The Deccan Cliffhanger - Inching towards RAAM

 It was an hour past midnight, temperatures hovering around 3-4 degrees, fog everywhere, road covered with dense vegetation on both side, zero visibility , I was hallucinating, felt like someone was watching me from the bushes.......I was angry, I was frustrated, I was tired, I kept pushing on and on but still the climb did not relent.  It took me more than 2 hours to cover those 30 odd kms. I barely made it to the top without stopping as I knew I would give up if I stopped. This battle to the top had left me bruised, battered and bloody (mentally) but it was for the good as I knew I had crossed onto and survived a whole new level of pain and torture. A very surreal experience. 

Prologue - 

Even after winning the race everyone just had one question for me, "what made you do that?" I believe this is a question that many endurance athletes get. Now why would a person cycle 640 odd kms across mountains and forests?? The decision to do the Deccan Cliffhanger (DC) was made about 10 months back when I crewed for the cycling maestro Prashant Tidke. I had heard about RAAM from Divya Tate (Race director of DC) when she went to support a rider there. Being an endurance athlete it immediately caught my fancy and I began dreaming of doing RAAM one day.

The Race Across America or RAAM is a coast to coast race running from west to east coast and with a route length of 3000 miles i.e. 4800 kms. This distance is to be completed in 12 days to be qualified as a RAAM finishers. I started reading about past races and athletes who had completed such a gruelling journey. With every article and with every video the race seemed to get harder and harder. It seemed like a place in never-land, too unreal. Then when I actually crewed for Prashant ( I couldn't cycle because I was recovering from a broken wrist) I saw that even doing 643 kms is tough let alone 4800kms!!! When I was just giving up on the idea of doing RAAM, I met Shusannah!! The winner of the first DC. She set a blistering record for RAAM Qualifiers in India. I was inspired when I talked to Shu and her determination for RAAM. That was the time I decided I want to attempt the next DC at least.

The Preparation -

Like some previous races of mine this wasn't a last minute descion. The prep started 3 months before hand. I knew what I was getting into. I had planned every aspect of the race down to detail. I gave up on junk food and alcohol. My awesome friend and colleague Ketaki Khare helped out with my nutritional supplements with some tips for on bike nutrition from Shu.

 The rigorous training plan designed by Mikey my coach made sure my ass and legs remained sore for 2.8 months before the race. I had to sacrifice on my social life with heavy cut downs on late nights. I was training atleast 3-4 hours on weekdays and 4-5 hours on weekends. Along with this I was also spinning at Multifit as well as working on my core strength.

Despite my best efforts to plan everything before the race. I still had to run around the day before the race to get the support car and drive it down for the inspection. Managed to scrape by with the usual last minute "jugaad". It was Saniya who helped out with the last minute shopping and packing.

The Race -

The race started on the cold hours of 29th November. Woke up after a minimal 5 hour sleep filled with nervousness and butterflies. But as soon as I got to the start I felt better and I knew I was going to kill this one. The racers were flagged off within 2 minute intervals. I was flagged off last with only the team category behind me. My nerves were on fire as I approached the start line. Someone was yelling that Im gonna win it, and someone piped "you are looking at the winner". Pressure rocketed so I cracked some jokes to calm myself down. Then it started, I went on a steady pace, easy gear - high spin to warm myself up in the morning chill.  The first bit of drama struck early when I almost got hit by a truck when joining the Highway from Chandani Chowk, as I saw that a marshal was stopping the traffic to let me go, but he failed to stop the truck. It was a near miss.

When it all started!!

