named rookie of the year in 1989. He has done little to distinguish himself since, although he remains one of the better American riders.
“Rishi is different from his brothers because he didn’t have that mental and physical pressure of his dad pushing him to whatever (Jasjit) wanted to be,” Jacques said. “He gained a lot of humility being around his mom.”
As Team GT’s cross-country specialist, Rishi also has gained insight into making cycling his livelihood. Despite the outlaw reputation, Grewal is one of the sport’s ambassadors.
An hour after racing at Big Bear, Grewal returned to the competition site to conduct a children’s clinic. About 50 youths--from 6 to 15--eagerly listened to Grewal explain the basics of the sport as they straddled their mountain bikes.
Grewal, his brown eyes beaming and shiny black hair gleaming in the afternoon sun, was giggling as the children pressed ever closer to hear him. Moments later, he led them on mock races, lavishing the children with encouraging words as they crossed the finish line.
His touch was gentle, and genuine. Grewal then signed autographs as dozens of little hands waved his poster in his face. He stayed until the last one left with a souvenir.
A father wearing biking shorts approached, mountain bike in tow.
“I just want to thank you for what you did today,” he said, referring to the clinic, not Grewal’s second-place finish.
Grewal smiled, and shook the father’s hand.
“No problem,” he said.
Hell on Wheels : Family Feuds and Foggy Fungus Are All Part of the Mountain Bike World of the Grewals
By ELLIOTT ALMONDJune 25, 1993 12 AM PT
TIMES STAFF WRITER
BIG BEAR LAKE — On a recent sun-kissed morning in the San Bernardino Mountains, it was becoming abundantly clear that Rishi Grewal’s gastronomic lexicon is, uh, different.
Meat, particularly red meat, is shunned. Dairy products and other refined foods suffer a similar fate. As he extols the virtues of beet and garlic juice, Cytomax--an energy drink--and handfuls of vitamins and minerals, Grewal slices fresh fruit into bite-sized wedges. That done, he returns to the kitchen to fetch unfiltered apple juice, rice milk, granola, bananas and plain, nonfat yogurt.
It’s breakfast at Grewal’s, and afterward, Rishi goes lightly.
He pedals a high-tech, titanium mountain bike, its butyl and chro-moly components--from shifters to hubs to cranks--as intricate and feather-light as his morning meal.
Up he goes, climbing about 1,200 feet on dirt trails at the Snow Summit ski resort. He will eventually come racing down, covered in a film of dust, on two wheels and a prayer.
Rishi Grewal is a professional mountain bike racer, excelling in an endeavor that has captivated a certain yuppiefied segment of society. The sturdy bikes with thick, knobby tires have become such the rage that a cottage industry has surfaced as a manufacturing force.
Still, professionals such as Grewal are as anonymous as L.A. taxi drivers. Grewal and his fiancee, cycling pro Tammy Jacques, live in the far reaches of the Rockies near Carbondale, Colo., where they train in solitude.
March 2, 2023Much of their time also is devoted to their anatomies.
Organic food alone will not ensure premium performances, so Grewal has enlisted holistic medical practitioners to sustain body and mind. He studies his biorhythms and searches for the perfect masseuse.
But despite the preoccupation with health, he has been unable to match the sport’s royalty--John Tomac, Daryl Price and Ned Overend--and he thinks he knows why.
Grewal, 26, suffers from Candida albicans, a natural yeast that grows in the intestines, the result of antibiotics having worn down the immune system. If neglected too long, as happened with Grewal, Candida turns into spores and bores its way through the small intestine. From there it enters the blood stream and circulates in the organs, where it colonizes like little aliens.
“You have foggy thinking, foggy vision,” Grewal said. “You just feel terrible.”
Physicians told Grewal he probably eroded his immune system by taking antibiotics to combat chest colds during his road-racing days in the 1980s. Jacques, who once suffered from Candida, thinks the problem became serious after Grewal completed a mountain bike tour in southern India four years ago.
