How to Bikepack the Silk Road Mountain Race

Bikepacking can be difficult. It requires packing prowess, camping skills and solid bike handling.

Bikepacking the Silk Road Mountain Race is another thing entirely.

Covering 1,800 kilometres and over 30,000 meters of climbing the race route weaves its way through the towering Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan. Carrying everything they need on their bikes, riders traverse forgotten soviet roads, dirt paths and single track as they brave the elements, explore the rugged landscape and experience the hospitality of the Kyrgyz people.

But how to do it? Follow along as a select group take their shot at one of the world’s most difficult bike races.

So [Laughter] [Laughter] hmm [Laughter] [Laughter] [Applause] Bike packing can be difficult It requires packing prowess Camping skills And depending on the terrain solid bike handling bike packing the silk road mountain race is another thing entirely covering 1 800 kilometers and over 30 000 meters of climbing the race route weaves its way through the towering tianshan mountains of kyrgyzstan riders traverse forgotten soviet roads dirt paths and single track as they

Brave the elements and enjoy the views of a rugged landscape and the hospitality of a gracious people but how to do it step one learn the route Competing in an unsupported bike packing race means you have to find your own way unmarked roads crisscross the kyrgyz backcountry and if you’re not paying close attention you can easily find yourself miles up the wrong side of the valley following the gps track out of the town

Of tolas you head straight into the wild northwest of the country and the route becomes immediately remote within just 50 kilometers you’ll reach tarik pass at a staggering 3 3376 meters uh yeah we’re good i’m not really sure we’re very high we came quite far we’ve got very very very far to go

[Laughter] it was pretty hard i’m sure it will get harder is that a good recap i don’t know while the route does pass through many villages and resupply points there are huge sections without anything but the occasional yurt camp In the chinese borderland even basic essentials can be hard to come by just nothing even water there’s no other [ __ ] here everything the river there is like a river but there is no water The logistical challenge of navigating through such remote areas is rewarded with uniquely unspoiled landscapes not to mention the people you meet along the way kyrgyzstan is a rural country roughly a third of the population live in urban areas while the rest are spread out across the hills in the mountains Many kyrgyz still practice nomadic tradition bringing their herds to high mountain pasture in the summer while living in yurts even deep in the mountains you can count on running into kyrgyzstan ready to offer shelter or a quick fix of your car At checkpoint 2 one of the most remote parts of the route riders are able to stay in yurts for some food rest and a little bike maintenance that’s just not moving at all what do you do about that oh [ __ ] i think i was on the bike for like 19 hours yesterday

I get just over that climb walked a bit of it because i just been i’ve done like 230k by this point and i was just like it’s not even that steep but i know it’s not even far so i’m just gonna walk a bit get over it start coming down

And then i hit something that feels like nothing like barely even notice my [ __ ] tire comes off the rim and just immediately completely flat and i only have a hand pump that’s kind of sucky so i sat there and i was like you’re just not gonna get those pumps

I’m like [ __ ] i’ll just walk i don’t even care and then i checked the distance and it was still 3k and i was like oh walking’s gonna take quite a long time and you’re a bike messenger and you know how to change you know how to put in it too

But so i put in a tube which is incredibly annoying not because putting in a tube’s annoying but because still got 600 k left over big race and tubes are like a questionable idea you know i don’t want to do it more Traversing such treacherous terrain means you need to know a thing or two about bike repair that’s teamwork all and be ready to fix flat tires before we wrap this up at least once a day a lot of flat tires Maybe even get your frame welded and take care of your chain Yeah kageti was brutally tough had a snowstorm while i was doing it and it’s like um i think because of the landslides it was just really steep and really difficult and like my bike weighs a little bit more than a third of my own body weight so

I have to just carry it on my back to get up that stuff and it’s just it’s fine like i kind of dig feeling that strong but at the same time it was exhausting i really thought i’d be done by today but whatever still having fun this chain is just hopeless And i have a serious fear that you guys are about to film me trying this often riding up to 18 hours in a day it’s important for you to drink and eat as much as possible Whether it’s soda water bread like i’m getting the main food groups bread and coke yak soup Ice cream Fish and even cucumbers every calorie counts okay so i’ve got a couple snickers i’ve got the uh the kyrgyzstan brand smoked cheese it’s like five percent mozzarella wrapped in um smoke and salt it is like a bunch of little braided strings um so if you want salt and fat it’s perfect um

Yeah it looks like aside from that i’ve got two snickers to get me through to kelsoul so i need to be efficient and and a bag of granola yeah oh yeah and and a whole lot of soda so in rare circumstances you might even opt for you come beer

No i’m from czech republic czechia track before kageta village it’s something happened with my back wheel some some part inside but it’s not possible to to fix it and if i check how many cases to the finish it’s like two hundredths since i got still three more days to get there

So i say to me that they tried and i’m almost here so it’s nice i’m happy [Applause] so While you certainly won’t do as much walking as martin hike bike is a major part of the silk road mountain race Just so you guys know that’s the only hill i’ve biked up today and i did it for you with grades sometimes exceeding 30 percent hiking makes more sense than even trying to ride so but i’m slowly accepting that we’re going to do this to the top and i know we’ll let up but

