Epreuve de Force 2017 - The Race to Manchi, Trial of Strength (3rd Edition)

It was a long day-journey ahead of me from Pune to Vadodara, my bike was safely resting on the upper berth and I was trying to get as much sleep as I could while sitting. The arrival time for the train was 1 am in the morning and 5 hours after that I was to be there at the start line of Epreuve de Force 2017! Fortunately, the train reached Vadodara on time and my father came to pick me up. We got home and I quickly assembled by bike and decided to sleep for a couple of hours. Woke up at 4, had some bananas, got ready and reached the start point at 5:30 am.

I was happy to meet lot of folks with whom I used to ride a year back. The route of EDF is a perfect trial of strength. It’s a total of 50 km out of which first 6 km is a neutral zone, post which the actual race begins. The first 40 km into the race is flat and it ends with a 4.5 km hill climb of 6% average gradient. The event was organised by The Cycling Club of Baroda and Vadodara Marathon was supporting the event this year with a decent amount of prize money at stake which attracted a lot of good riders from Ahmedabad, Surat and Mumbai.

It was time to start and Raghvendrasinh Jhala and Raghu Vishal briefed the riders about the route and things to take care of during the race. After the neutral zone there was another flag-off for the race and off we went. Just after the start, I saw Mayur Chauhan making the initial move to break away and everyone was trying to catch up with him. After some 5-6 km into the race and a couple of failed attempts at breaking away, the lead bunch was formed comprising some good 20-25 riders. We were easily cruising at around 45 km/h with a slight tail wind helping us on the course. I was with the head of the bunch and some 3-4 riders were taking turns at leading the peleton. There were continuous break away attempts by Sanresh Shedekar, Mayur, Ravi Motwani and myself but all were going in vain. What was missing here was a team effort which would take a rider ahead. But here everyone was on their own and hence every attack was being followed and the slipstream behind them was getting caught by the whole bunch. Although, there were a couple of good breaks, but they only lasted for a couple of kilometres. We tried breaking by slowly sneaking away too, but that didn’t work either. Another reason for breaks not happening was that no one wanted to give it all in as we were saving for the final climb.

After 30 km, we touched the Halol Bypass and the flat section was over with a slight positive gradient for the next 8-10 km plus cross-head winds. This could have been a perfect point to break, but no one dared to do so, again, either to save for the climb or we were all out of gas to do so. A good strong rider should have made his move at this point. I did try it, but only half-heartedly as all the breaks were getting caught and I didn’t want to waste my energy unnecessarily, just before the climb. A team effort at this point could have easily sealed the deal.

By the time the Manchi base came, the lead bunch was left with some 10-12 riders and the race was well set for all the good climbers now. Among the first ones to start the climb were Keyu Singal and I. I wanted to set a good momentum into the climb from the beginning, which I did, but saw the lighter riders slowly overtaking me just after 500 m into the climb. Keyur got dropped soon and the 3 riders who overtook me were Daxesh Retiwala, Kartik Kansara and Sanresh Shedekar. They were going farther slowly and steadily, which is when I tried to catch them. 4 more km to go and I was panting already. I could only hold on to them for another 500 m. The top 3 positions were almost sealed by then. 3 more km to go and I could still see them 50 m ahead of me. Another rider Parth Jariwala came in at this point and we kept exchanging the 4th and 5th places. I tried dancing out of the saddle, crouching on the drops, but nothing was working for me at that point. I was also feeling a wobble in my right quads and I didn’t wanted it to become a cramp. I kept on going as fast as I could without any jerky and torquey moves. 2 km to go and things seemed the same as they were. I saw Mayur struggling 100 m behind me, I had to make sure atleast he doesn’t overtake me now. It felt that I was only doing damage control on the climb as I was only been overtaken and wasn’t overtaking anyone. 1 km to go and the fate was almost decided. I was running at 5th place. I did overtake Parth on the second last hairpin bend, but he overtook me after that. It was all over by that time. I was the 5th rider to cross the finish line with a timing of 01:19:14. It was a good competitive race. I improved my best timing on this climb by a minute and a half, for which I felt good. But, still lot of work to do for me in the climbing department.

The top 3 riders in my category were: Daxesh Retiwala (01:18:00), Kartik Kansara (01:18:05) and Sanresh Shedekar (01:18:35). All of them rode really well, especially Sanresh who was also involved in all the attacks made previously. In the Men’s 40+ category the top 3 riders were: Tejas Jariwala (01:23:44), Jagat Patel (01:27:45) and Naresh Hundiya (01:27:47). In the Women’s open category the top 3 riders were: Pallavi Retiwala (01:23:40), Arpita Ketan Pandya (01:36:25) and Monica Joshi (01:59:36). Pallavi rode really well and was in the lead bunch throughout the time.

All in all, it was a very well managed event. All thanks to the marshals and volunteers because of which it was a success. Also, wonderful photography by Sameer Gaikwad which can be accessed from The Cycling Club of Baroda. Post race, there were breakfast arrangements for all the riders and volunteers at Saat Kaman which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After the prize distribution ceremony, riders went down to the base of the hill, where vehicles were arranged by the organizers for the riders and their bikes to go back to Vadodara.

Lot of learning for me from the race and areas of improvements were spotted. It’s always a pleasure racing on this route and will hopefully come back next year again, stronger and trained even better.

Link to my Strava Activity: https://www.strava.com/activities/953861598​

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