Grewal, whose father, Jasjit, is a Sikh from India’s Punjab, joined a promotional tour for an Indian airline when his brother, Alexi, refused. He was advertised as an American-Indian cycling champion, a title more appropriate for Alexi, who won the gold medal in the 1984 Olympic road race.
Rishi rode through rain forests, deserts and coffee plantations, ending the tour in Bombay. The journey was as unsanitary as it was exotic. Organizers were unable to provide much bottled drinking water, so Grewal drank beer and Scotch. Good food also was lacking. Grewal returned with a parasite, and eventually a serious case of Candida.
His condition has been aggressively treated and he says recovery is just around the next uphill switchback. It was apparent in his second-place finish at the Jeep National Championship Series opener here last month that his endurance had improved markedly.
But last week at Mt. Snow, Vt., Grewal had to drop out of a race because he was too weak to continue. He had quit taking his medication and the Candida suddenly returned.
“I’m not the toughest person on earth, which is too bad because if I was, people would have problems,” Grewal said. “I’m unstoppable at times.”
While getting a massage later in the day, he suggested another explanation: “I look at the Grewals . . . we’re crossbred too much. Swedish, Indian. There are genetic problems they don’t even know about. The genes are all messed up.”
*
Rishi Grewal is the youngest of one of American cycling’s elite--and eccentric--families. The Colorado
Grewals have been a force on the domestic cycling scene since Alexi won his medal in 1984.
Yet, the brothers--Ranjeet, like Rishi, competed on the roads before switching to mountain biking--were known for their tempestuous nature as much as their riding.
Alexi, for instance, spit into a CBS camera lens during a mountain stage of the 1986 Tour de France.
“They didn’t grow up in an affectionate family,” Jacques said. “When I first met Rishi, he needed a lot of comforting.”
Even Jacques, 27, a former member of the U.S. national road-racing team, was warned to stay away from Grewal after they met at a stage race in 1989. At the time, she was studying exercise physiology and chemistry at the University of Utah.
She ignored the advice. And after graduating, Jacques moved to Colorado to be with Grewal, as well as to pursue her own cycling career.
In the 1980s, competitors so disliked the Grewals and their teammates that fights sometimes erupted on the course. In one particularly embarrassing moment at a circuit race in Aspen, Rishi was caught on television fighting with rival Ron Kiefel as they pedaled.
Alexi, though, led the charge. He was known to throw water bottles at motorcycle escorts, to yell at cheering fans. Once, after accepting a third-place trophy in a Mexican race, he took the prize from the podium and set fire to it, in front of everyone.
The Grewals seemed to be fueled by something other than the desire to succeed. Now, they think their tantrums and antics are a reflection of their upbringing.
Jasjit Grewal, who owned an Aspen bicycle shop, was the strictest of disciplinarians and a powerful influence.
“He’s not American, which is OK,” Rishi said. “He has different beliefs on how things should work.”
As the youngest, Rishi escaped much of Jasjit’s wrath because his mother, Martha, took him to Kalispell, Mont., after divorcing Jasjit in 1978.
“But the divorce was very difficult on Rishi,” said Martha, a secretary in the mechanical engineering department at the University of Colorado.
Grewal’s relationship with his father remains tenuous.
“My mom’s support is much better,” Grewal said. “She doesn’t care how I do, just that I’m doing OK. My dad seems to care more how I’m doing (in racing).”
Jasjit is a common sight at mountain bike competition in the Rockies--from Durango to Crested Butte. He owns a 160-acre ranch surrounded by a national forest near Pagosa Springs, an hour east of Durango, where many of the world’s leading mountain bikers, including Ranjeet, reside.
“We don’t get along at all,” Jasjit said of his sons. “We’re not good friends.”
Rishi and Ranjeet are not welcome at the ranch, and although Jasjit, 57, admits the situation hurts, he said he is happier than ever.
