The Route of the BBCh-Circuit Race: Image Source: BBCh FBpage

All of us get bored riding the same roads every day but most of us focusing on just getting a workout don’t take the pains to explore new routes as watching the numbers on the Garmin takes precedence over the varying terrain and scenery. But there are those who despite the focus on numbers also go exploring new routes and come back with refreshed minds and stronger legs. Events like BBCh take inputs from such folks and help introduce those routes to the rest of us.

Around 50 of us got together at Nandi base this Sunday and after completing the bib collection formalities, were flagged off exactly on schedule at 7:30am. With the race starting more than 50km away from the city, the comparatively lesser number of riders wasn’t a surprise. That was a blessing in disguise for this race as the country roads that the race went through were not that wide and are apt only for a small field at best.

The Rolling Start To The Rolling Hills:
The road from the start point at Nandi base till Doddaballapur is quite narrow and the road widening work going on at the moment meant it was not good for racing. So, the organizers wisely decided on a rolling start for the first 18km, until we get to and out of Doddaballapur town. The rolling start gave the riders a chance to catch up with friendly chat, leaving the sizing up of each other with attacks for later on. 

After the 18km from the Nandi base, once the race gets onto the Gunjur lake road, we were supposed to ride 14km out and then take a U-turn to ride 14km back to the start/finish area and repeat it two more times completing three loops in all making it a distance of 102km overall. But in actuality, the race ended up being nearly 106km as the length of each loop was longer than 28km. Each loop drops about 200m in elevation and gains it back on the way back to the start. With three loops, it was a sort of hill repeats session.  

Route elevation profile! Image Source: BBCh FBpage

Winds Come Calling on Winding Roads!
As soon as the neutral section ended, the racing action got underway. We could feel the howling cross winds right away as they kept pushing us sideways. Naveen John(NJ) of Specialized KYNKYNY Cycling Team(SKCT), Sarvesh Sangarya of Team Trek Firefox Racing(TTFR) and Michael of Team LifeCycle Racing(TLCR) stepped on the gas at the front to pare the group down. That immediately fractured the large group into a peloton of about 25. About 3-4km into the first loop, a few riders rode off to the front while the rest of us sat back and watched them go. It had a couple of Team Mongrel riders from Chennai, a couple of TLCR riders from Pune, Sarvesh of TTFR, Ankush Sharma of Team ProCycle, Naveen Raj of SKCT and Arvind Bhateja of Spectrum Racing. 

With his intent of working for the team and putting me on the podium, our skipper Arvind was seen at the head of the peloton right from the start. His job was to cover attacks and having seen a master’s contender Ankush riding away, he just tried to cover that. He apparently didn’t realize that he was in a break until one of his breakaway partners at the time, Sarvesh suggested working together to drive the gap bigger. Having apparently seen that there isn’t proper coordination in the group and with his main rivals behind, Sarvesh decided to drop back to the peloton. Ankush too dropped back to the bunch while the rest kept driving the break. Naveen Raj rode off on his own at the first sight of a hill and left Gokul of team Mongrels, Chaitanya of TLCR and Arvind of Spectrum racing as the second group on the road. 

Just Another Leisurely Sunday Ride?
Back in the peloton, the action was calm for a while before NJ, Michael and Sarvesh rode away along with a couple of other riders. That made our group about 15 riders 4th on the road. My teammate, Hari Menon was at the head with me close behind him and the rest of the riders behind us. Apart from a few short digs that went no where, there wasn’t much trouble from others and that let Hari set a tempo at the front. He continued to do so even after we made the U-turn and took on the climb. His strong pace on the climb kept everyone honest and panting. As we approached the start/finish area, we could see that Naveen Raj had a huge gap from the rest with NJ, Michael and Sarvesh riding as a second group. 

Seeing that the third group of Arvind, Gokul and Chaitanya also had a good gap on our group, Hari and I decided to back off from the pace making a little to give Arvind a chance. If he is able to stick with the break, he would end up winning the master’s category since the rest of the master’s contenders were all in our group. So, by continuing to set the pace for the group, we didn’t want to end up chasing down our own teammate. While we backed off the pace, no one was willing to set the pace themselves. 

Occasionally guys like Ankush(Team ProCycle) came to the front but obviously didn’t want to take up the chase on their own. Nagaraj Harsha would get bored sitting in the group and would attack it just to fall back after a minute or so. The rest of the guys mostly cat2 and Under-18 riders didn’t have any interest in setting the pace were quite content following the wheels. Vivek Radhakrishnan of SKCT who is one of the main master’s contenders didn’t want to chase and burn himself out but tried his luck by trying to motivate the younger riders to ride at the front and drive the pace but got no takers. So, Hari and I kept the pace low in the second lap and saw that even at the start of the 3rd lap Arvind was still with the group and had a huge gap on us. We decided to see how he is doing on the final return leg and continued at a steady pace. 

