Racing the pearl amidst busy schedules - Story of SyscoLabs Cycling Team

ow a group of ordinary employees at Sysco LABS Sri Lanka managed to participate and finish Race the Pearl in 24 hours???

Yes, you read it correctly we did it.

A Group of 5 amateur cyclists managed to participate in Race the Pearl with just two months of planning and training and managed to finish within 24 hours. yes, that's 600kms of bicycle riding from the top to the bottom of the country in just 24 hours. So here is our story.?

Inception

It all started with the SyscoLabs cycling club.? Anushka, a 2-time veteran RTP finisher as a relay player brought up the idea to put up a team of riders under the company name. Initially, everybody was scared when they heard the terms of cycling 100+ km and 600kms within a day. But there were few who wanted the challenge.

Meet "The" Team

Finally, we found five people

Anushka Samarasinghe a Senior Team Lead in Property Team Akila Darshana Panditha a Software Architect Kasun Udalagama , a Senior Team Lead in the SRE team Nilanka Wijesooriya Senior Operations Manager Keshawa Yaddehikandage ATL cloud services.

Then came the next problem, only two of us had road bikes.? Kasun and Keshawa bought their bikes just for this and I myself had to borrow one as the one I ordered got delayed. ( Thanks Charana Randeni for lending the bike )

Then we started practicing. As long as we got the team together each individual started practicing on their own but we only started practicing as a group just one month before the event. We managed to do 3 50km rides and 2 100km rides.

Planning -

RTP is not just a race. It's a huge logistical operation especially when you participate as a team.? So we need a crew chief and Menusha Prithiviraj got onboarded with the role.? Anushka single-handedly prepared proposals and got the budget approved for the team by the company.? In the last practice session, we decided on the below segment assignment

• Anushka - Jaffna to Vavuniya? ( as the most experienced rider, he wanted to set the tone of the race and then have enough rest to be a power player )
• Akila -? Vavuniya to Dambulla ? ( relatively flat road and only 100kms - idea do it as fast as possible )?
• Keshawa - Dambulla to Mahiyanganaya
• Kasun - Mahiyanganaya to Wellawaya (Both assignments were done based on the body type and fitness levels of the riders as lower body weight benefits a lot for climbs?)
• Nilanka - Wellawaya to Dondra ( He is the inform rider in the group so we kept the best to last !! )

Logistics

Logistics wise we planned for three vehicles, two vans from the company, and my Nissan Patrol SUV? for its additional lights which can help riders during night times.? Apart from riders, crew chief, and drivers we got a physio and a filming crew from the marketing department.

One van and my SUV went to Jaffna with the physio/film crew and the first two riders while the second van went to Dambulla with the next two riders. Nilanka was dropped at his hotel on Wellawaya on a rental vehicle separately.?

?

Show Time !! ( The race day ) ?

Race Day started in Point Pedro with Anushka on the bike, and myself on standby if something goes wrong. Van became the primary RSV ( rider support vehicle ) and SUV being a camera Crew vehicle.

Anushka - Jaffna to Vavuniya?

This was a longer leg and the morning weather was good. after about 9.00 a.m sun was starting to shine and the ride becomes much harder. But being 2 time veteran of the event Anushka paced the ride perfectly. he rode 30+ in the early morning and then kept around 25+ when the sun is out.

Once the Anushka was 35kms away from the finish, One vehicle went ahead to Vavuniya with me as I need to get changed and warm up for the next leg

Akila -?Vavuniya to Dambulla

The biggest challenge of this leg is the sun. As expected I had to start with the sun being out but after the first 30 minutes, heavy rain started. It was heavy to the point that I had to slow down due to crosswind as well as low visibility and ultimately had to take 6 minutes off at the 30 km mark until the rain settles down. After the initial heavy rain the conditions were favorable and I managed to pick up the pace and get closer to the average target of 30 kmph

The next two riders were already at Dambulla so we didn't have to send riders ahead like at Vavuniya yet one vehicle stayed at Vavuniya till Anushka got a break and change over.

Keshawa - Dambulla to Mahiyanganaya

This was the hardest leg as it had bad roads and steep climbs. On top of that Keshawa had to deal with heavy rains throughout the leg. An average speed drop was expected. Also midpoint a van left the race and went ahead with Kasun to get ready while others stayed back until I was ready to leave after having lunch at Dambulla. That's the reason why this operation needs more than one vehicle !!!

Kasun - Mahiyanganaya to Wellawaya

By the time we reached Mahiyangana, we were a bit behind the schedule. One major mistake we did was not to utilize one of the powerplays in the third stretch ( lesson learned for next time! ) . Kasun was super pumped for his ride and immediately took off on the bike. He was flying on the bike and doing 50kmph+ downhills and 25 kmph + climbs. He literally did the 100kms including considerable climbs without any rest out of the bike and managed to average 27kmph + that's actually a pro-level effort from a guy who got his first road bike two months back !!. And this was the key turning point that got us back on track to finish within 24 hours.

As usual one van stayed back to get Keshawa rested and back while other left ahead to Wellawaya to get Nilanka ready ( even though he was in Wellawaya , he didn't have a vehicle to go to the start location at midnight )

Nilanka - Wellawaya to Dondra ( Anushka on Powerplay )

We were on the edge when it comes to timing when we started this leg. So without taking any risks we planned to take a power play here. powerplay means another rider can take over for 30 km for a time penalty of 3 minutes added to final timing. Having the plan in mind Nilakna started pushing toward the 30 average mark for 100 km instead of planing for the whole 145. Then Anushka took the powerplay and Nilanka got enough rest for about one hour before giving his maximum to the final push for the finish line !!

At the Finish Line !!!!

its was full of emotions when we reach the finish line before the 24-hour mark. We did this to prove to ourselves that a set of ordinary people like me can take up the challenge and do it within 24 hours. Even this was the first time for Anushka as his past two attempts ended up beyond 24h mark. Entire team was sleepless for 24+ hours on vehicles and it was full of emotions

Final Thoughts

We did it for our self-satisfaction. We did it to prove to ourselves that a set of ordinary people can do it. We didn't break any records or win any race but we took up a challenge and rose up to the occasion. None of us did the same distance on a bike faster than the race before. none of us rode 100kms without taking longer breaks before. on average each rider only took a maximum of 2-5 minutes breaks per 100 km.

But it was not just five of us. Our crew chief did an amazing job keeping everything on track and coordinating running back and forth. Then our Employer, SyscoLabs. without the financial and logistical support, we couldn't have done it at all. Then comes our support staff drivers, physio, and our loyal friends and families who came to cheer for us.

In final words, I humbly request all companies and professionals out there to consider participating in this event in the future !! . It was the best team-building event I had in my entire cooperate career. I was new to SyscoLabs ( joined just 6 months ago ) and everybody was a stranger to me but after just two months I have a set of best friends and brothers now !!!