“It’s the first time in my life I don’t need my family,” he said. “So many other people adore me. I’m directing my attentions to others than my own flesh and blood.”
On the occasions he attends races, Jasjit roots for his sons, but not vocally.
“It’s always painful,” he said. “We don’t even speak. They still resent the divorce and hold me responsible for all of it.”
Does he foresee a time when relations will be restored?
“It’s unlikely because they hurt me so much,” he said. “I’m immune to the pain they caused me. My boys are a huge disappointment to me. I’ve divorced my entire family.”
Rishi has finished third overall in the national series twice, and fourth in 1991 on the world circuit. But Jasjit lamented recently about his sons’ defeats by Overend, who at 37, is the Nolan Ryan of mountain biking.
“I tell them, ‘You let that old man beat you? How? Why?’ ” Jasjit said. “They’re not near as close to their potential. I don’t think they’re whole in spirit or their honor.”
The Grewals have undoubtedly gone their own directions.
Alexi recently married and lives near Boulder. He is a member of America’s best domestic cycling team, but a rash of injuries has kept him from succeeding this year. He suffered a broken back in a crash last year, then crashed hard again in April.
Ranjeet, who retired from road racing in 1986, re-entered the scene as a mountain bike racer, and was named rookie of the year in 1989. He has done little to distinguish himself since, although he remains one of the better American riders.
“Rishi is different from his brothers because he didn’t have that mental and physical pressure of his dad pushing him to whatever (Jasjit) wanted to be,” Jacques said. “He gained a lot of humility being around his mom.”
As Team GT’s cross-country specialist, Rishi also has gained insight into making cycling his livelihood. Despite the outlaw reputation, Grewal is one of the sport’s ambassadors.
An hour after racing at Big Bear, Grewal returned to the competition site to conduct a children’s clinic. About 50 youths--from 6 to 15--eagerly listened to Grewal explain the basics of the sport as they straddled their mountain bikes.
Grewal, his brown eyes beaming and shiny black hair gleaming in the afternoon sun, was giggling as the children pressed ever closer to hear him. Moments later, he led them on mock races, lavishing the children with encouraging words as they crossed the finish line.
His touch was gentle, and genuine. Grewal then signed autographs as dozens of little hands waved his poster in his face. He stayed until the last one left with a souvenir.
A father wearing biking shorts approached, mountain bike in tow.
“I just want to thank you for what you did today,” he said, referring to the clinic, not Grewal’s second-place finish.
Grewal smiled, and shook the father’s hand.
“No problem,” he said.
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The title of Chrome's threads and the content is always a surprise 
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
Alexi Grewal was an American cyclist who won the gold medal in the road race at the 1984 Olympics, the first American to win gold in that event at the Olympics. He turned professional after the Los Angeles Games and joined the Panasonic team, later riding for the 7-Eleven Cycling Team, but was dropped by them in 1986. From 1989-93 he was with the Coors Light pro team. Grewal was known as extremely talented but also a very volatile rider. He was a three-time winner of the Bob Cook Mt. Evans Hill Climb, winning in 1981, 1986, and 1990. He also won the Cascade Cycling Classic in 1982. Grewal later settled in Colorado where he became a master finish carpenter. Grewal was of Sikh descent. His brothers, Rishi and Ranjeet, were also top cyclists, with Rishi a US amateur champion in 1989 and endurance mountain biking champion.
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
Alexi at the Tour de france 7-11 team
The 209 other riders in the Tour de France set off on a bicycle race, but Alexi Grewal says he is traveling on a journey into himself.
Two years after he won the gold medal in the bicycle road race at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Grewal no longer yearns for victory, or even competition. ''I didn't mind the glory one bit,'' he said. ''Then, when I got it again, I found it empty. It just made me want more.'' A week ago he was ready to stop racing professionally. ''What am I doing this for?'' he remembered asking as he rode in the Tour D'Armorique, a tune-up race in Brittany for the Tour de France.
