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