Another Ultra Spice win on the Goa–Ooty–Goa route — and the cornerstone of my build-up to Race Across America 2024.
The Ultra Spice Race remains the toughest multi-day ultra in India, with roughly 24,000 m of climbing packed into the Goa–Ooty–Goa course. I returned to it as the key preparation block for my RAAM 2024 campaign — the race where I set my targets and measured whether the form was returning after a year's rest.
Riding the 1,780 km route in the self-supported format, I won it in 112 hours 51 minutes. Meeting the goals I had set for myself here gave me the confidence to commit fully to Race Across America — the finish and the Armed Forces Cup that followed owed a great deal to this ride.
The Ultra Spice is Inspire India’s signature event and India’s longest ultra-cycling race: 1,750 km from the beaches of Goa over the Western Ghats — through the coffee, spice and tea country of Chikmagalur, Coorg and Ooty — and back to Goa, with some 22,415 m of cumulative climbing. It is a Race Across America qualifier, and the race whose podium honour was renamed the Bharat Pannu Ultra Spice Award after three consecutive podium finishes here between 2018 and 2020.