5 kms further I passed a racer on a shiny expensive looking Colnago with an Audi as his follow vehicle. The lad had stopped cycling as he was frost bitten in Pune's (hardly) chilly hills ( and I was scared that this guy might be good). As I trudged up the ghat I saw a bright blue blur in the distance bouncing up and down, shouting and cheering. My first thought that it was Luda come down to cheer me, but as I came close it was Mikey going crazy!! That got a big grin on me as I pushed on. I was cruising at a brisk 35-40 kmph with ease, all systems green, passing the slower riders one after the other. But then about 50 kms from Pune I got a flat in my rear and my crew were no where near me. Had to wait about 15 minutes till they came after their tea break. Started on Sushil's bike till they fixed it. But the change in the bike was disastrous to the body. My hamstrings and knees started to hurt. My moral was going down and I could not maintain speed. The Khambatki climb was fast approaching and I was worried that wont be able to make up the hill with my legs hurting like lungs under water. But then my crew got my bike ready and within 2 kms I was back to normal, all systems green. Getting back on my lovely Cannondale (I call her Missy) was refreshing and I started hammering down the highway with ease. Climbing Khambatki was a breeze and it was nice to watch the bewildering looks on car drivers when I passed them. Soon I was facing the big-ass Pasarni climb all the way up to Mahableshwar. I was still pacing  myself, never going above 75% max HR, even with that I was going too fast for a rider who tried to keep up with me. Soon enough there were only three  of the total 13 riders ahead of me. I knew they were gonna be my main competition which included the likes of Sumit Patil (previous RAAM qualifier, attempted RAAM in 2013), Maj. Shrinivas Gokulnath of the Indian Army (Limca Record holder for fastest ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari) and my own very good friend and team mate Apurv Verma (Super Rando, 1000 Man, the Havoc). Yes I had studied everyone of my opponents. I soon caught up to Sumit who was looking jacked and you could see that the climb had killed him. That was another rider out of the way for me.

Going steady on Pasarni

I was the third rider to reach Mahableshwar control. About 5 km after that I made my first halt. It was for barely 3 mins, to stretch out my legs and back after the climb. Then started the 12km long, beautiful downhill through the jungles of Jawli. I was cautious and wary as this was where my good friend Hiren Patel crashed in the first DC. Despite my caution I almost crashed into another car as I went too fast into a turn and couldn't brake in time. Fortunately the car was slow and I avoided a collision. As soon as I reached the flats I put my head down on the aero bars and started hammering again, finally crossing Apurv on the outskirts of Satara and Shrinivas too within another 2 kms. That was the last I saw of them. All that training was paying off as I sped down south with an average of 35 kmph without being tired. My awesome crew bought me the famous Lassi from Varna nagar dairy. My friend Kshitij  from Karad, bought me oranges which I needed. Everything was going better than expected as I was the first to reach the 2nd control at Sai International Hotel. Did not even stop here, I zoomed past towns after towns. Kolhapur went by in a flurry and so did Belgaum. My crew told me that I had done 400 kms in 12-13 hours. I was surprised that I did not feel like I had 400 under me already, I was feeling fresh and super throughout. Not an inch of fatigue in me.

Hammering Past Kolhapur at sunset

As I crossed Belgaum I neared the spot where I had the most horrible bone crunching, skin tearing crash of my cycling career on 10th Janury this year. Even if I was physically fine I was feeling scared and and had to fight it out to get over the mental block. It was night, the stretch from Belgaum to Kittur (turn around point) was 40 kms. This stretch was one of the toughest in the race, with steep rolling terrain. The progress was slow, was fighting hard to maintain a minimum of 20 - 25 kmph. It was in this stretch that I fought my demons of being scared of night riding and crashing. Kittur never seemed to get near. Hours passed and still Kittur remained out of reach. I was scared that either Apurv or Shrinivas might pass me any time. That kept me going. Finally managed to reach Kittur by 11.30 pm, it gave me heart that I dint have any more tough stretches left. A 2 minute halt at the control and off I went back towards Belgaum. I kept an eye out for other riders on the way back, and soon enough saw Apurv who was now 40 minutes behind me. The way back to Belgaum was completely different I was more confident and faster. Reached the control in Belgaum in under 1.5 hours. This was where things started to go wrong for me. I had prepared a mental map of the route, and it looked all downhill from Belgaum into Goa via the Chorla ghat. What I hadn't taken into account was that there was a 28 km uphill section before a big downhill into Goa. That uphill was a never ending road for me, it kept going up and up forever when I was expecting it to go down. 

