Desert 500 : Overcoming the Desert!!

As the hours passed the terrain started to roll up and down , the winds kicked in and the sun got back to its unforgiving self.  I was getting cranky and really mad at my crew. There I was,  at the start of the race thinking that I would finish it within 24 hours. Boy!! Was I wrong or what? Now it was more a question of survival.  I was so exhausted that each pedal stroke took a lot of effort. It was here that I started to think of quitting but I just couldn't accept that. So I had to dig deep inside to muster the courage and will to keep up a brutal 30 kmph average speed........

Another Ultra race under the belt! After 2 Deccan Cliffhangers and a RAAM crew experience, I thought I had seen it all. But the Desert 500 remarkably proved to be otherwise. I walked (hobbled) away with a lot to learn. Here’s a brief and exciting summary of the race!

The Desert 500

This race is organized by Delhi’s Velo Sportive group and has been conducted for 2 years now. My good friend Divya Tate recently joined their team I was looking forward to a well organised race.  The race had different categories of 50km, 100km, 250km, 500km and 684 km. The last one was advertised as a challenge and a qualifier for Race Across America (RAAM). With my eye on RAAM my priority was to do the longest distance on offer and also to bag my 3 rd RAAM qualification. The race was based in Jodhpur, Rajasthan. A very picturesque desert city. As the name suggests the race route was through the scorching Thar desert of Rajasthan. This was one challenge I was looking forward to conquering as racing in this heat would simulate the RAAM conditions found in Colorado and Arizona.

The Race

This race required me to have a crew to supply me with everything I need in the race. One of my sponsor and good friend Aniket Mahashabde of Cymour volunteered to be my crew chief and mechanic. Saniya Patil and Monish Deshmukh had both crewed for me in my DCs had returned to support me once more and one new addition was the energetic youngster Arham Shaikh. All 4 between them o now have 10 crewing/racing experiences. I without doubt can say that these guys are one of the most experienced crew in the country and I was lucky that they had my back.

Team Chai Before We left for Rajasthan. From Left - Aniket, Saniya, Chai, Monish and Arham 

Aniket had lent me his SUV for the race which was what I needed to carry my race gear all the way from Pune to Jodhpur. Aniket joined us in Jodhpur directly while the rest of us had a pretty amazing road trip. Especially north Gujarat and Rajasthan!! The roads were great and the countryside near the Aravallis was breath taking. We arrived in Jodhpur by evening and were settled in a comfortable Youth Hostel.

The Race Venue

A day before the race me and Arham assembled the bikes and got them ready to ride. We both headed out towards the race start point, to check the bikes and spin the legs to take out the travel stiffness. On the way back to the hostel I had an unfortunate crash. 24 hours before the race. I was distracted by my phone and did not notice a stone right in the middle of the main street.  Fortunately I was on my back up bike which did not sustain any damage. However my left calf and hand and thumb had bruises. I rode back home. They dint seem as major injuries. Although the bruises hurt a bit I was concerned about my thumb which had swollen up and had difficulty moving it. I could still hold my bike handle properly so there was no question of dropping out of the race.

Me and Arham going for the Test Run

At the Race Venue, just before I crashed. (Atleast I got the pose in)

Race Day –

After an uneasy night I woke up to a buzzing morning. My team were on top of the things, organizing food and logistics for the race. I even got a breakfast in bed. I chose to ride to the venue as I needed to check on my thumb. Bad news – I could barely use my left hand for anything other than holding onto the bike. Breaking and changing gears was painful. I knew it was going to be one painful race. I was one of the last riders to show up. Saniya had already reached ahead of me and done the formalities. Realizing I was the last to be flagged off with still 15 minutes in had, I went off for a warm up spin. I only realized they started the race when I saw Mayank Tripathi zooming off. I thought he was just warming up too but then came his crew car. So I sped back to reach just before Sumit Patil who was just ahead of me was getting flagged off. My poor crew were frantically looking for me.  Well not a perfect start but no harm done, all I had missed was a photo-shoot with my fellow competitors.  

