Cycling: Power unleashed at the Nandi race

The masters podium with ( left to right) Andre, Giogio, Arvind Bhateja and Ankush Sharma

Most people spend their entire lives just existing and then once in a blue moon if you are lucky, you meet a person or two who shows you how to live. This weekend just gone by, I witnessed and met some phenomenal people who were entirely in their element and who displayed raw passion, pure power and mad energy. As I go back and think about the race, I almost immediately get goosebumps.

Allright then, lets rewind a bit and get back to the start. So we all know that my brother Ankush has been bitten by the cycling bug. He has only recently come back from a 1200 odd Km cycling tour and is all revved up and pumped about cycling. He has also recently purchased a full carbon bike and has been raring to go on that mean machine. He was looking for an occasion to bring out his brand new Focus and break her in.

Now, the Nandi race is a 100k race that all the top cyclists around the country train for through the year. This is a combination event much like a Full Marathon in running. It is tough, and an endurance cum speed race with a 6% gradient climb of the Nandibetta at the last 7.5K. This race demands mastery over all three skills, speed riding, endurance to hold an average pace of 38kmph over the entire distance to hang in with the peloton and finally, strength to be able to climb the final 7k which entails a 400m elevation up the Nandibetta. In order to reign supreme in this race, you need to be superfit, strong and in peak shape. This race is definitely not for the faint-hearted. It is tight, fast and exciting. Don’t take my word for it – come and watch it next year.

So, come race day – I had a decision to make for myself. We were going all the way to Nandi – I could always get a hill training session in or alternatively, I could choose to volunteer, watch the entire race up close and personal, take photographs and watch how strategy, pacing and team work happens in a race like this one. I was all set in my running gear when last minute I decided, sometimes its better to just watch and learn. So, quick change into casuals, got the camera out and away we went.

The start point and rider holding area was just a Kilometer after the Devanahalli flyover and what a wonderful sight it was to see. As we drove in, there were herds of cyclists warming up and doing laps up and down the road. It obviously was something quite strange for the local bakery guys and the remainder of the non athletic lot, who had all come out of their stores and stopped in their tracks to check out what exactly was going on. I am sure they were hopeful of increased business but soon realised that this lot of athletes were quite self sufficient and not interested in their wares – what with energy bars, energy gels, bananas, gatorade, enerzal, multiple bottles of water etc doing their rounds among the lot. I will have to say that the atmosphere was electric.

Soon familiar faces were whizzing by – Aditya Kaul, super cyclist , persistent runner who is making waves with every passing race, Hari Menon, storehouse of knowledge, champion runner and amazing cyclist, Naveen Raj – Mayhem in red & white, monster on wheels and pro cyclist, Vicki Nicholson, the one lady who is single handedly giving most men within the cycling circuit a huge complex, Rajani Kant – The THALAIVA of cycling in Bangalore, again a highly knowledgeable and passionate athlete and oh-so-many of the phenomenal cyclists that I have not met but have watched in action like Arvind Bhateja, Kiran Kumar Raju, Sanghamesh , the list just goes on. I have to make a special mention here – ever since his first feature in Bangalore at the infamous criterium, I had heard no end of Sachin Kumar Panwar – the man who came down from Delhi and lapped everyone but second and third positions at that race. That’s some strong riding. And from what I had heard, weeks before this race was that he was coming down to rule this race as well. The next few minutes saw 12 members of Team Trek Firefox trail in. All eyes were on the lean cycling machine in his Team Firefox jersey and bright yellow mavick cleats. So these were the guys to watch out for – Sachin Panwar, Naveen Raj and Sanghamesh.

The total turnout was of 67 riders. This mix had 64 men and 3 women. There were riders who had come from right across the country. This mix had four teams riding in it as well, Team Firefox, Team Specialised Kynkyny, Team Aurovelo, Team MadRascals and Team Spectrum. Team Wheelsports was missing and there were only two riders from Specialised Kynkyny as the teams were gearing up for the nationals. Once the ride started, it was time to jump onto the bike and follow the pack. Now I am not the most technically sound person when it comes to cycling, but I tell you this was one hell of a race to watch. I could see team strategies and how the entire race played out so clearly. First things first, we made it a point to keep the route clear of traffic. When cyclists are moving at such a pace, they only need one thing out of place and it is easy to lose control and fall. Since they are all travelling in a peloton, if one of the peloton falls, it is a domino effect and all the rest come tumbling down. So of utmost importance is the safety of the riders. So there was 4 two-wheelers and about 3 cars that had surrounded the peloton as they moved.

As expected, there were the rabbits who started super fast and burnt out just as soon. The peloton then caught an easy pace and kept moving. Since they had the highest numbers, the Trek Firefox team strategy was the one in play. The entire strategy was to get their strongest climber Sachin to the base of the Nandi and the team had 11 members to spare in doing so. The pace was set by the members of the same team. Although there were many non trek team cyclists who did come up ahead to take turns to lead the pack, you could always see a trek team member on his wheel not letting him get too far or too fast. Due to lack in their numbers, we did not see any attacks from the Specialized Kynkyny team. All that I noticed was that the specialized team members were on Sachin’s wheel the entire race. Sachin on his end was playing with the entire peloton, he would go up ahead, come to the left, fall back and then suddenly surge on ahead. He made it look so easy when most of the other riders were doing all they can to just hang in there. He had a strategy in place and the race was going as per plan.

