Lt Col Bharat Pannu; at the finish line of 2024 RAAM (photo: courtesy Bharat)
Determined army officer finally achieves his goal
For Lieutenant Colonel Bharat Pannu, it was third time lucky.
Long fascinated by Race Across America (RAAM), his engagement with the event is a study in perseverance.
Bharat is among the top endurance cyclists from India. Many people from the world of ultracycling in India, gravitate towards RAAM, which is a gruelling ride across the continental United States. RAAM tests both rider and his / her support crew. To get a ring side view of the race, Bharat served as a member of the support crew for one of the teams (Team Sea to See) in the 2018 edition of the event. He also acquired a US-based coach – Tracy McKay, who had completed RAAM as part of a two-person team in 2002 and been team strategist / crew chief for Chris MacDonald, who cycled solo and finished second at RAAM in 2005. After qualifying for RAAM at races in India, Bharat – he was posted in Nashik at that time – made his first attempt in 2019. That year, while in the US for RAAM, he suffered an accident just ahead of the race and broke his collar bone. He had to pull out of the race.
Less than a year later, the world was in the grip of COVID-19. As the pandemic spread, lockdown enveloped the world, sporting activity came to grinding halt worldwide and events were cancelled. There was no RAAM in 2020. Fed up of being indoors and inactive, humankind kicked off the virtual version of sports like running and cycling. RAAM hosted a virtual version of the race (VRAAM) in June 2020. Bharat participated in the event. He cycling at an apartment in Pune; his bike fitted to a smart-trainer. After 12 days of cycling, on June 28, Bharat emerged winner in his age category and third overall in the race. It was a major milestone in his career in cycling.
The 2020 virtual RAAM was followed by two rides – one along India's Golden Quadrilateral highway system and the other from Manali to Leh – both ending up in Bharat finding a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for the timing he obtained. Meanwhile, the pandemic's grip on the world continued into 2021. It made traveling overseas for RAAM and participating in the race, difficult. In July 2021, the aeronautical engineer working with the Indian Army's aviation wing, was transferred from Bengaluru (where he had moved to, from Nashik) to Ahmednagar and put in charge of the Indian Army's cycling and rugby teams. Although what he loved to do became the stuff of office work, this phase may have deprived Bharat the ultracyclist, of the personal attention he deserved. He had many things to take care of. He made the best of what was available, trained and reached the US in time for the 2022 physical edition of RAAM for a second shot at the race. Unfortunately, yet again, it wasn't to be a successful outing.
Team Bharat Pannu at the finish line of 2024 RAAM (photo: courtesy Bharat)
RAAM has a cut-off of 12 days. That's the time allotted to cover the nearly 4900 kilometres long, west to east span of the US from Oceanside in California to Annapolis in Maryland. Bharat is known to be a strong cyclist in the second half of the races he participates in. So, when the 2022 RAAM commenced with Bharat not doing too well, he and his crew took it in their stride. Alarm bells however started ringing on the fifth day, for by then the lag Bharat had grown had become tad serious. He and his team hunkered down and covered some of the lost ground. But on the tenth day of the race in June 2022, Bharat experienced fever and along with it, chills and shivering. The crew felt he risked damaging his health if he continued. The decision was taken to pull out. Once back in India, Bharat decided to take a break from ultracycling. He had been training and racing at events for several years. Body and mind sought rest. Further, races like RAAM, which are set overseas, require a support crew with transport infrastructure. These events also have a dedicated, long training period. Simply put, RAAM consumes resources. Bharat knew that his purse needed replenishment. Rest made sense. He stayed off competitive cycling for much of 2023.
In June 2023, Bharat's posting to the army's cycling node in Ahmednagar concluded and shortly thereafter, he was transferred to Suratgarh in northern Rajasthan. Freed of his responsibilities at the cycling node and returned to his regular schedule (the sort in which, he used to train for ultracycling), the idea of attempting RAAM again, returned. Suratgarh is part of the northern reaches of the Thar desert. According to Bharat, Suratgarh is predominantly flat. Perfect for cycling. More important, summer temperatures run quite high and winter is cold. `` These extremes made it a good ambiance to train for an endurance race like RAAM,'' Bharat said. One approaches RAAM through stages of preparation and with smaller races in ultracycling done. In October 2023, Bharat decided to participate in the annual Indian ultracycling race, Ultra Spice. `` I met the targets I set for myself at this race,'' he said. Following this, the decision to participate in RAAM 2024 was taken.
Bharat trained under the guidance of Tracy. As mentioned earlier, participating in RAAM is a resource-intense exercise. Bharat's tickets to the US were sponsored by a Pune-based travel company. He had no other sponsors. He used to have an association with bicycle manufacturer, Scott. But it had ended. So, the rest of the expenses for 2024 RAAM, he bore it himself. He had a support crew of nine people; seven from India and two from the US. He reached the US, four days before the race. In the time available, he did the necessary final preparations, including two trial rides that totaled about 100 miles. For RAAM, he banked on three bicycles – a Scott Foil (lightweight road bike), a Scott Plasma (time trial bike) and a Trek Emonda (endurance bike).
For Bharat, RAAM 2024, started off better than in 2022. `` The initial phase went off quite smoothly. We reached the half way point of the race in five days and nine hours,'' he said. Then things began to get challenging. For two days continuously in Kansas, he faced cross winds and pedalling in such conditions drained his energy. Within RAAM's ecosystem, Kansas is notorious for its weather-related challenges. Thanks to this predicament, Bharat's average speed reduced. Compounding the challenges was a second problem. Noticing his strong cycling in the early part of the race, his crew had allowed him to cycle for longer hours with resultant less downtime for sleep. In that phase, his sleep pattern used to be 15-20 minutes once or twice during the day and 45 minutes to 90 minutes at night. Compared to this aggregate, the original plan had been to get at least three hours of sleep. But then, Bharat had been cycling well and allowing him to eat the miles had appeared the sensible thing to do in that early part of the race (particularly given the experience of 2022). Consequently, the planned three hours of sleep in the original race strategy, got overlooked. For body and mind, sleep denied doesn't disappear. It accumulates.
The Armed Forces Cup, finisher's plaque and medal from 2024 RAAM (photo: courtesy Bharat)
Sleep deprivation is one of the known challenges in ultracycling. Especially so in races like RAAM, which run like a single stage from start to finish, leaving sleep management entirely the onus of rider and crew to manage. For Bharat, past the half-way point, sleep deprivation began to make its presence strongly felt. `` The tenth and eleventh days were pretty bad,'' he said. However, to his luck, although cycling at night continued to stay challenging, things improved as regards his daytime cycling. He was fine when the sun shone. `` The period between midnight to 6 AM remained very difficult,'' he said. Eventually, Bharat made it to the finish line in Annapolis within the stipulated cut-off period of 12 days; he covered RAAM's 4928 kilometres in 11 days, 23 hours and 36 minutes. The final figure included an hour added as penalty for a impeding traffic. Besides completing RAAM successfully on his third attempt, Bharat also won the race's Armed Forces Cup. `` It took me three attempts and more than five years to achieve this. I feel content, satisfied,'' Bharat said. In retrospect, he believes that had things gone well, he could have completed the race in 2019 or 2022. But then, such is endurance cycling, such is RAAM.
Many people who finish RAAM nurse the hope of returning to improve their timing. Bharat shares the aspiration. It is on the cards although he hasn't decided when it should be. Closer to the present, he intends to participate in Dunes, an ultracycling event set to debut in Rajasthan this December.
(The author, Shyam G Menon, is a freelance journalist based in Mumbai)
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