The climb almost broke me mentally. It was trying to kill me and I was trying to stay alive. It kept throwing steep kickbacks at me as I tried staying on my cycle and keep climbing. It was an hour past midnight, temperatures hovering around 3-4 degrees, fog everywhere, road covered with dense vegetation on both side, zero visibility , I was hallucinating, felt like someone was watching me from the bushes.At first I tried to muscle my way up the slopes but as they kept coming I switched to lighter gears and higher cadence, but even that failed as the climb seemed unending and even my cadence dropped on granny gears (the easiest gear combo). I was angry, I was frustrated, I was tired, I kept pushing on and on but still the climb did not relent.  It took me more than 2 hours to cover those 30 odd kms. I barely made it to the top without stopping as I knew I would give up if I stopped. This battle to the top had left me bruised, battered and bloody (mentally) but it was for the good as I knew I had crossed onto and survived a whole new level of pain and torture. It was a very surreal experience. 

The downhill started as soon as I reached the top. The cold and fog made it a really scary descent. I was wearing 4 layers on me!! The long descent into the darkness was lulling me to sleep. A blast of overwhelming sleep hit me and I was literally holding my eyes open!! Went through all the stock of caffeine that we had in the car, but the affect did not last very long. It was about 4 am in the morning!! Goa border was barely 20 km downhill but I could hardly ride straight. The going was getting very tough. Its true what they say, its the darkest before the dawn and dark it was, unable to ride any longer, I finally stopped with hardly 80 kms left to go. Overwhelmed with sleep and mental strain of the climb I got into the car and took a 5 minute nap filled with nervousness. I was scared that I was going to lose my lead. I woke up with a start in exactly 5 minutes and that worked like magic. I felt fresh and ready to take on the rest of the ride. Reached safely down into Goa to see the beautiful sun rising over the Goan backwaters and palms. It was a relief reaching Goa, but little did I know the road ahead of me. It was filled with steep rolling terrain which drained me from whatever energy that was left in me. The last 40 km stretch seemed never ending. I could barely manage an average speed of 20 kmph. I kept looking over my shoulder as I thought that Apurv was going to come chugging behind me. As I surpassed 24 hours I had to move my completion target to 25 hours which then went to 26 and still the finish dint seem to come. When it seemed that it was never going to come and I almost asked Nachiket to call up Divya and ask her where the hell was the finish till I saw the ever so beautiful bald and shiny head of Farhad sitting in the road divider waiting for me. Then as I rounded the corner I saw the rest of the gang all waiting for me!! Crossing the finish was a big relief but more so emotional, tears were welling up but managed to control it as my crew ran in and gave me a big hug. Never felt more satisfied with myself. It was a job well done for me. 

Downhill into Goa

My Silhouette captured against the Goan Sun

With the Crew after the Finish!! Yes I was still standing. 

Crossing the line

The race was covered in 7-8 regional and national papers

A big thanks to my crew of Sushil Dhende, Nachiket Joshi and Saniya Patil for helping me complete the race. Without these wonderful people I would never have reached Goa. Thanks to Michael for coaching me, Divya and Captain for mentoring me and to all my team mates for the constant motivation to train. Deeply indebted to Team Lifecycle Racing and Multifit for sponsoring me. 

Cheers

BBCh 100km Nandi Road Race; TLCR Paints Nandi Green!!!

Team Lifecycle Racing, Pune’s only cycle racing team did another clean sweep in the Bangalore based Bangalore Bicycle Championship (BBCh) race series. This time the team raced the most prestigious and heavily competed Nandi Epic 100 km race. The team took away all the first four podium places in category 2 with Michael Lehnig taking the first and then after Siddhartha Gadekar, Nakul Singh and Nachiket Joshi filling up the podium respectively.

The Nandi epic is a 100 km race starting to the north of Bangalore near the airport. The route goes all out towards Hyderabad for about 40 kms and then back the same way till a right turn for a steep finish at the renowned Nandi temple situated on a hill at a height of about 1500 meters from mean sea level. The boys were all keen to take on this bull of a climb which the locals dub it as a very tough climb with some comparisons to Pune's kickass Lavasa climb.

(http://www.strava.com/activities/154158795 - Strava Race Profile)

Actual Race Route logged on Strava 

Nandi Hill covered in the clouds captured by Chenthil Mohan

The Hairpins of Nandi by Chenthil Mohan

The racing field of BBCh is divided into 2 main categories, Category I and II. A time trial (TT) is carried out at the start of every season and the fastest 40% riders go into Cat I and the rest go into Cat II including those of us who missed the TT. But there's an automatic upgrade into Cat I if the same Cat II rider gets on the podium twice. With only 2 races under our belt, there are already 2 TLCR riders qualified to compete with the big boys of Cat I (Nachi and Micheal) with Sid and Nakul already halfway there with one podium places each. It wont be long before the whole team will be competing in Cat I which had been the teams primary goal. 

