Ultra Spice Race 2020. This edition of Ultra Spice featured the self-supported version of the 1750 km race route.
The self-supported version of the race has its own set of challenges and it becomes more exciting when the route is of Ultra Spice. This route is devoid of facilities as generally available on highways. As the sun sets, the locals shut down their shops and the cyclists have to be on their own. Water bottle refill at night is at the mercy of the fuel stations en route/some odd open shop.
This is not all. The densely forested areas/coffee plantations add another level of excitement to the game. These areas are home to various animals including elephants who venture out freely at night. Therefore, this was definitely not the game for weak hearted persons. I feel that it was just not a cycling race but much more than that.
Kudos to the race officials, who always had our back and were on top of every situation. At no point in time, I felt scared of anything and the complete focus was on the race. All efforts were to finish the race at the earliest. I took 106 hours 42 minutes to complete the route and win it by a comfortable margin.
