Armyman Bharat Pannu has already two Guinness World Records to his kitty, one for fastest solo cycling, from Leh to Manali, a distance of 472 km in 35 hours, 32 minutes, and 22 seconds and his second record is 5,942-km-long ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ route, which connects Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Kolkata. Now he is set to break the Guinness World Record by Cycling 3750 Km in nine days from Koteshwar, Gujarat to Kibithoo, Arunachal Pradesh.
The race has already begun and if everything goes in Pannu’s favour he will break the record with sufficient margin. The old record was achieved by Naresh Kumar by cycling 11 days, 21 hr, 57 min, and 2 sec.
When asked about the motivation behind Cycling, he said, “It makes me feel liberated. It’s meditation for me.”
Pannu credits the Indian Army for the constant motivation that has kept him going, and made him able to break the Guinness Book of Records.
“As a part of Indian Army, I always got support from them and Indian Army has continuously motivated me to achieve my goals. Whenever I needed it, they support me. I am very grateful for getting this type of support from the Indian Army and feeling proud to be a part of this organization,” he said.
Any specific reason to choose the West to East India ride for this race, he replied with his usual grace, “I have done the Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Golden Quadrilateral & Leh-Manali as Guinness World Record Rides. The only significant ride which is left in India to do is West-East. Therefore the choice wasn’t difficult.”
Pannu is cycling on Scott Plasma to achieve his record. He said that the terrain from India West-East is more than 90% flat and a Scott Plasma TT bike would be an apt choice for this route.
Bharat Pannu is a SCOTT Sports India supported athlete since 2018 and he has won many ultra-endurance races and record attempts using SCOTT bikes and equipment.
Pannu had had bitter experiences in RAAM 2019 (Race Across America) when he ended up breaking his collar bone and had to drop out from the race. Now he will race in RAAM 2022 and is hopeful to win it.