BBCH

Deepak Majipatil is smiling and saying - 'man I'm very curious to see you riding' !

17th August 2014. 

I said - 'yes I also ride and love to ride but BBCH is occupying most of my time and not able to go for ride at all for long. My last ride was Anchetty brevet on 7th June 2014'. 

Partially true. BBCH coupled with my other few commitments, held me back from riding for a while now. 

Bangalore Bicyle Championships. 

Its a big thing. Its a pride. Its pioneering. Its glamorous. Its a privilege. 

For all the participating riders, kind sponsorers, active volunteers, very agile organisers & very importantly for the entire cycling community as a whole. 

I'm quite new to this and things have gone past so fast that I did not get any time to reflect upon it. New because, BBCH started almost six years back and I'm part of this for little more than a year now. The foundation was laid by couple of visionary people from our cycling community and then on BBCH has seen many changes along the way. I'm happy to be part of that and enjoyed every bit of it. 

In 2013, just before Chokanahalli forest Dirt race, the shout out for volunteers caught my attention and this thing was so very new to me that I decided to go and check it out. So one fine saturday morning, I reached to the volunteers meet just a day before the race. To my surprise there were many people around a table, busy discussing about the race. The things they were talking sounded quite alien to me. All the terminologies, rules and regulations for the race, the preparation - everything took a while for me to digest. People were running around, co-ordinating, packing up, talking about various aspects - all together it was quite buzzing. It was kind of nice to me. So finally I got the responsibilty to transport all the materials to the race venue the next day early morning and bring them back post race. Next day everything were packed and carried to the venue and each and everything made me very curious to see how they are involved in the race. So till the end of the race and packing up, I was carefully observing every activity just to understand what is going around me as it was the first time in my life that I was experiencing a bicycle race. 

The next race also I signed up for volunteering and repeated the same procedure like the first time. And this time around I started understanding it little better and started asking questions to know more about it and that made me little more confident. By now I started seeing few known faces whom I met for the last race and a sense of belongingness started to grow. 

Next race onwards, without anybody's knowledge I became a permanent fixture of BBCH. It became a habit that every month there is a race and I'm going to be a part of that. My role did not change much but my involvement started increasing. 

Another month later, realised that there are few more guys who are also quite regular like me for every race and un-knowingly a friendship started growing among us. At that point of time, we realised that we all love that sport in common and enjoy seeing so many exciting moments during the races. None of that bunch were neither into racing nor was aspiring to be also. That made the job even more easier. 

2013 racing season was coming to an end. But for us, the volunteers, it was going to be a new beginning. 

2014. The season started a month later in february after lots of discussions and deliberations. There were shortage of volunteers and organisers. So a new set of organisers were supposed to evolve and run the show. In one meeting, we were distributing responsibilities among the handful of volunteers and I kept the same portfolio for myself - transportation. As I was not very sure about what else I could do for a race about which my knowledge is so very limited. After sometime, Khuram came up with the idea that I have to manage the day to day operation of BBCH and run the show. I do not know from which angle he saw me to be suitable for this job. And this proposal was definitely not making everybody quite comfortable for very natural & obvious reasons - I did not have 

any sort of credentials to run a bicycle race ! Yes it is very true. I hesitated. Could have backed off easily. But certain things perhaps you can not do even if you want also. So I had to agree and start a new chapter in my life. 

It was not tough but certainly not so easy also. It was a beginning of a learning curve. 

First race of the season. I just tried to follow the same thing what I've been closely observing in last few races to implement. The race was filled with sweet & sour experiences. Then I realised, it is not a copy - paste job. Running a race involves a method. An approach which is very very personalised. It might give the same or similar result at the end but there is a sea of difference in handling part of it.  

So a new search began within myself. It took quite a lot of time for me to figure out the way forward. It involved lots of discussions. In the second race of the season, few things got better but still there was not a completeness which we wanted. I went to a complete old school method. I made a chart of things which everybody needs to check and ensure that all are in place before the race. 

With a huge amount of home work, we landed up in the third race of the season. It got much better this time. But still there were snags. I wanted to eliminate all of them. By this time, we started not only realising but feel that this kind of race is carrying a huge importance for one and all related to cycling. Its not only any more running a bicycle race but creating a platform for racing in India. We started believing in that. We started living in that. We started dreaming in that. We started talking in that. Lot of conflicts happened. Lot of outburst of frustration happened. Lot of misunderstanding happened. Lot of emotional shifts happened. But we held the baton. Held it high. 

We landed up in the fourth race of the season. It went on very smoothly. We realised that our process is working well and it is catching up with the imagination.  We decided at this stage, we must stregthen up our platform and make it more robust which can withstand any situation. I started dreaming about a method where the entire support system becomes extremely slick and eventually every race can be run by a single person. Tough. Very tough. Very very tough. Especially when all of us have a full time job and we dedicate our personal time for every race. But I kept on dreaming about it. As a result, I came up with a BBCH race manual. Which can be a guide to anybody who can just refer it and run a race. Shared with few people and they also appreciated it. For few of us, it became a part of our daily life - how to run a race. 

By the time we flagged off the fifth race of the season, which saw the maximum number of participants perhaps across the country ever, the Epic Nandi race, we realised that it is not only the participating riders who are racing but each one of us are also on our toes for a race. And that is not only the race day but for a very long time before the race, during the race and after the race also. Planning, execution and wrapping up - these three stages need to be handled with equal delicateness for any race otherwise it may cause a disaster. 

For the sixth race, we could do these three stages properly and delivered a nearly satisfactory race. 

The seventh and last race of the road season were approaching to us. And due to various reasons, one by one almost all of us fell short of doing things appropriately and it was becoming a nightmare. But I was holding on to my dream and methodology and the system we created. Slickness. And trust me, it kicked in. At the right time at the right place. Promise almost single handedly executed the race. After flagging off, myself and Promise were sitting on the fence and chatting and both of us almost at the same time uttered the same phrase - 'this is going to be the most peaceful race of the season'. We never looked at our eyes. But I know for sure, Promise's eyes were a bit moist as mine. We were missing Khuram as Tanija was handling the timing at the middle. The race ended with a high note. I told myself that, my dream of having a slick system works quite well and it could be a model in future. 

We have completed an awesome BBCH Road Race Series with lots of passion and hardwork with lots of help from many friends. 

I personally have started believing that - today's volunteers are tomorrow's organisers. 

Perhaps now I can go back to riding my bicycle with a peace of mind as the entrusted job is hopefully done well and of-course say 'Hi' to Deepak Majipatil from my saddle !