Around the 35K mark, there was one attack attempt by Sachin Krishna and that boy sprinted his heart out in this attempt. But soon, the rest of the pack caught upto him. The next was attempted around the half way mark by Oluf Hansen, in an attempt to create an advantage before the climb, but since he did not get any company, he had to fall back. From what I gather, the next attack happened due to the cyclists getting carried away in the moment. Mohit Ubhan and Vishwanath from Team Trek Firefox were meant to set an easy tempo pace for the last 30K before the climb. But being so completely charged up, they increased the pace and took off. You could see their captain Sachin, not very impressed with this move. He called out to us on the bike and asked us to catch upto the boys and tell them to slow down. As we rode upto them and said, ” Sachin has asked you to Slow down”, they realised what had just happened and eased their pace. Soon the rest of the peloton had caught upto the pace setters.

And so went the peloton. As the race progressed, slowly but steadily there were few riders being dropped off. This was Ankush’s first ride on his road bike and I was worried about how he would fare after the halfway mark. He had also not paid any attention to nutrition and was thriving on raw power and water. Boy, was I surprised to see him not only keeping up with the peloton but doing so while being super strong and with a smile on his face – “he has finally found his sport, he has found his passion” is what I thought to myself. There were times when he was up in front of the peloton instead of being in the middle saving energy for the race to last. Each time he would display such unacceptabe behaviour, Sriram (riding the motorbike I was on) would slow down and tell him to get right back in the pack giving him real time coaching during the race. As is the case in any kind of team sport, it is far easier and more practical to stay in with the pack to conserve energy. To begin with you do not need to think and use your brain for things like thinking about the pace, maintaining it, increasing it, sustaining it etc. Secondly, as part of the peloton, the energy of the rest of the peloton rubs off and pushes you to keep going. Finally, as a leader, you need to face the winds head on while as part of a pack, the resistance is distributed and a lot lesser to handle. Each of these reduces the energy expended, conserving it for later when you will need to make the final push.

Like Hari very aptly put it – this race in cycling is the equivalent of running a Full Marathon. The actual race only begins at the 80th Km. Once the peloton took the turn off from the main road into Nandi, for the last 20K of the race, each Km saw the pace increasing and now the true mettle of the cyclists was seen. You could easily see the pros pumping themselves up and pushing themselves. I could see the grit, determination and madness in their steely gaze. Every minute saw more and more riders falling back and away from the peloton. Everyone was riding hard to hang on. And before you know it, there was the final Killer 7K of climb. The top 3 riders were, as expected, Sachin Panwar from Team Trek Firefox closely followed by Naveen Raj and Sanghamesh, both the riders from Specialized Kynkyny. As we followed the riders on the climb, it was mindblowing to see on the speedometer that Sachin was riding uphill at an average pace of 26Kmph, doing 30Kmph at easier inclines and even touching 40Kmph at the short flat section of the climb. As we stopped and looked down to see how Naveen was doing, it was easy to see that he was in pain. It was easy to see that he was cramping up and struggling with the climb. I had seen this mad monster climb the Nandibetta in a flat 24mins on his MTB not a few weeks back. Today was not his day. Bringing attention back to Sachin, this guy was going like a machine. Teeth clenched in determination and with a beautiful relaxed riding posture making this gruelling ride look so damn easy. And just like that, the 23 year old champ, Sachin Panwar crossed the finish line with a punch in the air claiming the title of King of Nandi on his birthday. He was followed by Sanghamesh and then came Naveen Raj ( fighting cramps the entire ride up ) both from Specialized Kynkyny. What a race boys – what a race – Thank You.

Honorable mention to all the finishers – this was NOT an easy race and each one is a winner. I was proud to see Vicki representing the fairer sex and hanging in there with the peloton right uptil the 90K mark. I have seen you ride before and lady, you’re only getting stronger and faster – such an inspiration!! Laura May and Sowmya Urs came in second and third place to complete the Women’s podium. The Masters podium ( over 35) saw the blue eyed Giorgio come in 1st, followed by Dr. Arvind Bhateja and Ankush Sharma ( YES!!! My brother!!!) third. I have to mention here that Rajani Kant actually came in third and due to a technical issue during registration was not awarded the podium that he actually deserves. We all know that he rode his heart out and deserves a podium in all fairness. Cat2 podium was ruled by Sukrit and Daniel of Aurovelo followed by Vishwanath Narayanaswamy. Finally, the under 18 category saw Rahul Roshan come out on top followed by Vishwesh Arya at 2nd and Lakhmesh at 3rd.

What an exhillarating morning! I would like to mention a few things that came to my attention before signing off though:

• whoever called cricket a gentleman’s sport, clearly had not been introduced to cycling. When Sachin stopped enroute for a rest room break, I saw all the pro riders had reduced their pace and were waiting for him to get back on the bike. They were all aware that Sachin is the strongest climber and they provide him with the due respect and refuse to race without the challege. Wow! I was touched!!!
• The Govt. of India really needs to reach out, provide support and infrastructure to nurture young talent so that they can untap the true potential of the sportspeople amongst us.
• We need to respect sport and sportspeople in our country.
• This is a dangerous sport. The focus required to ride in a peloton is right up there draining your energy. Add to that curious stares, inquisitive glances, loud horns and general brashness of the Indian traffic. The traffic really needs to extend courtesy and respect to these cyclists. The traffic police really needs to be supportive and provide organisers with the ability to block the roads for a few hours for an event such as this.
• Finally, the lack of women in sport confuses and saddens me. I mean, if for nothing else, come for the superfit, extremely attractive and passionate men in lycra . Trust me! Men really don’t get any better than this.

And a big shout out thanking the cheerleaders – Dharma, Shuveshek, Rahul; the photographers – Deepthi Indukuri, Con Photographer, Rolling Shutterz; the support crew; Ajjay, Balu, Vivek. Sriram – thank you for doing multiple things during this ride – clearing out the route and keeping the safety of the cyclists as primary concern the entire way, going at the right pace so I could capture some priceless moments and explaining the race as it progressed.