Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR)

Fucking hell, what a race! The mountains, remote valleys, the high plateau around cp2 and the people are amazing. Loved every minute. Was so tough I'd need to seriously think before racing it again though. Really pleased to finish 10th. Everything went pretty well, consistent pace and no bigger problems. Had enough gear for the weather, slept well in a tent and made meals most nights with my stove. Bike was great.

Well done! Waiting to see the pictures!

Congrats!!!

Hahaha

No fuxking joke huh.

You'll be back

Well done, Samuli!

Solid effort. Well done.

Awesome work man!

Thanks all. Some pics on my instagram, https://www.instagram.com/sml_mkn/

And here's a few:

10 Attachments

Awesome effort & amazing photos

Loving the photos, much admiration of your efforts.

Looks amazing. Well done on a massive ride and adventure!

Fab! Great ride too dude. Well done.

Belated well done Samuli! Top ten.

yes yes Samuli! your instagram content was great. Hope you recover well.

This was a good watch, thanks hippy for linking his channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBrd1GuAmJ8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7D_-0eg9W8

Premiere in progress. Started less than 1 minute ago

This is really good!

Also kind of surprising, different to my experinece. Seems kind of more hectic and more social. Of the 10 days and 3 hours my race took, I spent about a few hours with another human at a CP, a shop or something and about 10 days alone, didn't really have contact with the film crew. My race might have been monotonous to watch as it was rather uneventful, in a good way. And I'm not that chatty.
In the q&a they mentioned problems with the lack of electricity, as you stay out for several days and ride too slow to charge with a dynamo, but that can't have been a surprise. And similarly, you mostly know what works if you've been bikepacking before.

The concept of telling the story is more entertaining than the usual chronological way of just following what the racers do. But it's weird to think that he already apparently had a script for what he wanted to show and then went to find the scenes he wanted along the race. But of course it is a true story, all that actually happened there. But that's how I understood the film was made, listening to what he said in the premiere and in a podcast earlier about the AMR.

The old soviet hotel mentioned and very briefly shown there was before the race in Talas, not during the race.

Just some thoughts about this, thinking back to how the race was for me. I loved the race and I like the film a lot too.

Of the 10 days and 3 hours my race took, I spent about a few hours with another human

This sounds amazing :)

I liked that aspect of it so much I'd actually preferred to be there just by myself without a race around me at times :D

I do love Sofiane's singing skills, I hope for an album soon!

I do wonder why more people don't just tour.

I mean, they probably do, but there's no social media circus around people touring vs. races like this :)

I was thinking about this for TD. If I ever pull my finger out and do TD it - should I do it ITT at my own pace or should I get into the race and push it along a bit (still obvs my own pace but people generally go faster when there's others to "beat" unless they're going for a record, which I clearly won't be)

I kinda like the social aspect of the races - when I'm not lost, nowhere near anyone else. :)

I do like the social aspect too.

I think the challenge is a big thing for me. I like to concentrate on riding, ride long days, far, and carry little, not sit at the camp that much, unless the purpose is actually to just be camping with others. And I like how a race gives a reason to push this, brings in more adventure when you need to keep going through whatever is ahead. ITT could be fun too. Touring is fun too, I do that too.

I love racing 300km per day and touring 100km per day. Not sure I could do something in the middle. With young child, it's hard to justify a solo holiday other than for a big event, so the sort of touring we did before daughter was born is off the agenda. We might do family touring at 40km per day in the near future, but that is more likely to be NL /DE / FR than central Asia! Basically I don't think I could go to somewhere like central Asia in the next decade unless it was for a race. And if I wait that long will be getting too old!

Yeah, I still think races suit me more. But I'm also clearly getting older, slower, less willing and able to push myself, blah blah and with an ITT I'm not restricted with dates, there's not a battle for resources, etc.

Then again, old boys race TD, so I'm pretty sure I want to be in the GT for that.