It’s all good everyone had to do it um certainly a piece of the trail you won’t forget uh earlier we had jacob’s derailleur break and so it doesn’t really matter because you see what we’re doing you don’t need a derailleur to do this we’re still you have to scale the old soviet road

Climbing over 300 meters in one kilometer not only is the road overgrown and steep it is dotted with barbed wire left over from the cold war Someone should teach these soviets a thing or two about building a road eh The final pass of the race climbs nearly 3 000 meters in just 30 kilometers a journey that will take many well over eight hours i’ve got blisters on the soles of my feet full muscles all from today walking up and down these hills it’s not great

One figure and then i can have some beer anyway carry on Hmm Foreign Blue Okay sorry Blending its older nomadic past with a more recent soviet influence kyrgyzstan is dotted with monuments to the heroes of bygone eras From the horse lords of the 18th century and traditional kyrgyz hunters to vladimir lenin grandiose soviet statues can be found all across the country While the daylight hours might make for the best sightseeing it’s at night where the race is won So While it’s possible to finish the race within the 16 day limit riding only during the day to be competitive you need a good set of lights and a lot of confidence sometimes you don’t need to be smart you just need to be stubborn have a bad habit of tackling the big

Climbs during the night it’s not the best moment from smooth roads to chunky gravel to hard to find trails you must be able to navigate the route in total darkness But it isn’t always easy there’s an actual road that we left to get here it’s gotta be mistaken [Applause] some of the more extreme riders like sophian will ride multiple days without stopping to sleep but on a race this long you eventually need to get some shut eye

I was like no that’s not it so we’re at the checkpoint three it’s uh an hour after it got dark and it got back while i was at the pass it started raining and there was a thunderstorm coming in so the last hour down to here saw lightning all over the place

So now it’s nice to come here and be able to stay in a warm beard tonight i think i’d prefer that instead of the tim it doesn’t matter where you are or what time of day it is at some point sleep will come for you some will stay in guest houses

Or old soviet hotels While others will make the best out of the ground but everyone comes equipped for a good night out in the open air story birthday every day is worst than the president someone’s coming okay this wind is windy it’s a windy wind um i don’t know it’s fine i’m scottish i

Have wind blasted at me um yeah it’s a little discouraging like i ended up staying in there for twice as long as i wanted to just because everything kind of fell apart um and now going at half the speed that i wanted to because of this wind yeah it’s discouraging but

It’s what it is The high altitude barren plains of kyrgyzstan leave you fully exposed to extreme winds rain and worse While the latter can be brutal it’s the headwinds that are the most discouraging all right yeah this wind is just relentless my god it’s incredibly strong it was like sandstorm on this uh event with the wind yeah yeah i’m certainly getting into my rhythm i certainly shouldn’t be where i am now i

Should be way back there so i’m surprising myself and the wind that was brutal coming across that long long straight boring road and then i just saw a bend in the road heading this way i thought i’ll get to here have a break sit in the rain as you do

And then crack on yeah i’m just finishing off my pizza i ordered two pizzas yesterday in there in one for yesterday one for today which is a good choice shouldn’t be here it is demoralizing be it your bike your body or your mind there will come a moment when things start to unravel

I’m here to suffer in a race where only half of the field finishes you’ll need to decide to scratch or carry on the loneliest dot gets documented i’m the most isolated dot i haven’t seen anyone in days i and then the one time there were i was like people of course i

Had my pants off and i was like taking a swim and i was like i’ve so i’ve been cycling from kilometer 300 with one cleat basically which was okay and then yesterday my my rear brake just gave up so now i only got this one i was

I wanted to ride all night and then i thought about what it would involve in the bumpy roads and the darkness and the going really slow for hours and hours for myself i remember old all the nights where i did this i was like i can’t do

This i can’t do this one more time you know i fell in a river a few days ago and i bruised my knee and maybe i’m i put power in the wrong way on my leg so this whole part um is i don’t know how you call it contracting but not

Like he should [Applause] move so i can’t move and see if that gets me any closer to the finish line or if i’m still like on this road i don’t know i don’t know i’m looking forward to being done i don’t mean not to sound negative i’m having a good time but i’m

Looking forward to having other good times away from with clean hair it’s a bit embarrassing because because he probably has a broken collarbone and a broken hand he’s like still crushing me the russian road coming out from cp2 why would they do that and then you had got this really nice

Single track back down to that um border road and i was i was going down there all smiles and everything and then all of a sudden i just find myself on my back i’d flick and this slack pack had gone in into the wheel and just stopped dead and i i thought

Well i don’t know what i’ve done to my shoulder and i damaged my hand and then and i thought well i thought that was going to be game over but i’m i’m go i’ve got here from there yeah so it can’t be all bad no okay see you guys later

Just like everyone else you know altitude sickness a little bit of stomach bugs and just enjoying the scenery enjoying the culture and doing what you can with it it’s a heck of a ride though wouldn’t you say [Laughter] but you know we have a goal we’re getting checkpoint too I’m going to do a wheelie right inside the camera to make it wet keep smiling Do Wow Oh [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Laughter] when all is said and done tears are shed such a big thing and competitors become friends Win race or get to the line you’ll head home a little braver a lot stronger totally exhausted and bursting with memories of a beautiful country And a once lifetime adventure You