By the third lap, NJ, Michael and Sarvesh caught Naveen Raj and four of them were riding together. As we approached the final U-turn however, we saw that NJ has ridden away from the rest and had a massive lead on the final stretch before the climb started. Sarvesh and Michael were riding together and Naveen Raj was distanced. Behind them, the initial breakaway group of Gokul, Chaitanya and Arvind broke up too with Gokul riding off with Chaitanya a few meters behind him and Arvind distanced a little further. But Arvind still had more than a couple of km on our group and seeing him Hari and I were pretty sure that our team is going to take the master’s win. 

The Messy Dash For The Line:
Now, it was just about fighting it out for second with Vivek, Jon and Ankush. At the start of the 3rd lap Vivek got to the front and tried driving the pace and hoped that it would wake the youngsters up and get them to take the pace up. But the kids were having none of it. His repeated assurances that we were no threat to their placings as they are in a different category had little effect as well. He got to the front on the climb part and started driving the pace but slowly Hari took it up a notch higher and I followed him. Vivek quickly took my wheel and stayed there for the rest of the way. I was vary of him being there because if I’m not fast enough in the sprint, I would end up being a perfect lead-out man for him. I had to brush those doubts aside and just focus on the job ahead. By the end of the climb part Hari managed to work up a sweat on everyone.

3 km to go. Hari goes to the front yet again after driving the pace on the climbs till then and I stay on his wheel as the pace picks up. 2 km to go. Hari was still driving the pace in the high 40 kmph range. 1 km to go. Hari shows no sign of letting up but the kids(Makarand) finally wake up and take it up a notch higher and I grab one of their wheels. 500 m to go. Another rider(Aunsh) goes to the front and I get on his wheel. 400 m, 300 m, 100 m to go.. it’s all a blur. Furiously pedaling legs, violently pounding heart in an aero-tucked chest.. 50 m to go.. I stand up to open my sprint.. furiously mashing on the pedals, dodging a change of line in front, narrowly escaping an high-speed crash and crossing the line relieved, cross-eyed and spent! Phew!

With all the youngsters in the mix, the sprint was messy and we almost crashed. I had to dodge a change of line in front of me and that meant Vivek and Jon behind me had a scare of their life as well. Thankfully all of us managed to keep the rubber side down. In fact, Jon’s rear tire rubbed off so much as he braked at that speed that threads were visible on it in a little patch. Sorry guys.

The Results:
The Under-18 riders seemed to have the race smarts to conserve through most of the race and unleash their speed for a dash for the line. They stayed in our group and rode the wheels well. May be with more racing they would understand that it wouldn’t hurt to contribute to pace making once in a while. It is indeed heartening to see more and more youngsters getting into the sport and displaying excellent capabilities. 

The podium was an all TLCR(Pune) affair with Aunsh finishing 1st followed by Makarand(2nd) and Rishabh(3rd).

Aunsh(1st), Makarand(2nd) and Rishabh(3rd) in Under 18 cat. An all TLCR affair!

In women’s category there were no surprises. Vicki Nicholson of Spectrum racing did a great race again to finish well ahead of many and won the women’s race. Laura May finished second having fought the windy and hilly conditions well.

Women’s podium! Spectrum Racing’s Vicki followed by Laura May!

In the Master’s category, the neuro-surgeon finally managed to tackle his problems with cramps and rode like a boss to finish miles ahead of the field. Arvind took all the suffering and took the pressure off the rest of his teammates(Hari and me). A well deserved victory for our skipper who manages to juggle crazy work schedule, family commitments and training and keeps inspiring all of us in the team. I managed to finish second in the messy sprint ahead of Vivek and Jon May. Hari finished 5th after working all day at the front.

Master’s podium!

In Category 2, Gokul(Team Mongrels) and Chaitanya Velhal(TLCR) rode in the break all day and finished first and second in cat 2. A great ride by both of them and a well deserved podium. Karthik Padmanabhan of Team Mongrels finished 3rd followed by Nagaraj Harsha at 4th.

Cat 2 Podium! Gokul and Karthik of Team Mongrels 1st and 3rd! Chaitanya of TCLR, 2nd Photo: Gratian Mathew Govias

In Cat 1, the fight at the helm of the affairs evolved quite interestingly. With Naveen Raj riding away and staying ahead for most of the way and then Naveen John delivering the master stroke to ride to the win once Naveen Raj was caught, it might seem like SKCT had it easy. But that was far from the case. Michael(TLCR) was a real threat in the hills as he showed in the Nandi race and the featherweight Sarvesh(TTFR) of course is a perennial threat when the road points upwards. It was a tough fight for second with the Bangalore lad managing to ride away from Michael in the later half of the final lap.

Cat 1 Podium! Naveen John(1st) and Sarvesh(2nd)

I will update the post with overall results once they are made available. 

Thanks a ton to all the volunteers at BBCh who executed an awesome race again. Thanks to all the sponsors and the medical support team from Sita Bhateja hospital and Spectrum Physio center.

Prizes: The cat 1 winner got a LUMOS solar backpack. Other category winners got a Firefox jersey. For all categories, the second place got a Super-B tool kit while the 3rd place got Super-B bike cleaning brushes.