ULTRA RIDERS UNTAMED

From wild hallucinations to life-changing reflections, ultra riders share their unforgettable stories of endurance grit with James Shrubsall

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Riding 100 miles is no joke. It takes stringent planning, fuelling, resilience - and, for most of us, a good lie-down afterwards. Even 100km can feel like a stretch if your training hasn't gone to plan. So why on earth would anyone want to go further?

And yet, a growing number of cyclists are doing exactly that - not in spite of the suffering, but because of it. These are the ultra riders: the ones for whom a mere century ride barely registers as a warm-up. They chase distances most of us would balk at tackling by car - 300km, 1,500km, even 5,000km across America. Sleep is rationed. Sanity is optional.

For Cycling Weekly's ‘Going Long’ podcast, we spoke to some of the people who live at the limits of human endurance. From desert hallucinations and roadside gangsters to the quiet moments of clarity that come only after days on the bike, these are their most jaw-dropping stories. ‘I need Chinese food - for the dancers’

'I need Chinese food - for the dancers'

Preeminent Indian ultra racer Kabir Rachure, 35, rode the 2019 Race Across America - and discovered that sleep deprivation plus extreme heat can have some potent psychological effects.

“On day three I saw two couples in Chinese costume dancing on the road in front of my bike. I was aware it was a hallucination, but it was like it was in ultra HD. It was so clear, I told my crew about it and said I needed some Chinese food, could they bring some noodles, then maybe the dancers would go away. It worked - my crew bought the food and they disappeared.

“Another hallucination was a flyover above my head. It was so irritating. At one stage, I think on day five, we had stopped under a flyover, and as I ate my watermelon, I asked my crew, ‘Is this a real flyover or a hallucination?’