The Race -

Part I

The race day weather couldn't be more perfect; overcast to hide the Sun's sting and a cool morning breeze. More than a hundred riders had showed up in their colourful race garb at the race HQ. I hadnt seen so many riders since my first road race, (the Bombay- Pune). We had reached the start well in advance to have enough time to fix flats, click team photos, collecting bib numbers, warm up our legs, excrete out excess water that we had been drinking since 48 hrs except for Nakul who was peeing 2 seconds before the start whistle. Nachi even got some socialising done. 

Team Lifecycle Racing all geared up to race. Pic - Raghvendra Mohan

The race started with a "mass start" i.e all category riders started together. Mind you we were going to be on the highway for almost 80% of the race route. The traffic was light but was still there, and with a 100 odd cyclists going together even the three lanes were not sufficient. Soon a line of trucks and cars formed behind the peloton which was cruising at an easy 40 kmph. Despite this easy pace some of our TLCR riders were having issues. Sushil had a flat within the first 15kms and quit the race. Sid suffered a chain-fall twice and had to break a lung each time to catch the peloton (which was not easy with the heavy cross winds). From my point of view when Sid had his first chain slip, it looked as if it broke so I thought he was out of the race and nothing I could do to help him. So I dint bother to stop for him. It was not until an hour later that I saw him back in the peloton. Apart from this most of the TLCR riders did not have any trouble till the peloton reached the turn around point even with the certain surges caused by attacks from SKCT and Firefox riders. Wary of peloton crashes in my previous races I was able to stay at the head of the peloton away from any crashes, just behind the leading SKCT/Firefox/Wheelsport riders who were driving the pace. 

Riders Taking Up the major chunk of the Highway. Pics by Raghvendra Mohan

Drama at the turnaround point  - 

The turn around point was kept at a distance of 45 kms from the start, however the peloton made its own way and made a U - turn 5 kms too soon thanks to a miscommunication from a race marshal who was signaling a pothole hazard. With the peloton taking a very fast U turn and then riders attacking at the front it was too late, rather impossible for the marshals to stop the riders. Even I was confused as my odometer said only 40 kms odd had been underway. But I dint let that confusion get in the way, I surged ahead with the peloton and caught up with the attack along with Mike, Sid, Nakul, Nachi and Aunsh from TLCR. The rest of our riders got dropped here. PT had a slip here due to some bad turning. Rohit as I was told later crashed somewhere on a speed-bump just before the turn. 

Part II

After the turn around things were heating up like crazy. There was to be no respite. Attack after attack caused a surge so intense that the peloton which had a 100 odd riders was now split into a long line of scattered cyclists, many riding alone into the wind desperately trying to get into the bunch. A fierce attack by one of the Trek-Firefox riders caused a two man breakaway. The bunch after that contained about 10 riders including Michael, Sid and Nakul. I had a vicious cramp when the speed surged, so I couldnt stay with this chasing group but settled down to the third group containing me, Nachi and Aunsh. Other TLCR riders could not be seen. Even cruising with this bunch was getting difficult for me, both my calves were cramping severely every time I tried to hammer. So I had to settle and just survive the race, however even that was getting difficult. There was a sudden attack and I could not bridge the gap and soon found myself getting dropped by even the third bunch. The distance between me and the bunch went to about 100 meters and I knew things were not looking good for me at all. The race just took a turn for the worst for me when a female rider actually caught up to me and settled on my wheel. I just could not believe it!! This female was holding up with me even when I was hammering at 40kmph to get back into the bunch. That was the motivation I needed to get back into the game. Legs screaming I stood up and gave everything I had and this is what it took to get me back into the third bunch, finally shaking off the female rider. I found out later that the female was one Vicki Nicholson a 50 plus rider from Bangalore who finished first in her category by slamming her closest opponent by a whopping 28 minutes (Earned Respect and a fan, Vicki, if you read this). 

