Congratulations to Abhishek Kumar Singh who set the record for the Unsupported CCW Circumnavigation of Karnataka Attempt – in the Male 18-49 Age Group on a Standard Bike.

Rider’s Narrative

The record attempt started at 5:00 AM there were some friends and family who came to see me off. Shared some pictures with them and then the ride started at 5:00 AM in the morning on 31st of January 2025. So the first part of the ride was fast.My target was to ride 600 kilometers in the 1st 24 hours and Then go ahead, Look where I was and then go ahead from there so. The ride started quick, got out of Bangalore city and then continued the ride. After around 250 kilometres hit the first roadblock where there was a lot of road construction going on. So lot of bad roads somehow navigated through those and continued. In the 1st 12 hours I covered around 332 kilometers, which I felt happy about. But the negative point was that I was pushing myself a bit too hard. During those first 12 hours. So after those 12 hours the moment I reached around 420 kilometers. It was around 8pm in the evening. I started feeling sleepy. Which never happens so. I started feeling sleepy, so then I thought and the 1st and my first mental, you know, destination that I thought was to be Hospet, which was around 490 kilometers, but that seemed far right now because I was feeling sleepy and there was no way that I could reach another 70 kilometers before taking a break. So I found a good place to sleep. Stopped there, Parked my cycle took out the mosquito cream and the hazard blanket and went and took a nap of around 2 hours and then got up and started from there. Reached Hospet at around 2 in the morning. So it didn’t look like that, you know, in next three hours I’m going to cover 110 kilometers. That first target of 600 kilometers in 24 hours is out of the window. But then you know, as it comes, we will take it that way was the mindset and continued from that aspect, the road towards Ballari started and within next 10 kilometers the roads were so bad that I lost a lot of, courage and enthusiasm. I saw a petrol station. I went ahead and took a nap again for one and half hours at around 500 kilometers. And then got up at 4 started , in the next one hour, by the completion of 24 hours, I had covered 520 kilometers.

The 2nd day started, the bad, broken and patchy roads kept coming and i kept navigating through them. As the daylight hit the road condition improved a bit. My next target was to reach Yadgir @800kms by evening 6pm. Kept pedaling and stopping once in a while for a water or a food break, met lots of people on the way , answered most of their questions took some photos with them and kept going. The tarmac again vanished at around 650 kms for a good 30 kms, but i was in good spirit so kept going. The sleep breaks had done me a lot of good and i felt energized and kept going. Reached Yadgir at 6pm at 800 kms, it was a lot of trouble to reach this city as the roads 10km before leading to this city were completely patchy and broken. Somehow achieved a small target and then stopped for a food break, continued after that crossed some of the forest and ghat sections and very deserted stretch of roads to reach another city called Sedam. The target was to reach Humnabad at 961 kms before taking a sleep break. But at 930kms i started feeling sleepy again, found a closed shop and went to sleep there. It was a wrong decision, the selection of the place was bad, due to this i could not sleep well and somehow did not feel recovered even after 2.5 hrs of break. Started from that place at around 5am. So in 48 hours i had covered 932 kms.

The 3rd day started and I had covered 932kms, the highway was very cold in the morning, temperatures would have been in the single digit in deg Celsius. Reached Humnabad at around 7am in the morning and pushed towards Kalburgi the next town, kept searching for breakfast in the morning and finally was able to get a good restaurant at 9 am. After breakfast at 980 kms started for Vijaypura which was at 1180 kms, the target to reach Vijaypura was by 6pm in the evening. The hours went by and the sun started shining brightly and with it I was into the 3rd day with lot of tropical heat. Taking frequent breaks to hydrate myself I was able to reach Vijaypura by 6pm in the evening. Carried on from there for the next milestone Belgaum which was at 1380kms, the plan was to ride the whole night and reach Belgaum within 72 hrs. The state highway that I took was very busy with lots of fast moving vehicles. Took a big break for dinner and then continued, reached a place called Jamkhandi, saw a good cozy place to sleep for couple of hours so stopped and took a 2 hr nap in front of a closed shopping complex. Got up feeling fresh and pushed towards Belgaum with whatever speed I could muster. Reached Belgaum 1380 kms by 6:30 am. Covered 1380 kms in 73.5 hrs.

