A journey 4,200 miles long: How Sundaram Narayanan became fastest Indian Trans Am Bike race finisher

It was a fierce display of resilience when Sundaram Narayanan showed up at the start line of the Trans Am Bike Race on 4 June 2023. Five years ago when he had last visited the United States, Sundaram suffered a crash while training for the Race Across America (RAAM). He returned home without having ridden a single mile of the 2018 race. The following year, he met with another accident during the Ultra Spice Race that runs between Goa and Tamil Nadu. It kept him off his bicycle for three months, as he nursed his physical and emotional wounds. “The Trans Am race is the perfect platform to show the experience and skills I have acquired in the field of ultra endurance. I have never failed to finish a self supported ride in the past. My aim was simple - to give back to the supporters and sponsors, who have stood by me over all these years,” Sundaram says. The race is a beast that needs a steady effort and immense patience. It runs over 4,200 miles (6,800km) from Astoria in Oregon on the west coast of the United States and follows a south east route to finish at Yorktown in Virginia. There’s no support for the racers, who must be self-sufficient for the entire duration of the ride. When the 43-year-old made the finish at 11.14 pm on 29 June, he had been riding for 25 days 23 hours and 14 minutes. It was the fastest time recorded by an Indian cyclist at the Trans Am where he finished 11th of 46 participants. His body was fatigued and craved rest, but in his mind, he knew it was his moment of redemption. Tough times  Sundaram took to ultra cycling in 2014 and was soon hooked to the sport. The chief medical physicist and radiological safety officer at Manipal Hospital in Goa found solace in the saddle as he embraced massive distances on lonely highways. “It all started with randonneuring and I was among the first to do the 1,200km distance on five occasions. And I enjoyed self supported riding because you don’t depend on anyone - it’s just you, your bicycle and the plans that you’ve made, which keep changing based on the situation,” he says. After riding various races in India, Sundaram decided to take on the RAAM – a 3,000 mile race across the United States – but returned empty-handed. He decided to attempt the race again in 2019, but the second crash broke him. “There was a lot of turbulence in the head - why were these things happening to me? I looked for reasons, a lot of introspection. And then there was the obvious question of whether I should continue cycling or simply quit,” he recalls. The last few years would flash past him each time he saw a bicycle. His friends and family dissuaded him from taking on cycling again. Even as he recovered from his injuries, Sundaram pursued yoga and joined a life coaching course to seek answers. “It gave me clarity on what I needed to do. I realised that my injuries could have been far worse. I had to accept what had happened and move on,” he says. Training days Though he had set his mind on attempting the Trans Am last year, it took him a while to figure out the logistics for the ride and the necessary gear. But by October 2022, he had everything in place and started training specifically for the mammoth race. The initial weekly mileage was a little over 200km and he steadily worked towards increasing the distances over time. By March, he was riding 300km for three consecutive days, then 250km for four days, before beginning the taper phase. He would start from his home in Dona Paula and criss-cross the highways across Goa, attend to work at the hospital and have enough energy to tuck into a meal and gear up for a similar effort the following day. “It does get boring at times. But when you are mentally prepared to do it, you have to accept the suffering that comes with it,” he says. “The training and race preparation was very nicely set up, exactly what I had in mind. So all I had to worry about was going there and riding,” he says. Starting trouble  At 6 am on 4 June, Sundaram got his attempt underway from Astoria. But from the outset, he was in trouble in the freezing mountain weather that he soon encountered. “Since we ride in tropical conditions in India, the body takes a while to adapt to the cold. The rain made it even worse. I suffered constant knee pain and it only relented once I slept longer to allow the body to recover,” he says. A rude awakening was in store on Day 4. During the morning hours, his bicycle suddenly veered off the path and towards the fencing by the wayside, until he snapped out of his daze and came to a stop. “All along, it felt like I had been riding on the road - I had no idea that I had gone off. I realised how dangerous it would have been had I swung the other way and in the path of a vehicle. Here on, I would take short naps when needed before proceeding,” he says. “Then again, there were certain moments when I was really sleepy and it was impossible to stop because of windy conditions. There’s not much that you can do besides shouting out loud and even slapping yourself to stay alert while riding. And hoping there’s some respite soon,” he says. Though loneliness was a constant factor, the stunning terrain brought him relief - everything from snow capped mountains to lush forests. The plan was to ride close to 18 hours before calling it a day. There were certain halts where he could shower and get cosy in the comfort of a motel room; on other days, he would have to settle down on the front porch of a home, the emergency room of a hospital or simply a park bench. “The kindness I experienced was overwhelming. Some would treat me to a breakfast without my knowledge, another person invited me home and hosted me for the night. Folks at gas stations wouldn’t let me pay for food and drinks, and others asked me to come over for dinner. And I was just a stranger to all of them,” Sundaram says. Mechanical failures After powering through 6,000 km, Sundaram encountered his first flat. When he suffered another one a short distance ahead, he realised he was out of spare tubes. Though he tried to patch up the leak, it was a temporary fix and he soon realised he would have to visit a bike shop and replace the tube. He hitchhiked his way to the next town, where he was provided assistance by the local county police. By the time he returned to the point where he had stopped, he had travelled 200 km and had lost close to 15 hours. “It was heartbreaking, since I had just 700km to go and wanted to finish it off,” he says. But there was more drama in store the following day when someone dropped his bike and damaged the gear shifter. It resulted in another 12 hour delay, before he could finally start riding towards the finish. The last 20 km had cobbled roads and strong headwinds. The progress was tedious, but Sundaram finally met success. For five days after the finish, he simply ate and slept to recover from the gruelling effort. “It was only then that I realised I had actually achieved something. In a race like this, it doesn’t matter how fast you go. Getting to the finish is a great victory in itself because only you know the pain that you go through and what it’s taken for you to be there. It’s all for the love of cycling,” he says. For what he had accomplished, a priceless reward was in store for him when he came home to his five-year-old son, Aayaan. “He carried a poster that read - Welcome, dad, champion. It means the world to me,” he says. The author is a freelance writer from Mumbai who thrives on narrating a good story. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. 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