“The motive was to bring back the Guinness Record Home!” said the 18 year- old Cyclist, OM MAHAJAN, who recently made his place in the Guinness Book Of World Records by completing a ride from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in a Record time of 8 Days, 7 Hours and 38 Minutes.
Om completed his journey last week on Saturday evening after he held the National Tricolor and let it sway in the Kanyakumari’s soft breeze. The teen travelled through almost all the seasons starting from the Chilly Nights in Srinagar towards Heavy Rains in Gwalior and struggling through the South’s heat finally reaching his destination. Om talks to INN about his K2K experience.
When asked about his Inspirations, Om said,
“My dad and my uncle were primarily my inspirations. However, Kabir Rachure, for whom I crewed at the Race Across America in 2019, was my Inspiration for getting into ultra- Cycling.”
“I am thankful to my coaches Miten Thakker and Abbas Modi who prepared me for this expedition,”
he added.“My aim was to ride solo at the Race Across America at the age of 18 itself and hence, I started training for RAAM on the very next day after my Dad said that he had by back. I was to participate in the Deccan Cliffhanger Race which was a qualifier for RAAM but, the pandemic postpones the race. Meanwhile, I thought of racing from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and the motive was to bring back Home the Guinness Record that my uncle – Dr. Mahendra Mahajan created (10 Days, 10 Hours) which was then broken by Col. Bharat Pannu sir last year with a very competitive margin of 8 days 9 hours 40 minutes,”
Om told INN.
Saying that K2K wasn’t the actual plan, Om said that he started prepping for it Six Months ago. “For 7 years I was into competitive cycling, but it was 6 months ago that I started working towards ultra- endurance Cycling seriously,” Om said.
Om and his cycle have been Best Friends since childhood. “Since many years I was into racing Cycling. I represented Maharashtra twice at Nationals and have medals at state levels even in school games but this was all about fast and short distance Cycling and Endurance Cycling is totally a different sport,” Om said.
With his Tagline ‘Be Cool, Pedal To School’ Om tells that he has seen students travel to schools and colleges on bikes at an early age which is illegal as well as risky and hence, using a Cycle to commute is Cool, Eco-Friendly as well as Physically beneficial and does not even need a License!
The Journey from Kashmir To Kanyakumari!
Start Date – 14 November, 2020
Time – 6:21 AM
Place – Lal Chowk, Srinagar
- 2 High Gradient Ghats that measured 20 km length.
- At the base of the first ghat, Om’s primary follow vehicle was stopped and wasn’t allowed to go on further.
- Second follow vehicle was stationed at Udhampur (231 KMs from Srinagar).
- Om had to face two flat tyres and had to fix them by himself which was more time consuming. Om also stopped for 20-25 because of the road closures in the area.
- The temperature during this ride was 0-4 degrees.
- Om reached Jalandhar and finished his day’s ride.
- Delhi and Srinagar were his next hurdles due to the extreme rains he faced.
- The later challenging part was facing the heat in the Nagpur-Anantpur Southern belt.
- Om said that he even faced Hallucinations during the steep upward slopes in the area.
“While riding, I thought that I was doing a team event and it was while approaching Kashmir and the roadsides were covered in snow. I even asked my uncle who was in the support vehicle about my fellow riders. But he said that there was nothing like that and I was riding solo towards Bangalore and not Kashmir and those were hallucinations,” Om said.
- A Sleep of 7 and a half minute and this Champ began his journey again.
- Om crossed Bangalore and then slept for about 45 minutes at Hosur.
- His dream was just 646 Kms away and Om started cycling aiming to directly stop at Kanyakumari and travelled the first 200 Kms really fast.
- After sometime Om started deteriorating which was a result of sleep deprivation.
- There came a time when Om was to meet with an accident because of being sleep deprived and getting dozy while cycling.
“I controlled myself as my dad shouted and honked the support vehicle loudly. This could have been worse if I could have swayed to the right side of the road instead of the left as there was heavy and fast traffic on that side,” Om explains.
- It was 286 Kms that seemed nearly impossible to be crossed in the record time but Om said that at the back of his mind, that even when the crew made a mindset of just doing for a completion sake, he wanted to make this count and gave it his all.
- Om peddled rode around 38 Kms in the first hour and 40 Kms in the next leading to a ray of hope in his Crew’s mind.
- The Required speed reduced to 26 Kmph from 27 Kmph and this motivated Om to just go for it!
- “I kept on riding harder and harder and finally reached Kanyakumari with a lead of 2 hours over the previous record timing. I ended up completing the distance in 8 days 7 hours and 38 minutes,” Om exclaims out of Joy!
Om told INN when asked about his feeling after getting his name Enrolled in the Guinness Book of World Record and he said, “It felt great and it was a dream come true. My family has always been extremely supportive and I always wanted to do something for them and all that I have achieved, is JUST because of their support.”
Talking about his career plans, Om concluded saying that he has enrolled himself in Wichita state university in USA for bachelor’s in sports management and says that he wishes to learn and impart that knowledge into the sports industry of India and motivate the youth to achieve their dreams in the field of sports.