Back to the race, I had now managed to get back into the bunch which had 2 of my team mates (Nachi and Aunsh). By now only about 2-3 kms remained until the race turned off the highway towards the Nandi Hill. I thought it'd be easy going now, but another cramp and I slipped from the group. This time I could not catch up to them again. I just about managed to keep them in sight. But even that became difficult once we turned into Nandi. After the turn I started to feel good, the cramps stopped and I went into a real high cadence spinning. I soon hit the twisting uphill road of Nandi and crossed many riders who could not handle the climb. This gave me heart and energy to hammer up with more speed. I wasn't even going all out and still crossing riders left and right. Soon enough I caught up to Aunsh who looked broken and was struggling to remain on his cycle. I could have overtook him and finished 2-3 minutes earlier but I knew Aunsh had a better chance to the podium. So I took him on my wheel and shouted encouragements. Boy did that work!! The transformation in the 15 year old boy was magical. He found his legs and started going for glory. We crossed the finish together. I just collapsed after the line as the cramps took over of my calves again. 

Aunsh (in green)  on the Under 18 Podium

Cat II Podium Painted Green!!!

(Click here for ---> Official race Result)

The pain of losing soon overtook from the cramps. With all the hardwork and training I could not perform better due to silly muscle cramps. Going home without anything to show for very very disappointing for me. However, this pain was soon masked as I learnt that TLCR had got all the first 4 positions on the Cat II podium and Aunsh making it to second position in under 18 Cat. I finished 6th in Cat II and 22nd overall. PT finished fifth in the masters category, meanwhile the rest of the TLCR riders finished within the 4.5 hour cut off time.

 Despite the loss I came back with very invaluable race experience, a weakness that I need to work on and the success of the team. We had definitely made an impact in Bangalore. A big thanks to all our sponsors - Lifecycle Mall, On the Run bars, Uberactive Ventures and to all the supporters mainly Sunil Chatekar, Neha Lehnig and Priyanka Dhende who came all the way to Bangalore for helping us race. Also deep gratitude to AC and Michael for helping us train the right way and motivating us. Last of all a big THANK YOU from the team to Nachiket Joshi without whom this wouldnt have been possible. 

Cheers. 

BBCh Twilight Criterium - Wet and Cornered

About 2 months ago some of Pune's best road bikers finally came together and started training together. Sid and I were trying to get this started since a year. At the core of the group was Sid, me, Nakul, Apurv and Mahesh. The training rides were sparked by the use of the app strava. The chance of getting on the leader boards and being the KOM motivated everyone to get up and train. And before we knew, the rides have became a habit. Everyone showed tremendous improvements in their cycling. I always knew Nakul and Mahesh as a fairly average weekend riders, but when I actually rode with them, I was baffled at their tremendous improvement.

 We were joined by the youngsters like Aunsh and Rohit, Michael the awesome triathlete  from Germany as well the veteran PT. And soon enough we were raging all over Pune and its outskirts on our shiny new roadies. Then as you'd expect with testosterone high males, we started our own "pirate racing". The friendly competition provided another huge boost for everyone to train and improve themselves. We were doing so good that we even managed to awaken the long dead cyclist in Nachiket. He too started training with us, and with hardly any miles under him he went on to grab a podium at Bangalore Bicycle Championship ( BBCh) . It was he who proposed that the whole group should take it up a notch and go down to Bangalore for the Criterium held on 17th May 2014. 

After The First Pirate Race

The criterium or crit is a race held on a small closed road circuit which is usually flat. And the race is run by time and not by distance or laps. The Cat II race lasted for 45 minutes with riders doing multiple laps of  Bhartiya city circuit of 1.4 kms each.

With hardly 2 weeks in hand, we started our interval training for the Crit. These hardcore sessions were very consuming on the body. An hour of interval training in the morning guaranteed that I slept in office. The week before the race was spent on total resting, I used the bike only for commuting. Everyone was nervous and anxious for the race. On the Thursday before the race, we got Vinoo Chari's awesome pickup to transport the bikes. We managed to fit in 5 bikes on it and the rest 3 went on Mahesh's Polo. Thursday evening and night was spent in wrapping and loading the bike, which was a very stressful and tedious and thanks to Sunil, AC  and the LC staff who helped with it. AC gave a tactical briefing which as always proved invaluable for us. 