At the Start Line

Arham Giving me a TT style start

The race started at 10 am when the sun was just getting warmed up and it was already 32®C. The max was predicted to go all the way upto 40®C and a minimum right down to a freezing 6®C. With my usual steady but brisk pace I head out into the desert. Soon catching up with Jagdish Italiya and Sumit Patil, both strong and proven riders. About 2 hours into the ride I realized I couldn't even use my left hand to receive my drinks and food from crew. Arham was risking his neck as he stood in middle of the road for the handover from my right side. Even though they were few and far between the bumps on the road hurt my thumb and I started taking my left hand off the handle every time I went over one. This one time I almost fell as I did not slow down enough. This reduced my average speed by a few decimals. Despite the issues I thought I was going pretty well and to the plan. The plan was to finish the race within 24 hours.

I had decided to try out a new strategy. Stopping after every 90 minutes to stretch my legs out. This actually kept me fresh on the bike and keep my speed up. The crew were brilliant in giving out the massages. As the day went on it got hotter and hotter. I usually do not have a problem with heat and can sustain it but the desert was getting very formidable. It threw heavy winds at me which kept changing directions. And these winds were hot as if coming right out of the owen. My crew were constantly on their toes trying to keep me hydrated and cool. I got water sprays almost every 5 minutes. I later learnt that my back was covered in the white salt deposits from the dried sweat. I was gulping almost a litre of water every hour along with gels and electrolytes. Around 3 pm the heat was getting to me. I was getting cranky and frustrated. By that time I had overtaken all the competition except for Rajnikant Yadav a naval athlete. Due to the heat and wind my average speed dropped and I panicked a bit, I put in more effort trying to stay at 30kmph without realizing that it was taking a big toll on me. An hour of this super effort drained a lot out of me and I had to stop and take a nap at around 5 pm. I only needed a 5 minute nap and I was back refreshed on the bike.

Passing Jagdish Italiya

It went on and on and on. 

Arham Spraying Water on my back 

Then started the chase for Rajnikant.  From 5 pm in the evening I was on his tail trying to catch him. Every turn I took I expected to see his crew car. As night fell every car I saw in the distance I thought it was him. I got into a mad obsession to catch him. That drove me into deep frustration as the kilometres kept piling up and still no chance of him. I was surprised as I did not think he would manage to hold me off for so long. Mind you I was going pretty fast and he still evaded me. The last time I had seen him in Deccan Cliffhanger in 2014 he couldn’t finish the race in time. This time he definitely surprised me. I had completely under estimated him.

The hours passed and so did the miles. The night in the desert started to get really cold. A complete contrast to the day. Thankfully the cycling was keeping me warm and I dint really feel any chill at first. As the turn around point came close at around 500 kms, my miserable mood started to get better as Rajni still hadn't passed me. I finally caught up to him right at the turn around point. It gave me a huge boost. I finally settled down mentally knowing that I can get my lead now. Wasting no time we turned around and in about 15 minutes I had come up to him. He was looking good, going off the saddle and hammering even after 500 odd kms. He was literally hammering away like  a guy on a final sprint. He even taunted me with some snide remarks. ** ( After clarification he had just said "Aja aja aja" - means come on in hindi. I took that as an insult when it was not intended to be. He was just encouraging me I got to know later) That did not provoke me at all and I still kept my calm as I pushed on with my steady pace. I steadily overtook him. But he did not let me go away easily. We kept passing each other for 5-6 times until I finally managed to shake him off with a calm and steady pace never pushing too much. I had put on a good 20 minutes lead on him. That’s when the cold of the night got to me. It was almost nearing dawn. The coldest part of the day. I have no idea what temperature it was but even the constant pedalling could not keep me warm. I put my jacket which only helped for while. The cold was lulling me to sleep. Couldn’t stay up, so I took another 5 minute nap. An uneasy but a much needed rest. Afraid that Rajni would pass me I awoke with a start in 5 and was back on the bike. This period was one of the toughest times I had. I was sleepy , I was tired and I was concerned that Rajni could pass me any time. Its true what they say – “it’s the darkest hour before the dawn”. Barely hanging on the bike I finally made it to dawn. Once the sun was up it started to get warmer and the sleep went away. I started to feel better and better. Also there wasn’t any sign of Rajni on my tail. Now however another problem arised. It was around 10 am. I had to do about 120 kms in 4 hours!! That meant I had to ride with an average of 30 kmph to just finish within the cut off time which was at 2 pm. Now if you ask me on a normal day I would say 120 in 4 hours is pretty darn tough even when you’re fresh but imagine you've already ridden almost non stop for 22 hours ; done 550 kms and now they tell you to go at 30 kmph. At first I was pretty confident as I felt good and mostly the terrain was flat. But I was wrong …

The Night Rider

As the hours passed the terrain started to roll up and down , the winds kicked in, the sun got back to its unforgiving self.  I was getting cranky and really mad at my crew. Here I was thinking at the start of the race that I would finish it within 24 hours. Boy!! Was I wrong or what? It was a question of survival.  I was so exhausted and each pedal stroke took a lot of effort. It was here I started to think of quitting but I just couldn't accept that. With that I had to dig deep inside me to keep up a brutal 30 kmph average speed.

