Karnataka State Cycling Trials 2022

One of the BBCh. races included a TTT ( Team Time Trial) where I had teamed up with Aditi Vig and Srivani YV ( also a triathlete) to setup a team and work together to just add some spice to the women's field. So with a last minute getting the team together, the three of us went for a trial ride one day before the event. We had Ankush, Andy and Vinay come ride with us with Ankush and Andy giving us a lot of tips in terms of us moving together as a team, where to ride, how to ride, how to rotate, what signals to give, how to communicate - it was a power-packed short and sweet ride which comprised a lot of information exchange.

The next thing we knew is us being at the start line of the TTT. I was kicked at our performance at the TTT and knew that my riding skills had truly levelled up with the training routine that I was in. So, the next thought which lingered into my mind was - I wonder where I lie in the spectrum of the Women's Elite field. The only way to actually test this was to head to the State Cycling Trials which were to be slated for later in the month. Now, the issue here was that I had missed the Bangalore District Selections - I assume because cycling was not a priority for me and I had just not paid attention to it with my complete focus being on the upcoming triathlons. But, post this outing, internally I felt that it was time for me to get out there and see what the field looks like. This was more like a recce to understand just how much work I needed to do to be at a competitive level in cycling for the following year. Now, the issue was to get a spot on one of the district slots. For this I reached out to the amazing Venkatesh Shivarama - the person who has only always encouraged the sport of cycling and made it accessible to most of us - if you are into cycling in India - I am sure you know Venky - always with a smile and forever supportive; so much so that he doesn't think twice before handing over his own cycles to deserving candidates ( those who ride will know how painful handing over your prized cycle is and just how selfless and generous one has to be to actually hand it over). Anyway, Venky was really kind and amazing and encouraged me to go for the Trials - also arranging a slot for me from Tumkur district. So there I was, all set with a slot in hand heading to the State Trials. Now the dates of the trials were tentative considering the upcoming National Games etc. Of course, I am not blind to the fact that some cyclists were not happy about the fact that I got a slot without having to go through the district selections but for each person who was unhappy about the fact, there were 5 encouraging me to go and give an honest attempt. None of us expected anything more from me other than going to the trials, putting in a hard effort and seeing exactly where I stood in terms of the best in the State. Besides, at the end of the day, when you think of your state, it is less about personal glory and more about flying the State flag high - this happens only when you send out the best team that there is.

Eventually, it was decided that the Trials would be held on the weekend of 21-22nd Oct. This worked quite well for me - I got back from National Games on 12th Oct - had also committed to doing the Warm up for the multiple events at Bengaluru Marathon on 16th Oct and then had just about a week to catch up with work and head to Mysore for the State Trials. Since I had setup my bike in accordance with the ITU rules for the National Games Triathlon the previous week in Gujarat, which didn't allow full-length aerobars or Carbon wheels typically used in ITTs, the priority was now to setup Shade into a UCI legal TT setup. ( you can read about the National Games experience here). I got back on the Wednesday and priority now for me was to get my bike setup done as per UCI rules for the ITT event at the Trials. Ankush was still travelling. Sanjeev was in Bangalore since he had registered for the Bengaluru Marathon and was using this as a test to check the running juice in his legs before he restarts his training for running. So both of us headed to Naveen Raj with Shade in tow to get her setup for the State Trials. I was using Ankush's Carbon Vision Tubular wheels, needed a new chain, general service, Aero Bar setup and a general checkup of the bike fit. Since I had not taken my cleats the bike-fit left a lot to be wanted - but we decided that we would work on it later. We spent most of Friday at the bike store. The plan was that since he was in town, Sanjeev would accompany me for a ride on the Saturday morning while I got comfortable with the aero position and would give me some tips on attempting the TT as well.

Friday night & Saturday morning bought with it a lot of rain which literally put a dampener on our glorious plans. Tbh I was also still quite tired from the Ahmedabad outing and was quite happy to have the opportunity to sleep in. The rest of the weekend was a blur with the Bengaluru Marathon shenanigans. Those of you who think organising a running event is easy, please take my word for it when I say - when you run a marathon, the organiser has probably done an ultra or two in the build up of it. To be at the venue at least 30mins prior to the first event start to overlooking all the small details is an exhaustive task. Monday was another bust with recovery from Bengaluru Marathon and catching up with work overdue from my previous outing. We finally managed to go for the ride planned for the Saturday on the following Tuesday. In all honesty, it was well worth the effort. It was a good, strong ride and I felt quite comfortable with the setup for the ITT event hurtling towards me. This would also be the setup that I would continue to train on for the 70.3. Sporadically, I had been speaking to another triathlete - Pooja Srinivas - I had requested her a long term prior that I would love to use her TT helmet for the 70.3 - I had even forgotten about this conversation - but she remembered and 2 days prior to me heading for the State Trials, she came over to my place and like Santa Claus handed over the Giro Vanquish to me just in time for the State Trials.

