Lounge
How ultra cyclist Kabir Rachure cycled 900km through Ladakh to set a record
Summary
The Great Himalayan Ultra race added a 900km ‘Extreme’ section this year. The only man to complete it tells Lounge how he prepared for this gruelling raceKabir Rachure found it difficult to sleep during the mandatory three-hour break of The Great Himalayan Ultra in Kargil. The newly introduced Extreme category (900km) of the ultra cycling race had tested his patience in harsh weather and bad road conditions. He had ridden 690km till then and had about 20% of the remaining distance to get to the finish in Leh. With other riders in his category having dropped out, Rachure was effectively competing against his temperament and the might of nature.
It’s hard to fathom the challenges that a high altitude race like this presents. First, the numbers. By the time he got to the finish, Rachure had taken on a distance equivalent to between Mumbai and Bengaluru, most of it above 3,500 metres. He had ridden across three high passes: the Tanglang La (5,328m), Fotu La (4,108m) and Naki La (4,738m), with an elevation gain of 14,480 metres. That’s an effort just 3,000 metres short of ascending two Mt. Everests.
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All that altitude gain was in the rarefied air of the Trans-Himalaya, battling extreme temperature through night and day. Given the nature of this race, the terrain and rough weather, the assigned time cutoff for Rachure’s category was 62 hours; he crossed the finish line in 44 hours 4 minutes.
“A race this long and at this altitude was an enticing prospect to test my abilities. My target was 40 hours, but I didn’t make it due to the conditions. Then again, that is exactly what races like these are all about," Rachure says.
The course may well double up as a road trip for those looking to explore Ladakh and Kargil. It starts in Leh and heads over the Tanglang La to the Morey Plains, turning around just short of Pang, before returning via the same route back to Leh. It then climbs the Fotu La and the Namik La, descending into Kargil and onwards to Drass. Riders then backtrack the entire stretch to the finish in Leh.
Rachure was quite familiar with the challenges that he would encounter, having ridden the 600km category of the race on three previous occasions. His course record for that stands at 25 hours 50 minutes. However, the newly added first leg towards Tanglang La—the highest point of the race—presented a different test.
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“The idea was to get to the pass and descend as quickly as possible to avoid staying at altitude for long. Then again, I knew I had to be alert on the downhills which can get really risky due to bad road conditions," he says.
Most of Rachure’s training unfolded on an indoor trainer at his home in Navi Mumbai. Each week, he would ride between 10-12 hours, focusing on power rather than mileage, in order to groom the body for riding at elevation. He threw in strength and conditioning sessions twice each week at the gym. In May, he spent a couple of weeks riding around Leh, a lot of it on the race route.
“It takes about two weeks to get used to the conditions. The body produces additional red blood cells in order to do this at altitude. Since I was back in Leh after just two months, it helped me acclimatise faster before the race," Rachure says. Recceing the race route helped build his muscle memory.
While Rachure has the experience of finishing ultra cycling races such as the Race Across America (4,828km) and the Ultra Spice Race (1,750km) on a few occasions, he knew the challenges were different at elevation. Three weeks before the race, he arrived in Leh and logged about 500km over 20 hours, with an elevation gain of around 7,000 metres. For a majority of the race, his nutrition plan was to rely on a liquid diet for the calorie intake, well aware of how tedious it can get to process solid food at altitude.
At the start line on 23 August, he knew that getting to the finish was hardly in doubt. His intention was to put up a competitive time for the others to chase.The race started at Leh Gate and headed towards Manali on the NH3. The major climb started at Upshi (3,398m) and all the way to the top of Tanglang La. Curious pikas dropped by to get a closer look, as kiangs and pashmina goats grazed lazily a short distance away. Rachure encountered his first hurdle on the flats of Morey Plains, where he was battered by headwinds close to 35kmph for a majority of the 80km stretch. After a demanding climb back up to the pass, he made his way back to Leh, the first leg of 338km taking him 15 hours 26 minutes.
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During the second section towards Kargil on the NH1, his first major challenge was on the climb to Fotu La. The bad patch of road before Lamayuru slowed him down considerably on the 27km ascent, followed by another long, gradual uphill to Namik La. But once in Kargil, he knew he had done well, his timing just 55 minutes slower than what he had clocked in 2021 on the Leh-Kargil section.
On the way to Drass, the gorgeous landscape along the sprightly Suru river kept him in good spirits, and on his return to Kargil, he put in a nippy effort as the night embraced the valley.“On the final stretch, the idea was to take minimal breaks to cover the distance before the heat picked up. But since I didn’t get any rest in Kargil, I knew the lack of sleep would catch up," he says.
A little past midnight, Rachure set off towards Leh. The villages along the way were in deep slumber and vehicular traffic was scant. Under a canopy of stars, he made gradual progress as a few Himalayan red foxes scampered past the beam of his headlamp. As dawn broke, the jagged peaks of the Zanskar Range stood tall in first light.
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Rachure got comfortable as the sun came out and pushed on towards the end with one eye on the clock. However, closer to the finish, the weekend tourist traffic and an Army convoy hampered his progress considerably, the scorching heat of the day only adding to his woes. He pulled through a taxing final climb through Leh, courtesy Sunday morning shoppers, getting to the finish a little past noon.
“I pushed hard on the first leg, which eventually caught up with me in the second half of the race. It’s a competitive time for the first edition, but I know I can go faster," he says.
Shail Desai is a Mumbai-based freelance writer.
