Nagpur: “It’s done”. Endurance cycling athlete Dr Amit Samarth finished the 9100km Trans-Siberian Extreme bicycle race on Friday with these two words. Covering the distance in 25 days and travelling through eight time and 15 climatic zones, Samarth pedalled his way to glory and made history by becoming the first Asian to complete the race. In 2017, he had participated in Race Across America in which he cycled for 5000kms and finished in 11 days 21 hours and 11minutes to become the first Indian to complete it in first attempt in solo category.“Trans-Siberian Extreme is for those who want to get pushed to their limits and beyond and test their mind and body,” Samarth said in a recorded message just after finishing. “It is the endurance event on this planet and nothing gets tougher than this. The total 77,000 metres of elevation that the race covers is like climbing ten Mt Everests,” he said. Samarth who remained in fourth or fifth position on the race chart throughout the duration added, “Maybe, after three years I will come back and do better.”Braving cold, rain, fog, temperature extremes, rough terrain and the huge distance, Samarth described the race as “A monster in itself. It is almost double the distance of RAAM and after the 10th stage, all the remaining ones are between 600 km and 1300 kms. It is mind bending and the last stage was very difficult as the entire 750 km was all hills which is very strenuous,” he said. Samarth was on the saddle for 350 hours in all.Samarth, along with five other participants, started from Moscow on July 24. The first stage from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod was of 319 kms. Though the organizers provide experienced and professional support team with drivers, medical, physio and mechanical services, Samarth had a crew of two, Devnath Pillai and Chetan Thatte accompanying him.During the entire course, participants went cross the Ural mountains and four of world’s longest rivers. They passed Lake Baikal and rode along the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China, spending more than three weeks on the road. The cyclists braved howling head winds, incessant rains, bad traffic and bad roads in many stages. In Stage 10, all of 1060 km from Krasnoyarsk to Irkutsk he had to ride for two nights in heavy rains and had to change clothes frequently.“You have to be possessed by some spirit to do this race,” Samarth had observed after completing the stage. The 1368 kms between Chita and Sovobodny also called the King Stage was completed by Samarth in 59 hours.Samarth, has also completed four Ironman events, and is the Winner of Deccan Cliffhanger 2017, for which he pedalled 643 kms in 25 hrs 28 mins from Pune to Goa. About Trans Siberian he says, “It is also an eating competition, where the one who eats most wins.” About the 15,000 calories were required to be consumed by the participants every day, he says.Participation in race is by invitation and there were six participants at the start. Five of them of them completed.

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