I got another outride in on the Thursday prior to the event. Now, I am the kind of person who refuses to drive 8K one way to go do intervals on a track - my entire thought process comprises of being efficient. I would rather sleep 30minutes more and spend less time in traffic, and instead utilise that time to get through the plethora of work that lies in front of me. So, until the Thu - I was still in 2 minds - if I should really drive 150k one way to do a 20K TT effort and come back - not to mention the exhaustion levels that would kick in with this effort as well, in addition to missing another weekend of full load training for 70.3. But, then the people around me were so excited and invested in my attempt - whether it was Venky, Pooja, Naveen, Sanjeev or Ankush that I decided to do it only for them. So, I wrapped up my Friday afternoon session, loaded Shade into the car and decided to make my way to Mysore. I had already spoken to Loki and Fariyal who were organising the event - they had helped me book an accomodation 200mtrs from the start line and this was it - show time. Siddharth Kansal , another cyclist was also planning to head to Mysore for the event - he decided to hop in the car with me and the two of us made our merry way to Mysore. Journeys are always better with some company. We had never met each other before, so it was just a fun time speaking to each other as we head to Mysore. Once we reached, I made my way to the room and settled in - set up Shade and got her all ready for the event. It was soon time for the athlete briefing. As usual, the 5pm timing got stretched out to 7pm and probably even later. All I knew by the end of that meeting was that I would be given my bib later in the night - it would be delivered to my room and my event was slated for sometime in the afternoon on the Saturday. This timing was kind of alien to me - but hey, everyone in my category would be suffering just the same so it didn't really matter - all that it meant was that I had to plan my food appropriately to perform at the event and on the plus side, I could sleep in!!

Most of the cyclists had arrived in Mysore 2-3 days prior to acclimatise to the weather and more importantly to get a feel of the route. Since I did not have the luxury of doing so, I had borrowed the Strava link of another friend Glarish to understand the route and just before sleeping, I took the car out and drove the entire route once just to get a feel of it - well, as best as I could. Soon after I crashed for the night. The next thing I knew was that it was early in the AM. I had already decided that I would only attempt the TT and then head back to Bangalore to continue with my 70.3 training as usual. I did not want to do the road race simply because it was just too close to my cat A race and I was in no mood to take any unnecessary risks ( always! always! have a method to your madness). Eitherway, I woke up the next morning pretty much the same time as usual ( thanks discipline and routine!) head on down to grab a chai and check out the scene of the morning.

Soon there was a bustle. Prerna was also at Mysore attempting the U-16 event accompanied by her father - Sravan. I went over to wish her luck for her events. Thereafter went back to the room to avoid unnecessary fatigue and the sun. Our event was slated for apprx. 1:30pm. Around 12:00pm I got a call from Fariyal and she had a very urgent tone of voice. She informed me that the event had been pushed up and we were meant to report to the Start line immediately.

So off I went like a rocket, getting dressed, ensuring the tyre pressure is right, the brakes are working fine ... and quickly rushed out of the room to the start line. There, they loaded the transponders onto the left side of the fork. I was advised I was going to be third to start and that I had approximately 12-15minutes before my start time. I made my way to do some semblance of a warm up - my usual WU had to be altered keeping in mind the time constraint. As I rode, I heard a weird ticking noise on the bike - I opened up my brakes hoping it would fix the issue - it didn't. As I rode ahead, I saw Ritwik from VeloStudio supporting the VeloStudio team. I requested him to have a look at the bike - he did a quick check and said it was as good as it was going to get at this point. Next thing I knew, we had to report to the Start line. I made my way to the platform. I had never before done a platform start and didn't know what to expect. Nonetheless, I had been given some instructions over the phone by Ankush & Sanjeev and even Sid Kansal - who was at the start line gave me a final few tips. And there it was - I was mounted on the saddle with a gentleman holding it, both my feet cleated in and another one introducing me as rider no. 3 with Sweet name TimTim Sharma and doing a countdown 5,4,3,2,1, GOOOO....

This was it - GO TIME. I was essentially driving 300km to do a 20K TT effort - I damn well was going to give it everything that I got. And so I did - As per the plan, I got off the seat and sprinted as I head towards the first U-turn. This was to be a 2 x 10K loop of a rolling terrain - The idea was basically to go full gas from the word GO. And so it went - I kid you not when I say I was grunting while riding, pretty much from the 2nd Km right up till the end - a little bit more on the climbs. It was a kickass ride - I felt strong and every pedal stroke was going as per plan. Since it was a small loop, we could see everyone on the route -this was good cos at any given point you knew exactly where you were in terms of placement - who you will be catching upto next and who else was using you as a carrot and coming up to catch up. Within the first 1.5K I caught up with the rider who was ahead of me and continued further on. The route was rolling with the last 1.5Km being a false flat i.e a slow but steady climb, post which there was a U-turn, followed by a return and then a repeat of the first loop. I managed to get a few cheerleaders along the way too - some of the locals who were standing by and watching - they cheered me on with full gusto - it was really awesome!

And just like that I managed to cross the finish line with a pretty stellar performance from where I saw it. Wrapping up the 21.5K TT in 37:26mins, didn't let anyone overtake me and executed a pretty beautiful graph when it came to my performance. I was absolutely chuffed. I made my way back to the room and started wrapping up my things and loading them into the car. I was going to head back to Bangalore since I still had about half a day left so that I can make the best of whatever was left of my weekend - eyes on 70.3. The results were announced just before I left. I had come in fourth - top three positions were taken by some speed beasts from Bagalkote - and I had been beaten fair and square by almost 2minutes - which is a huge margin. But, the top 4 are the ones who qualify to represent the State at the Nationals and as per this - I had qualified - in my first ever outing at such trials. I was stoked! I had come to see where I stood in the larger scheme of things. And I had realised I am not half as bad as I thought I was. There was room for improvement - hell yeah! there always is - but I was way higher up in the performance segment than I thought I was. Now I knew the baseline I had to work from.

I had lunch at the venue - spent sometime with Prerna - said bye to all the familiar faces and left for Bangalore. Pretty short and sweet outing this was. The next day I woke up in my own time and then went ahead to get my long run in - eyes on the prize - I had just 3 weeks to go for the 70.3.