The Mountain Races Podcast

Over a week into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, and the field has settled into the strange rhythm of life on the road: long days in the elements, time melting, an afternoon gone in a breath and a hard minute stretching on forever. Well past the 1000km mark, we hear from riders as they make their way through the endless Burkhan valley.

Riders featured in this episode:
Virgile Dana — Cap 43
Hannes Noller — Cap 122
Benjamin Schmetz — Cap 42
Andrew Poynter — Cap 134
Chris Rennie — Cap 87
Mateo Paez — Cap 217B
Theo Kelsey-Verdecchia — Cap 217A
Emma Missale — Cap 210B
Sean Geivett — Cap 210A

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Past Naryn and into the long, braided sweep of the Burkhan valley, the riders climb toward the Arabel Pass — 3,800 metres of loose switchbacks that has them off their bikes and pushing after more than 1,300 kilometres in the legs. Arabel is notorious for its weather, riders often getting all four seasons in the span of a few hours — and today was no exception.

Riders featured in this episode:

Kerry MacPhee — Cap 105
Sofiane Sehili — Cap 157
Martin Hilgers — Cap 76
Nils Kolb — Cap 93

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nearly a week into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, and the field is all over the map. Checkpoint One at Son Kul closed on Wednesday with 146 riders inside the cut, worn down by 47-degree heat, endless climbing, and the countless challenges the route keeps throwing at them. We hear from riders all over the map, plus the team of volunteers stamping brevet cards around the clock.

Riders featured in this episode:
Rob MacLennan — Cap 104
Kristen Tonsager — Cap 168
Anton Stychneuski — Cap 166
Tom Baker — Cap 201A
Adam Carlson — Cap 201B
Dmitrii Petrovskii — Cap 128
Jens Van Roost — Cap 177
Avri Beach — Cap 15
Isabelle Scheyltjens — Cap 151
Matthew Irons — Cap 84
Verena Walter — Cap 212B

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As is so often the case in Kyrgyzstan and at the Silk Road Mountain Race… things rarely go to plan. We set out with the best intentions this morning to bring you all the stories. But as they say, shit happens. Today it came in the form of not one, not two but three punctures, and a mad dash to CP2 to catch our leading women.

It's been a long day... All of this to say — there won't be a new episode today so that we can take the chance to rest and recover after our own challenges out here. If you haven't listened to all of our episodes yet, make sure to do so, and we'll be back tomorrow for all of the action yet to unfold.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Three days into the eighth Silk Road Mountain Race, we climb to three thousand meters and the still, impossibly blue shore of Lake Son Kul, where Checkpoint 1 sits waiting at the yurt camp of Sarybulak. The riders arrive late into the night off the brutal push up Tuz Ashuu — salt-stained, nosebleeds and cut sleep behind them, the day's forty-three-degree heat traded for four degrees and hard wind on the passes above the lake. We hear from riders arriving day and night, and what it's taken to get here.

Riders featured:
Mateo Paez — Cap 217B
Theo Kelsey-Verdecchia — Cap 217A
Stéphane Logerot — Cap 102
Tsvetan Ivanov — Cap 215A
Dimitar Mihaylov — Cap 215B
Virgile Dana — Cap 43
Emma Missale — Cap 210B
Sean Geivett — Cap 210A
Markus Barden — Cap 14
Sven Brenner — Cap 26
Jimmy Grade — Cap 65
Cynthia Carson — Cap 30
Tom Schwemberger — Cap 156
Felipe Duque — Cap 52

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.