Bikes Getting Packed for the 900 km journey

The road trip to Bangaluru was awesome as you'd expect from a bunch of young men. Everyone we passed on the way gave us bewildered looks. You dont see a pick up carrying shiny bikes everyday. Gotta love Vinoo's car for that.  With hardly 5-6 stops we reached the southern city by 8 pm. Thanks to Brijesh Nair we had an apartment to stay in Bangalore, but Nacho failed to mention it was unfurnished, so the boys had to stay and sleep like animals. Saturday i.e the race day started a bit late. I had spent the night comfortably at my grandparents house. Met the boys hogging on a carb laden breakfast of idlis and dosas. Then back to pillion and rest till noon. It was also the birthday of Apurv "the Hulk" Verma, so the age old ceremony of cake smattering on the face was carried out. 
 The Bhartiya City circuit was at the other end of town, it took us 2 hours to reach the place. Barely 2 hours before the flag-off. It took us almost an hours to assemble the bikes. We hardly got any time for warming up. Someone had took down my saddle and since its height wasn't marked I could not get the saddle height to perfection and had to race in an uncomfortable position.  

Road Trips aren't complete with group pics at every stop

The Race - 

The race began on time despite the rain gods showing up to watch the race bringing along heavy winds and water. It was going to be a wet race, a big concern while cornering. Once the under 18 and women finished their race the cat 2 riders took to the line. We were just about to start when I hear a shout to stop the countdown. It was Mahesh who was struggling to zip up his jersey over his one mile broad chest. In his efforts he broke the chain and was momentarily shirtless till Aunsh got him a replacement. In that moment we could hear whistles, shouting and even a woman cheering him to race topless. Poor Mahesh was red with embarrassment. However it dint last more than 2 minutes and we were soon on our way. 

Being Salman!!!

 The wet roads proved to be a downfall for all the inexperienced riders including me. There were shouts and skids even as the peloton reached the very first corner of the race. It was here that my leader Sid fell behind, so I fell back to get him back into the bunch. I did manage that but in the process sacrificed my own race, as I couldn't stay with the bunch after riding in the wind. My cornering improved with every corner I took, but it was too late as I was first amongst the team to get lapped. It just wasn't my day, I tried hard to get back but the wet corners, improper saddle height  got me out of the race. By that time the peloton had split up into a long trail of struggling cyclists. Only 4 cyclists remained in the front bunch of which 2 were from TLCR viz Nachi and Michael. It was heartening to see them controlling the race. The rest of the boys were scattered all along. Sid who struggled with the corners was the second to get lapped behind him came Apurv. 

Mahesh had surprisingly held himself till the last 5 minutes until he too got lapped. Now only 7 people remained in the whole race. Sushil and Nakul from TLCR were now working together to remain in the race and they did just that by finishing 6th and 7th. In the last 2-3 laps Mike and Nachi broke away from Opendro Singh (Team Cleated Warriors) to comfortably seal the 1st and 2nd positions respectively for Team Lifecycle Racing. 

Mike and Nachi Finishing like the Bosses they are

The Boss and the Captain!!!!

Podium Dominated

The whole team before the Race start

Making a splash : The Race was covered in detail by the Pune edition of Indian Express

Tidke ka Tadka!!! -------- The Deccan Ribhanger!!!

Whoever invented the words impossible, quitting, giving up, etc has clearly not met Prashant “the Missile” Tidke. What he did on the 22^nd of February is a feat you don’t get to see every day. I was one of the three lucky crew members to be with him when he did this. It’s overwhelming to see ordinary humans doing extra ordinary things. You read it right; he is still just a human being. I have known him for just two years now and I’m already writing about him. This is the story of a man overcoming great pain with his sheer will power to not just complete a race but also to compete in it. Unlike my usual tales from the saddle, this is a story from the car seat.  

The Crew (from left- me, Sushil, Roopesh)

Prashant Tidke aka PT took up cycling fairly recently and has already accomplished so much. In his youth (which seems never ending) PT was a long distance runner, which I think set him up nicely as a cyclist. He’s a reigning champion of Pune, winning the PBCh two times in a row, he has won the Sabarmati cyclothon, rugged sahyadri to name a few. Anyways he’s hardly a man who needs introduction. I’ll just get started. 

