Time to dust off those knobbies again! BBCh hits the trails for Race 4. Watch this space for more details!

Race Route:

View BBCh – 4 XC Race Route in a larger map

What: Road Race.

When: 7:00am on 15th April

Where: Stonehill

DISTANCE: 60kms (8 laps of 7.5kms each)

[Yes, we know there is a different distance marked on the jpeg above - ignore it. Unfortunately we can't swop it at the mo but will do so asap. Apologies for the confusion]

Directions

1. Drive along NH7 past the Yelahanka AIR FORCE Base.

2. You will get to a triffic light where CCD is to the right (now all dug up)

3. Drive through to the next junction (no traffic light here!) You will see a sign on the left just before the junction for STONE HILL.

4. TURN LEFT at this junction. Drive straight along the divided road.

5. At the end of the divided section, there is a fork, you have to take the one on the RIGHT, follow the STONEHILL signs.

6. You will arrive at a junction with a sharp right to STONEHILL, a straight ahead road, and a sort of fork to the LEFT – TAKE IT!!!

7. In about 100 mtrs you will reach the START line.

REGISTER - http://www.rrbmgr.appspot.com/bbch2012/april/registrations

KIDDIES RACE!

Yup, since it was so intense and competitive the last time, we are having a kid’s race this time too. Its an easy sub-5 km course so do bring the juniors along.

See ya there!

Shouts rang out and curses were traded as a few lethargic birds were given a rude awakening this Sunday at Turahalli. The second race of the season kicked off in a little valley between a rise and a hill.

We had a fantastic turnout with all the teams, friends, families, onlookers and (somewhat anxious) parents showing up.  The Go Green crew showed up too swelling the numbers to over a hundred.

The course threw the whole kitchen sink at the riders – an open dirt track climb, a stony field, a singletrack climb which seemed deceptively easy, a relatively flat run through a construction site followed by a super quick leg of a km or so downhill which saw riders darting through the trees. The first five broke away in no time and Darren powered his way up the climb with Nelly, Bharath and Craig in hot pursuit followed by Naveen and Sriram, who just managed to break through the melee on the climb. Some of the less fortunate quicker riders were left rueing the fact that they couldn’t. They were left to fight their way through a queue of riders who were taken unawares by the climb.

Bikes came to a standstill as metal groaned, tyres spun out of control, derailleurs strained and forks lifted in a bid to get up the rise.  People quickly found out just how awkward it is to get moving again when one stops on a singletrack incline.

The breakaway pack flew around the hill and headed back to hit the decline at a breathtaking pace. Darren opened up a terrific lead and proceeded to shred his way to victory over five laps. Nelly took the jump and flew up the long bank at breakneck speed. He lifted his wheel to get over a insolent rock when tragedy struck. A bang, a hiss – snakebite! The dreaded pinch flat had struck again and his race came to an end. Craig was running a great race before he encountered a flat too. Bharath rode his way to a very creditable second place while Georg took third in an almost effortless manner. Naveen and Sriram battled it out all the way through to take 4^th and 5^th.

We saw lots more action with huge spills and a number of thrills. Ravi Ranjan copped a flat and proceeded to run the rest of that lap, collect a second bike and complete the race – one heck of an effort from him. Credit also goes to Shobhit who exhibited super team solidarity by running laps around part of the course once his bike quit on him.  We even saw a road bike hitting the trails as Vasu completed a lap, just to be able to make a roadie point to all the MTBeers.

Post the race, we saw the junior bikers take centre stage and the kiddie race was contested with every bit of intensity as the big race, although some of that heat might’ve come from the enthusiastic and intense parents out there.

We saw tremendous prizes being given out – the likes of which BBCh has never been seen before. There was a Camelbak hydration pack, sippers, Scott helmets, Sigma cyclocomps and even Sufferfest videos for the fourth place winner.

A big high five to all the volunteers who made this possible and here’s to the next race. We can already hear the roadie cleats being sharpened.

Ladies, gents and kids, BBCh has truly arrived!

Sunday, February 19th 2012 – all bike lanes led to Nandi Hills as the Bangalore Bicycle Champsionship cranked off with a Time Trial. We saw a record turnout of nearly 90 riders landing up from all over the country to pit themselves against the clock and each other.

Curious picknickers stopped on their way out of town to shoot curious glances at people in strange getups while the more informed spectators simply ogled at all the bike pron there was on offer – from Cervelo to S-Works, carbon to steel, TT to even MTB, it was all there. Everybody had his race-face on as jaws clenched and tendons flexed at the start line.

The course was a 20km loop (10 up and 10 back) starting from near ‘Friends Dhaba’ with rather warm conditions (to begin with). The first rider took off at 8:30 a.m and with riders leaving at intervals of 1 minute those at the fag end of the roster had to battle the heat as well as the clock.

In a first for the BBCh, the TT saw the introduction of Categories in the men’s event. These will form the basis of competition for the rest of the season. Both categories saw spirited contests and battles.

In Category 1 we saw some great competition with Kynkyny Racing painting the highway yellow, Team Naesar riding some scorching times and the Bijapur brigade coming to town (pun intended).

Naveen and Darren cranked their way to 6th and 7th place. Roopak Suri, Samim Rizvi and Vivek Radhakrishnan rode tremendous sub-30 min rides finishing 4th and 3rd (joint) respectively. Lokesh, as we are so used to seeing, put his head down and dropped the hammer on his way to a ripping time of 29 mins 30 seconds to finish second. However, it was Asif Attar who came, saw, cranked and conquered (the TT) in a blistering 29 minutes and 5 seconds. Podium honours were even with two members each from Naesar and Kynkyny (Samim and Vivek sharing third) clambering up on the jeep bonnet to claim their prizes.

Competition in Category 2  was fierce with the top 3 riders all finishing within 7 seconds of each other. Surya Prakash took the first place, followed by Amarpreet Kalkat and Sandeep Chand.

The ladies section witnessed strong rides from Neera Katwal (who finished first), Natasha and Shilpa Deo (second and third).

All told, it was a roaring success and, if its any sign of things to come, we are looking at a humdinger of a season.

More accounts of the race are to be found at the following links.

Rider perspective: http://www.govenkygo.com/2012/02/bbch-2012-season-opener-20k-itt.html

Spectator perspective: http://beingthomas.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/cleated-chaos-the-2012-bangalore-bicycle-championship-cranks-off/

Next race – offroad!

See you there.