Seeking Peace of Mind
A month short of his 26th birthday, Grewal could not answer his question. ''Physically, I felt fine but I had this weird feeling, this questioning,'' he said as he fiddled with his bicycle a few days before the start of the Tour de France. To everybody else it is the world's most important bicycle race, but to Grewal that was not enough.
''I realized it was just a big race instead of something I can really grow with,'' he said. ''I realized it wasn't going to bring me peace of mind.
''Ten minutes after the stage was over, I went to a telephone booth at the side of the road and called some people in the United States, my mom, my best friend, my father. I didn't even have enough money to talk, so I phoned them and told them to call me back.'' His parents, who are divorced, live in Aspen, Colo., Grewal's hometown.
''And we talked and talked,'' he continued. ''I was a little bit afraid to just drop cycling and in the end they convinced me to try again, that I was kind of obligated to the people who have supported me. And here I am. I'll do the Tour de France and I know I'll find out whether I should keep racing. If I don't enjoy it, that's the end of racing.''
After seven stages of the grueling Tour, Grewal today stood 184th out of the 191 riders still in the monthlong race.
For physical reasons, Grewal was close to dropping racing last year. After he won the Olympic medal, he signed with the Panasonic professional team in the Netherlands and was touted as the climber the team lacked. A few races early in the spring left him sick and weak, his weight down to 143 pounds from his usual 154. Grewal is 6 feet 2 inches tall.
He was riding in the Tour of Spain, his first major race as a professional, when he had to withdraw in the second week. Team doctors ordered tests, which indicated hepatitis. At first it was feared that his racing days were over.
''I went home to the States and was cured in four days,'' Grewal said as he fitted tires to the bicycle frame. ''Back home, the doctors diagnosed my trouble as malaria and fixed me up.''
He celebrated his return by winning a three-day race in Colorado last September.
Grewal's career has been marked by problems. He suffers from asthma and was winning the 1984 Coors Classic in Colorado when he was expelled from the event and suspended from racing because a herbal-compound pill he had taken for his ailment was found to contain a substance banned in cycling. The ruling was reversed quickly on appeal and he went on to ride in Los Angeles.
As Grewal tells it, his problems are not solely medical. He said he quit high school in 1978 just weeks short of graduation. ''I was wasting my time,'' he said. ''All I learned was that I didn't want to go.'' 'An Obsession'
The illness last year changed his thinking about racing, he said. ''Getting back to form has been an obsession to me and when I finally got my form, I was dissatisfied,'' he said. ''I was so obsessed with good results that the rest of my life was suffering. It was almost impossible to do anything else.''
''In a way this is just a job,'' he added. He is riding for the 7-Eleven team, the first American squad to compete in the Tour de France.
''I'm not really close to anybody on the team,'' he said.
The people he does have fun with, he said, are his brothers, Ranjit, 22, and Rishi, 19. Grewal's father, a Sikh, came to the United States from India.
''The only time I've had a lot of fun was when I went out in the wilderness with my brothers,'' he said. The three went into the wilderness near Steamboat Springs, Colo., last October and spent five days riding mountain bikes and camping.
Grewal said he thought often about returning to the wilderness, any wilderness, perhaps enrolling in an Outward Bound program or in another survival school.
''I'll know in a few weeks whether I'll be going,'' he said. ''It depends on this race. Some people have goals in the Tour de France of winning a stage. My goal is to find out whether I'm not tortured if I'm doing bad, not dissatisfied if I'm doing well.''
A version of this article appears in print on July 11, 1986, Section A, Page 19 of the National edition with the headline: A CYCLIST'S SEARCH FOR HIMSELF.
The 209 other riders in the Tour de France set off on a bicycle race, but Alexi Grewal says he is traveling on a journey into himself.