The 4th morning was cold and there was a small crowd of morning walkers on the road, decided to take a small nap at a bus shelter, as I was about to lie down a gentleman approached me and asked me about the whole thing, after explaining him my attempt, he was very moved and asked me to take rest at his place, went to his home and crashed to a bed for 3 hrs, I had put all my lights and gadgets for charging at his home, got up fresh and washed my clothes and gave it for drying. Finally I was able to start back on road at 12:30 pm in the afternoon after a good 6 hrs of break. But this break helped me put on washed clothes and was able to charge all my lights and powerbanks. The next target from Belgaum was Karwar at 1590 kms, the start of the coastal stretch, this terrain was challenging to with a rolling terrain and ghat section with lots of climbing so it would take time to cover this stretch. Also the ghat roads were pretty bad a some places due to incessant rains last monsoon. The winding roads kept coming and I was just pushing though these roads with a very easy z2 effort, reached Karwar in the night at around 12:20 am. I was stopped at 3 police checkposts where I was asked about my whereabouts and was asked to ride mindfully and safely at night and let go. I continued till 1630kms at 2am when I started feeling sleepy again, took a shelter at a bus stop and slept for 2.5 hrs. After 96 hours I had covered 1640 kms.

The 5th Day began with a severe knee pain as the place where I had slept was very cold and the knees froze due to cold. It took me some time to warmup and then continue my ride, the next target was to reach a place called Suratkal which was 1870 kms and the target was to reach there by evening. There was a lot of headwind in the coastal highway with too much of heat and humidity along with a highly rolling terrain, this made the progress slow, but as the terrain eased out I was able to make up lost time and was able to reach Suratkal by 5:30 pm. The day had not been easy, I had started suffering from saddle sore and knee pain which led to frequent breaks and nursing the injury. After reaching Surathkal I went to medical shop and got the strongest Muscle relaxant that they had and took one so that I could cycle pain free. Continued from there as this was now the final stretch. My target was to climb the Madikeri ghat at 2020 kms which has 25kms long hill climb with 1300m of elevation by 6am and to do this I needed to cycle whole night. After some very bad road stretch luck was on my side and I could find a very fast and smooth tarmac where I was able to travel 30 kms effortlessly, but the side effect of this was that I started feeling sleepy again. Stopped at small place and slept for 2 hrs and then started again. Reached the base of Madikeri ghat Climb @ 1990 kms at 5am in the morning. So in 120 hrs I had completed 1990kms.

The final Day or the 6th day began with a huge climb of 1300m on a 25kms long hill climb, I kept pedaling at a comfortable pace and the kilometers kept moving ahead, after 17.7kms of climbing there is a small 2kms flat section, as it was now 7am in the morning I got down for a quick tea and a bite. As I was getting back up on the cycle I had a severe knee pain and was not able to pedal at all, so I decided to run for a while, held the shoes and my cycle in one hand and started running up the slope pushing my cycle. After running up the slope for around 20mins I felt good and then I was able to wear my shoe and pedal again. By the time I reached Madikeri @2020kms it was 8am, but now only last 270 kms were remaining and I was determined to finish by 9- 10pm. I kept pedaling and visualizing the finish. My family and friends were all keeping track of my progress and had informed them of my ETA at 10pm in the evening. I wanted to enter Bangalore in the non rush hours so that I could finish in the dark and in peace. The last 270 kms were tough mentally as I was suffering from the saddle sore and the knee pain, taking frequent but small breaks and kept moving towards the finish line. Finally I was able to reach Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore at 10pm in the evening. A good crowd of 30-40 cyclists with family and friends had gathered to welcome me back. 

The finishing moments are something to cherish as it was exactly as I had visualized, cake were there for the celebration and everyone was eager to listen to my stories. But for that moments the stories could wait as I was back home again and would not have to deal with the pain for a while now. Until the next adventure it was great learning for me to know my own limitations, understanding my body and the finer details like, optimum amount of sleep needed in these rides daily and the food and other needs.

Thank you