It was getting harder and harder as the day got hotter and the terrain wasn't exactly flat. Soon it was down to 90kms in 3 hours then 62kms in 2 hours. During these last few hours I had become immensely focussed and with that came extra-ordinary performance. My body surprised me. I dint know I had it in me to dole out the 30 odd kmph speed. But I was doing it, It was hard and it was painful. The fear of reaching too late was enough to push me to the extremes of my limits. Limits I dint know I had. In the last hour I had to cycle another 30 kms. The enormity of that effort was causing a great strain, more emotionally or mentally rather than physical. I even passed and overtook some of the 500 km / 250 km category racers. Somewhere in that flurry I got a giant bee sting right on my chest. As if I needed any more pain. But in those few hours, everything had become blurry and all I could see was the finish line. Pedal Pedal Pedal. The crew kept feeding and hydrating me, I have no memory of that. Saniya even had a fall as one of the hand-outs went wrong.

Grumpy Chai 

The last half an hour I had 15 kms to go. I was pushing and averaging between 32-35 kmph trying to finish before time to keep some cushion. Teeth clenched, heart pounding , legs pumping , lungs exploding I went up the short climb which dint feel so short and zigzagged through trucks and cars as I reached the final few kilometres. As I took the turn off the highway to get to the finish line which was about 2 kms I only had 5 minutes left on the clock. It was here my crew tells me that they had lied to me and that I actually have 30 more minutes to go to the deadline. I was so angry at them but I knew they had pushed me to my limits to get me across on time. I even yelled at the media vehicle that started filming as I approached the finish. Songs blaring, people cheering, cameras rolling I crossed the line with 20 minutes to save.

To come out of that state of utter focus and pushing myself to the brink I was overwhelmed by all the emotions that came flooding out. The relief, exhaustion, happiness, frustration and anger all at once. I could not contain it. Thanks for my crew who helped me bury my (awfully dirty) face in some towels and shoulders. I was saved from too much embarrassment.  I did manage to cycle further from the finish line to the venue to collect my medal and pose for the pictures. The crew soon whisked me away to the hotel where I just passed out on the floor without even bothering to clean up. I had officially finished first and completed the Desert 500 race – 700 kms in 27 hours 40 minutes.

Strava Logs -

 Click Here For Part I

 Click Here For Part II

Later I came to know that Rajni had managed to finish half an hour after me, about 10 minutes after the cut off. He was still later announced as an official finisher owing to the fact that we had to cycle close to 700 kms rather than the announced 684 kms. A tremendous effort from him and his crew.

To conclude I would like to say that this was by far the most difficult undertaking of my entire life. Never before I had pushed myself to the brinks of a mental breakdown. I came out of it surprised that my body could actually handle these extreme conditions. It was actually my own mind that was limiting the body to function at its most potential. With that in mind I have started to train myself for my ultimate dream Race Across America (Target – 2017) and the Zurich Ironman (July 2016).

                                       WATCH THE DESERT 500 MOVIE MADE BY ME

*** For Raw Footage check out my youtube channel -
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCA-lEZftCqSTM9F_iv45SOQ

Winning the D 500 was worth more than that Voucher and Medal

On the Stage with crew and fellow riders

Lastly even though I train myself to make the weapon I am, all this wouldn't have been possible without my crew – Saniya, Arham, Monish and Aniket. They all performed beyond expectations to keep me safe and to push me to my limits. The man behind all this who’s responsible to making me a cycling machine Michael Lehnig, my coach. Also a big thanks to my sponsors – Multifit and Cymour who have believed in me and supported me in my crazy endeavours. Also my family and countless other folks who have supported me, cheered me on – I can’t thank you all enough.