Tim Chittock’s initial dream was to ride the track from Chile to Alaska to set a world record but was asked to cover the Golden Quadrilateral instead. He shares with Shrabasti Mallik stories of his journey in India
In many ways New Zealand based Tim Chittock is your average 24 year old boy — a graduate with a bachelor’s degree in law and economics, who likes the company of his friends and enjoys sports. But there is one thing that sets him apart — the fact that he has covered the Golden Quadrilateral (a total distance of 6,000 kms spanning Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai) in less than 24 days, in an attempt to set a world record.
It is not every day that a foreign national tries to set a world record in India. Turns out, Chittock actually wanted to ride the track from the bottom of Chile to the top of Alaska. So he got in touch with the Guinness World Record office six months ago and told them that he might be able to set a record. “They sent an email asking me if I would like to try the Golden Quadrilateral instead. I guess it was just a test and I looked into it and it was the perfect time of the year. I saw the maps and the terrain looked flat. Also there was a good wind that would follow us around. So I decided to give it a go,” he smiled.
The first week, after he took off from the New Zealand High Commission on February 21, he rode to Kolkata. But things did not sail smoothly because he got really sick. “I could not eat and was living on noodles so I lost weight very quickly,” said Chittock and added that he covered about 300 kms on the first day and got past Agra.
By the time he reached Kolkata, the thought of giving up had already crept into his mind. “It was too hard,” he recalled. “I knew that if I continued like that, I would become real sick and that would be bad. I told my mother but she encouraged me. She reminded me how I had told people that I would do it and that I should be more reliable. So I kept going,” he added.
According to the calculations, in order to set the record, Chittock had to ride 300 kms a day. “That was the aim because that average would have helped us cover the distance in 20 days,” he explained and mentioned that since he did it in 23 days and 20 hours, the average was about 260 kms per day.
After spending 24 days straight on the roads of India, he did have a lot of stories to share — how he had a close shave at least three times and how he was almost mowed down by a truck but narrowly escaped. But from his accounts we realised that his cherished, more vivid experiences were of the people. They were “the most interesting part” of the journey. “I have been to Japan and Vietnam but Indians are the most kind and helpful — enthusiastically helpful — people. If I came across someone and asked for help, they would open their home to me. And that is something I am not used to at home. I mean Kiwis are supposed to be friendly, and we are, but I don’t think we go to the same extent,” said the young rider.
Interestingly, Chittock’s cycling career started three months ago as a method of getting into the practice of rowing. “We rowed, so our backs would get really sore and we needed more strength in our legs. A friend of mine suggested we cycled and in turn I suggested we keep cycling,” he shared.
However, this was not Chittock’s first time riding long stretches. In the last two years he had cycled the length of New Zealand and the width of Australia.
For a journey such as this, one would require months of rigorous training but Chittock did not make it too hard on himself. He did not undertake any special training. He just cycled a lot — about 80 kms everyday. “And my university (University of Waikato) backed me up considerably. They took me to the World Cycling Championship and helped me meet people, specially Gary Anderson, a famous trak cyclist. In fact he set my bike up for me, because if you sit up wrong, even a few milimeteres, your body will start to wear down fast,” shared the cyclist who can sit up for 13 hours a day on his bike.
Chittok graduates in April and will sit for the BAR, a few months after that. But he has bigger plans after that. “A friend of mine wants to row across the Atlantic. So in 2018 we are going to try to start from Canary Islands and go up to South America. He’s a good rower, it’ll be fun,” he wrapped up.