Bharat and Darshan Dubey took on the 'mini-RAAM' of the Alps — and became the first cyclists from India to finish an ultra-endurance event in Europe.
Along with Darshan Dubey I successfully completed Race Around Austria 2017 in the two-person team category. RAA is regarded as the toughest endurance bike race in Europe and has been a RAAM qualifier since 2010. The route runs along the border of Austria — 2,200 km with a mammoth elevation gain of about 98,500 feet through the mighty Alps, to be finished inside 108 hours.
Our aim was to accomplish the unfinished agenda of finishing RAA and become the first cyclists from India to complete an ultra-endurance event in Europe. As a 2-person relay we finished in under 100 hours.
The conditions. The first two days were unseasonably hot, but the first two nights brought storms with hail, severe winds, lightning and thunder — at one point the weather was so bad I had to stop for almost 30 minutes to wait it out. The famous Grossglockner pass, the highest motorable pass in Austria at 2,500 m, was climbed on the third evening in 3°C with ice at the road's edge. There were about eight long climbs in addition to many smaller ones, while the fast descents at 50–60 km/h brought their own deep chill.
The crew. We were accompanied by a crew of seven from India and Austria in two vehicles — a pace car always with the racers and a motorhome — managing logistics, navigation, cooking and feeding around the clock with little sleep. We relayed in 40-minute turns, stretching to two hours at night so the other could sleep, and down to 2–6 minutes on the toughest climbs.
The race starts and finishes in the small village of St. Georgen im Attergau, which turns into a festival around the event. We're deeply grateful to the locals — especially the Moshammer family — who helped with planning and rode out onto the route to cheer us on.