Two years after he won the gold medal in the bicycle road race at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Grewal no longer yearns for victory, or even competition. ''I didn't mind the glory one bit,'' he said. ''Then, when I got it again, I found it empty. It just made me want more.'' A week ago he was ready to stop racing professionally. ''What am I doing this for?'' he remembered asking as he rode in the Tour D'Armorique, a tune-up race in Brittany for the Tour de France.
Seeking Peace of Mind
A month short of his 26th birthday, Grewal could not answer his question. ''Physically, I felt fine but I had this weird feeling, this questioning,'' he said as he fiddled with his bicycle a few days before the start of the Tour de France. To everybody else it is the world's most important bicycle race, but to Grewal that was not enough.
''I realized it was just a big race instead of something I can really grow with,'' he said. ''I realized it wasn't going to bring me peace of mind.
''Ten minutes after the stage was over, I went to a telephone booth at the side of the road and called some people in the United States, my mom, my best friend, my father. I didn't even have enough money to talk, so I phoned them and told them to call me back.'' His parents, who are divorced, live in Aspen, Colo., Grewal's hometown.
''And we talked and talked,'' he continued. ''I was a little bit afraid to just drop cycling and in the end they convinced me to try again, that I was kind of obligated to the people who have supported me. And here I am. I'll do the Tour de France and I know I'll find out whether I should keep racing. If I don't enjoy it, that's the end of racing.''
After seven stages of the grueling Tour, Grewal today stood 184th out of the 191 riders still in the monthlong race.
For physical reasons, Grewal was close to dropping racing last year. After he won the Olympic medal, he signed with the Panasonic professional team in the Netherlands and was touted as the climber the team lacked. A few races early in the spring left him sick and weak, his weight down to 143 pounds from his usual 154. Grewal is 6 feet 2 inches tall.
He was riding in the Tour of Spain, his first major race as a professional, when he had to withdraw in the second week. Team doctors ordered tests, which indicated hepatitis. At first it was feared that his racing days were over.
''I went home to the States and was cured in four days,'' Grewal said as he fitted tires to the bicycle frame. ''Back home, the doctors diagnosed my trouble as malaria and fixed me up.''
He celebrated his return by winning a three-day race in Colorado last September.
Grewal's career has been marked by problems. He suffers from asthma and was winning the 1984 Coors Classic in Colorado when he was expelled from the event and suspended from racing because a herbal-compound pill he had taken for his ailment was found to contain a substance banned in cycling. The ruling was reversed quickly on appeal and he went on to ride in Los Angeles.
As Grewal tells it, his problems are not solely medical. He said he quit high school in 1978 just weeks short of graduation. ''I was wasting my time,'' he said. ''All I learned was that I didn't want to go.'' 'An Obsession'
The illness last year changed his thinking about racing, he said. ''Getting back to form has been an obsession to me and when I finally got my form, I was dissatisfied,'' he said. ''I was so obsessed with good results that the rest of my life was suffering. It was almost impossible to do anything else.''
''In a way this is just a job,'' he added. He is riding for the 7-Eleven team, the first American squad to compete in the Tour de France.
''I'm not really close to anybody on the team,'' he said.
The people he does have fun with, he said, are his brothers, Ranjit, 22, and Rishi, 19. Grewal's father, a Sikh, came to the United States from India.
''The only time I've had a lot of fun was when I went out in the wilderness with my brothers,'' he said. The three went into the wilderness near Steamboat Springs, Colo., last October and spent five days riding mountain bikes and camping.
Grewal said he thought often about returning to the wilderness, any wilderness, perhaps enrolling in an Outward Bound program or in another survival school.
''I'll know in a few weeks whether I'll be going,'' he said. ''It depends on this race. Some people have goals in the Tour de France of winning a stage. My goal is to find out whether I'm not tortured if I'm doing bad, not dissatisfied if I'm doing well.''
A version of this article appears in print on July 11, 1986, Section A, Page 19 of the National edition with the headline: A CYCLIST'S SEARCH FOR HIMSELF.
