BBCh 9 - The Trails of Sarjapur!

BBCh 10 happened last Sunday (Nov 22) and I didn't attend, which is kind of representative of this, my first, BBCh season. But last month, I knew I had to attend BBCh 9.

Part of the reason was, of course, the recent acquisition of the RR6.3 and the chance to finally put it to test in the BBCh race. In this BBCh season, I've only participated in one off road race, and I did not complete it (I opted for the unrecorded Beginner's route). This time, I wanted to make sure I complete.

After a 20ish kilometer ride to the venue in the wee hours of the morning, punctuated by random road races with the newspaper boys of Koramangala, we arrived at the trail in Sarjapur. I set out quickly for a recce ride of the trial, a 5km off-road loop which we had to ride five times. I was accompanied by other cyclists from the Institute's cycling club. Some of whom would race, while others would act as volunteers.

A quick recce of the route revealed some issues: certain paths were littered with thorny bushes, of the same type that had been responsible in the past for my only punctures till date -- several inch-long thorn through front tire. I remarked to the race organizers that this would be a "flatty" track.

And I wasn't wrong. My friend's tire flatted immediately after the recce. The organizer's cycle, too, suffered from a flat. As they raced to fix the flats, the rest of us gathered at the start line. My strategy was simple: Start ahead, stay ahead, keep certain riders in view and just keep going.

Unfortunately, handing my new toy over and explaining how to use it meant that I started almost at the end of the pack. Still, the course started as an uphill, so I atleast managed to keep most of leaders in view. We went past a well, a swampy lake bed, up some terrain, then onto a road, then into a single track surrounded by grass. We emerged out into one of the most horrible village roads I've ever seen, which was also the fastest part of the race track given its slope. This terminated in a sharp turn, which I got into fairly easily. I was now with the leading group and riding hard.

Until I decided to take off on a slightly different route to allow another rider a clear path. I misjudged the slope and the mud in that water-carved pathway, and I crashed. Amidst cries of "are you okay?", I scrambled onto my bike and continued racing! Surprisingly, with no blood! As I reached for my brake levers, however, I quickly realised how hard the crash had been -- my rear brake lever was bent out of shape and unreachable. The rear brake is not critical, however, so apart from a dusty jersey and an aching wrist, I continued to race.

Next on the course was a Eucalyptus plantation, which allowed different riders to take different routes before they converged on the entrance to a lake bund. The lake bund ended in a sharp downhill down some rocks, which led to a road that led back to the start line.

I remember the route distinctly, which is a first for me for an off-road race. During the race, however, it was only till the third lap or so that I managed to figure out the topology of the route allowing me to stop huffing and puffing on some of the ups on the route.

Although 25kms by this time is no big distance for me, this is a race! I'm not known to push myself to the physical extreme, though I did want to try. As I raced along the circuit, it was clear that it was going to be a hard race for me. I stopped twice to drink water, and once momentarily to recover from exhaustion. By the fourth lap, the leaders had lapped me and were on their way to the finish.

Somewhere around my third lap, I made the mistake of asking my friends, the volunteers, whether it was my third lap. They said no, it was probably my second. So I ended up riding six laps, the sixth lap eerily alone on the track (though not the last!) to complete in 1hr 32minutes. I had finished the race in 1hr 17min, which placed me at the 23rd position, the first time I've ever won points in a BBCh race!

So I could complete a race and do it hard enough. Now I just have to do it well!

How did the RR6.3 perform? Apart from the bent brake, it performed quite well. It's a bit heavy for an offroad racing bicycle, but I clearly appreciated the full-suspension -- after four exhausting laps, you simply can't stand up to absorb all the bumps on the routes, you just sit down and let the suspension take over!

I'm looking forward to a good 2011 season.