Rugged Sahyadris : Prelude to the Race

Was really excited about this race. Its a very high profile race. Imagine India's second biggest adventure race. Athletes come from all over the state to compete. This was only their second edition. But there was a lot of hype around the race.  

The Poster

Due to all this I was really nervous about my own performance. It was gonna be tough to just complete the race , let alone win it. I had doubts creeping at the back of my mind, whether my training was enough or not. But I was determined to show my sponsors (Lifecycle) that they were investing in the right men. They even gave me and Sushil matching bikes for the race.

It was decided that we'll go to Kolhapur by a Volvo bus, but changed it 2 days before the race, and we hired a pickup car for transportation provided by Cymour. My team along with another 40+ team ( Kedar Tokekar and Sashikant Soman) along with the cycles left from Pune on Friday morning. The driver drove real fast, a little rash too, reached Kolhapur in 3 hours, just in time for lunch. And what a Lunch it was!!! So much mutton!!! Omg , it was heaven!! Kolhapuri Mutton!!

With Sushil and the bikes

Bikes packed and ready

Mutton at Hotel Opal in Kolhapur

Then went to my relative's place. We were gonna crash here tonight. Did the final packing of bags that we were gonna carry for the race. It took a lot of time than we expected. Had to go and buy few stuff (compass and stuff). At about 3 pm we went off to check out the route of the race in the vicinity of Panhala fort and Jotiba temple. It paid off, we found a lot of off road markings which gave us an indication of the route. This gave us a little advantage. Then we returned back to Kolhapur for our pre-race meeting. 

With cousin Venky on Panhala for the Route Recce

Me and Sushil were both wearing Lifecycle shirts. It was a grand entry with matching shirts, bikes and big pickup in tow with Lifecycle flex. What a site we must have been!! hahaha. Turned Heads!!. Recognized some friends from Pune; fellow cyclist who were participating as well. Then met the defending champions, a group of athletes from Karad (Team - Sangam Health Club). There were people from all over the place. Hyderabad, Delhi, Nagpur, Mumbai, Bangalore, etc.

Then we took our bikes for a short test run. And that's when calamity hit us. One of my gear shifter wasn't working. It had got damaged in transit. And getting a replacement of such an expensive part in a place like Kolhapur seemed impossible. We were very close to panic. We tried all we could to get it to work, but it was beyond repair. 

Called up a few contacts in Kolhapur and we were told to check out Parmale cycle stores , the biggest cycle store in town. They were also sponsors for the Rugged race. We reached there just before closing time. They did not have the shifter we wanted. But the owner was so kind that he took one out from a brand new cycle and fit it onto our bike. Just because we told him we were from Lifecycle!!( He also knew Sushil) Kolhapur people are awesome!! My cycle was all good in no time!!

Plans to have an early dinner and sleeping was out. It was 10 till we reached home. Had dinner and by the time we slept it was almost 11 pm. Not a good buildup to the race.

Continued...

Cheers