Silk Road Mountain Race

We face a few challenges in life that push us to face our fears — to our absolute limit.

It’s those moments that transform us — moments that break us and make us dig so deep within ourselves to find that something that we never thought existed. These are the experiences that help us learn and grow.

The Silk Road Mountain Race is definitely one such challenge. The sleepless nights, the euphoric feelings, the conscious decision to continue and to suffer through the heat and cold — day and night in the endless Tian Shan mountains. You try to recover and regain the strength, pushing forward only to sink deeper at the end of the day — you struggle to stay awake and do it over and over, hoping to get to Cholpon-Ata.

Eat, ride, sleep, repeat … this is my journey called The Silk Road Mountain Race.

The last pass

Just after crossing Kok-Airyk Pass, a super-sharp rock edge pierced right through the tire. The sidewall was torn. I shouted! I cried! But I knew I had enough time to push the bike and finish before the cut-off. After fixing the flat I needed something to boot the tire. I checked my bag and found my Flowfold wallet. It’s made with recycled sails and it’s extremely tough. I emptied the contents of the wallet and booted the tire … and it worked.

I was hit with a torrent of emotions and I rolled to the finish line. 12 days, 13 hours, and 30 minutes. After getting my final brevet stamped, someone asked me what I would like to have. I said, “All I care for is a cold beer and some clean underwear.”

This race taught me the real meaning of resilience. No matter how many times life punched me in the face, I had to recover, pull myself together, and keep moving.

The race by checkpoint

Leg distances and climbing from the race’s own route on Komoot. My time is from the start in Bishkek at 8 a.m. on 17 August. All 70 finishers, with their portraits and times, are in BIKEPACKING.com’s finishers’ gallery.

This is a short piece of a longer story I wrote for NEMO Equipment, my sponsor for the race: the visa trouble before the start, frozen water bottles over Kegety Pass, horse milk at the Chinese border and all three checkpoints. Read the full story on the NEMO Journal.