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” says Rishi Grewal. “Looking at this picture from 1993 rattles memories long forgotten in the midst of dust, bumps and life. Thinking back to 1984, I was a 16-year-old kid, and my first mountain bike race was in heavy rain in Montana. I ended up third and almost won by hammering wet, fast downhills at nearly 50 mph. A handful of years later, I found myself battling for the National Championships and the World Cup title series. I ended up losing both titles in the last race of the series, while in the lead, to none other than Ned Overend and John Tomac.“
“But, I beat Ned and John again here and there,” Rishi adds, “winning the $15,000 prize and the ‘ABC Wide World of Sports Ride for Your Life’ premiere, the first made-for-TV event. My last win of over 100 pro events was a 30-minute, 3000-foot-descent enduro in 2014, which was a lot more fun than riding 300 miles solo to win the 24 Hours of Moab three times. Twenty-plus years following the fastest was a pleasure. Looking back, I was fortunate to be able to live and breathe this great sport,” says Rishi.
https://mbaction.com/flashback-frid...3-and-the-golden-era-of-cross-country-racing/
ChromeChainstay
Senior Retro Guru
Alexi Palmares
Alexi Grewal
1981
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:57:36)
2nd Overall Vuelta Ciclista de Chile
1982
1st Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
2nd Overall Vuelta Ciclista de Chile
1st Stages 7 & 8
1983
1st Stage 8a Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 6a GP Tell
1st Stage 8 Coors Classic
1st Stage 10 Red Zinger Classic
1984
1st
Road race, Summer Olympics
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:47:51)
1st Stage 8 Tour of Texas
1985
5th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
1986
3rd Overall Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 12
1987
1st Overall Vulcan Tour
1st Prologue
1988
1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Stages 3 & 4 (TTT)
1st Overall Mammoth Classic
1st Stage 2
1989
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
1990
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:46:29 – former record)
1st Overall Casper Classic
1st Stage 2
1st Stage 4 Cascade Classic
1991
4th Overall Tour DuPont
1992
1st Overall Tour de Bisbee
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 10 Tour DuPont
1993
1st Nevada City Classic
1st Stage 5 Casper Classic
| Full name | Alexi Grewal |
|---|---|
| Born | September 8, 1960(age 64) Aspen, Colorado, United States |
| Current team | Retired |
| Discipline | Road |
| Role | Rider |
| 1985 | Panasonic–Raleigh |
| 1986 | 7-Eleven |
| 1987 | RMO–Cycles Méral–Mavic |
| 1988 | Crest |
| 1989–1993 | Coors Light–ADR |
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Personal information
Biography
Personal information
Biography
Major results
edit1981
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:57:36)
2nd Overall Vuelta Ciclista de Chile
1982
1st Overall Cascade Cycling Classic
2nd Overall Vuelta Ciclista de Chile
1st Stages 7 & 8
1983
1st Stage 8a Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 6a GP Tell
1st Stage 8 Coors Classic
1st Stage 10 Red Zinger Classic
1984
1st
Road race, Summer Olympics1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:47:51)
1st Stage 8 Tour of Texas
1985
5th Overall Étoile de Bessèges
1986
3rd Overall Tour de l'Avenir
1st Stage 12
1987
1st Overall Vulcan Tour
1st Prologue
1988
1st Overall Redlands Bicycle Classic
1st Stages 3 & 4 (TTT)
1st Overall Mammoth Classic
1st Stage 2
1989
3rd Road race, National Road Championships
1990
1st Mt. Evans Hill Climb (1:46:29 – former record)
1st Overall Casper Classic
1st Stage 2
1st Stage 4 Cascade Classic
1991
4th Overall Tour DuPont
1992
1st Overall Tour de Bisbee
1st Stage 1
1st Stage 10 Tour DuPont
1993
1st Nevada City Classic
1st Stage 5 Casper Classic
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alexi • olympics • Los Angeles
