Whoever invented the words
impossible, quitting, giving up, etc has clearly not met Prashant “the Missile”
Tidke. What he did on the 22nd 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 22nd
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 17th 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
3rd and 4th 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.
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.
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 |
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