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.
Bharat coaches riders of every level, one-on-one on TrainingPeaks — personalised plans with monthly face-to-face guidance.