WEEK BEFORE THE RACE

The Deccan Cliffhanger is a 640 km cycle race from Pune to Goa. It was held for the first time on 22^nd February by our favorite Divya Tate. I was personally planning to do this myself until a crash broke my wrist in January (I’ll be writing about it shortly). By the second week of February  it was clear that I wasn’t going to race due to my cracked radius so I notified Divya that I’d be crewing.  PT did not call me until one week before the race. Only when I put up a post on fb intending to crew for anyone; did he ask me to crew. Had little choice but to decline other requests as crewing for my LIFECYCLE RACING teammate was a priority (as ordered by Mr. Boss Nachiket Joshi). I was craving for some action since almost 2 months of fracture induced boredom, thus crewing looked awesome. I had to arrange for 2 other crew members and Sushil Dhende was my first choice to help with all the mechanicals and Rupesh Pate to help drive the car. I met PT on Monday the 17^th to discuss our prep and make a checklist. It was then he told me that he would be going to Sinhagad on Thursday. I immediately thought it was a bad idea. I also told him not to do it. And we all know what happened on Thursday, he broke his 3^rd and 4^th ribs on his way down from Sinhagad. Everyone, including me thought that PT was out of the race.  He got it checked and said the docs have cleared him and that he’s still going to do the race which I honestly at first thought was crazy. We all tried to put sense into him by talking him out of it. On Thursday afternoon he tells me that it’s hurting too much and he’s dropping out. I immediately called Divya and asked if I can crew for anyone else. So by Thursday night I finalize to crew for Gyanendra, a rider from Gujrat. Then on Friday morning PT calls me and says he’s going to go for it, come what may. Apparently it was Captain’s last minute advice telling him to race that made him do it. I couldn’t comprehend that, why would Cap would let him ride when he clearly isn’t fit enough. Setting my doubts aside I told PT that I’m 100% behind him and would support him and be ready for any eventuality. So on Friday afternoon me and Sushil start running everywhere to complete our checklist. I was preparing the car and all ride requirements till Friday midnight. Honestly I was stressed and cursing PT on why he had to break his ribs at the eleventh hour. Couldn’t even get any sleep that night nor did Sushil or PT himself. 

RACE DAY

After hardly an hour of sleep, I went to Sushil’s place at 4 am; pick him up and his cycle which served as a backup in case PT’s breaks down. Then picked up Rupesh, who as always is late (typical Pate). PT has already reached before us. We do the pre race formalities and at exactly 5.45 am we are off. I’ve been watching PT ride for two years now and it was clear that he wasn’t comfortable nor in his best shape. The early morning pace was way below par than his normal capacity. Many riders and their cars overtook us in the first 20-30 kilometers. It dint look good to see PT being overtaken. He dint look worried though. He said he’d catch everyone on the Pasarni climb (Mahableshwar) and he did just that exactly. It was a splendid sight to finally see him in his usual ‘high gear’ hammering style on the ghat. The promise of strawberries and cream at the top only increased his speed. He dropped everyone on that climb, even Kartik who was leading the men’s pack.

PT reached the control at 10.58 and moved straight onwards. We stopped at the top of the climb for PT’s strawberry break.

PT's Strawberry break

After that it was a great big downhill. On the way down we saw Hiren all battered, bruised and bloody. There was only one pothole on that downhill and Hiren was just unfortunate to fall because of it. His wounds looked real nasty, we couldn’t stop as PT was going fast and strong. The next section was a 30 km flat rolling terrain towards Satara. PT had slowed down to due to the heat of the afternoon sun. There were some sections where there was no road at all!! I gave him his first gel here, and boy it did wonders on him. By 1 pm we were outside Satara. We had raced ahead and arranged lunch for PT there. The lunch took about 20 minutes. He was overtaken by 2 riders at this point. After this he rode nonstop to Sai International Hotel to be second only to Shu, reaching there by 5.05 pm. He had covered 276 km in about 11 hours. At Sai, me and Sushil helped change his Kinesio taping to the ribs. It was apparent that he was in pain, without the relaxing effects of the tape (these tapes are very effective and I recommend for all the athletes out there). 

