When the pandemic cancelled RAAM, the race moved indoors — and Bharat became the first Indian to podium at an international ultra-cycling event.
With COVID-19 forcing RAAM's cancellation, the organisers created an online format — Virtual Race Across America (V-RAAM) — in which riders covered a 4,500 km distance with 77,500 m of climbing within twelve days.
Team Pannu built the race set-up in Jyoti Tripathi's apartment in Wakad, Pune: two bikes, two smart interactive trainers, two 55-inch screens, multiple inverters for round-the-clock power, plus nutrition, tools and spares. A dedicated crew of seven, led by Darshan Dubey with Jyoti Tripathi as assistant crew chief, kept everything running.
The race flagged off worldwide at 18:30 IST on 16 June 2020. I rode an average of 21–22 hours a day, getting off the bike only for short sleep, massage and toilet breaks, while battling fatigue, muscle soreness, sleep deprivation and the monotony of indoor riding — even hallucinations.
I finished by riding 4,086 km and climbing 71,000 m in twelve days, placing 3rd among the 17 ultra-cyclists competing worldwide, many of them RAAM veterans — behind Hirokazu Suzuki (Japan) and Lee Patnam (UK). With this I became the first Indian to win a podium position in an international ultra-cycling race.
Official figures. The full V-RAAM course was set at 4,542 km with 73,739 m of total climbing; of the 17 riders who started, only 9 reached the official race distance of 3,248 km. Bharat's podium — behind Hirokazu Suzuki (Japan) and Lee Putnam (UK) — earned a RAAM Special Commendation and an official RAAM qualifying certificate, and was covered by TV9, ABP, DD News, NDTV, Hindustan Times, The Economic Times, The Tribune, Outlook and ANI, among others.