PT at the finish (note the Kinesio tape)

The rider and the crew both refreshed themselves with chilled glass of lassi. We were on our way after half an hour break. Soon it was dark and PT still wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down, he was easily cruising at 25-30 kmph, but the toll of the broken bones and pain killers was showing as few riders overtook him in this section (from Sai to the next controle near Nipani at 354 km mark). We reached Nipani controle by about 2100 hours, so a total of 354 kms in 14.5 hours. To reach this controle the riders had to climb the Tawandi ghat, which has a easy gradient of 3-4% and a max elevation of just 700 m, but after riding against the headwinds in the flats after Kolhapur this climb can get pretty imposing especially in the dark of the night. It was my idea to make Sushil run alongside PT when he was looking down and tired. Sushil ran along with him till almost half way through the climb, seeing and talking with Sushil seemed to have done the trick. The next half of the climb was under the belt in no time.

                       Sushil running with PT on the Tavandi ghat

                       Perfect handover skills of Lifecycle Crew

PT had a quick nap at this control while the crew had their dinner. We pushed off from this point at about 2200 hours. At this point PT had fallen way behind the race leaders. It was here the ‘Bald and the Beautiful’ team caught up to him. The pain killers were starting to really screw up PT at this point. He was starting to have acidity issues which we managed to keep at bay using heaps of gelucil antacids.

Roadside Bed

The roads in Karnataka were just beautiful but lonely. After reaching Belgaon PT wanted to have a quick nap, but there were no dhabas so we made a roadside bed for him. On the way to Dharwad, there were many moments of fun when Divya overtook PT who was now struggling to maintain 25 kmph. It was on this stretch that PT caught up with Gyanendra and what followed was hilarious; when PT was overtaking Gyan he tried to talk to him, apparently he dint say anything to PT and ignored him. This enraged PT and he attacked Gyan till he dropped way behind him. When we got to speak to PT at Dharwad control he said “Tyane mala olakh dahikvli nahi, mhanun me tyala kadhla” (He ignored me, hence I attacked him). We couldn’t stop laughing in the car, but also we couldn’t help but admire the determination of this man. He just would’nt give up.   By about 0500 hours next day he was pretty much drained out.  I told him to get some more rest, so we all slept for about half an hour on the roadside. After this the ride for PT got worse. The painkillers did a number on him. He was suffering from extreme acidity and puking out every time we stopped. He couldn’t even hold down water. This slowed him down considerably, but we were still very much in time. 

Divya Overtaking PT

Driving like this all the time

 The rest of the ride till we reached outskirts of Goa was slow but beautiful. The jungles of Anshi were a refreshing change from the dull plains of the highway. However the progress was very slow due to some very bad roads. The descent into Goa provided breathtaking scenery along with much needed increase in pace. PT upon hearing that it was only 30 kms to the finish increased his speed. He soon caught up with other younger riders. The last 20 kms were very exciting to watch. PT kept attacking everyone on the climbs but got a bit slow on the flats. Every time we cheered him from the car he used to go a bit faster. It was nice to see him overtake Gyan, Hitendra Mahajan and even come close to Mahendra Mahajan. Although, they finished within minutes of each other. The finish provided a huge sense of achievement and I was so happy and overwhelmed I went yelling and hugged PT!! No one would have believed he would do it until he actually did it. He completed the last stretch through sheer will power and never quit attitude.  Prashant Tidke you have earned my respect and admiration for a lifetime. Hope you keep on riding and motivate others to ride like you.

Lifecycle Racing Team at the finish

The overall crewing experience was amazing. Got to learn a lot, especially after the detailed conversations with Shusannah. Although the idea of sitting in car for 30 hours straight without sleep with 2 other grown men seems daunting; I will always cherish this experience. There were plenty of issues. Since the crew were tired and sleep deprived we had our own moments of disagreements. Thankfully these situations never got out of hand, which is possible only when you have the right people with you. To all the riders out there I’d like to tell you one thing, choosing the right crew is very important to your race, regardless of how strong you are. They have to be extremely patient, understanding and resourceful beyond limit.

I could not decide between the two titles, hence I put them both. Also I have to mention the help provided by Akash Koregonkar (Our go-to guy in Kolhapur) by helping us restocking our Redbulls and priority service at his petrol pump. Thanks a ton Akash. And as always I am very thankful to Nachiket Joshi for sponsoring us and Ashok Captain for teaching us everything we know about cycling.

Cheers