Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR)

I wonder what's happening here

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Well now he is moving again but only a couple of kilometers ahead of Jakub.

Pretty sure he said he wouldn't ride in the dark, so slept when it got dark. Very un-sofiane.

Yup, https://bikepacking.com/plog/jakub-sliacan-srmr-interview/

I don’t cycle at night, ever. So, on the last night when I decided not
to sleep as an experiment, it was quite a new feeling to me that you
actually could fall asleep on the bike. At one point I caught myself
dozing off and weaving around. I won’t do that again.

Haha that's the bit I remember. That whole interview is great, what a dude. Doin it his own way.

Top three have come together over the last 24 hrs. Justinas (red) maybe struggled with something looking at his rest pattern.

skinny in the chasing pack behind and 7th, what a ride from him.

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yep, breathing issues according to the SRMR instagram

Oh yes thanks. Three very strong riders at the front.

James had a monster day yesterday logging 287km while the front trio made 20-30km less. He is in contention for 4th place for sure, but the distance to the front might be too much. Sofiane went without sleep last night and it might cost him something later on. Jakub will be most likely faster over Kegeti, but is that enough to catch him?

The last hike-a-bike is brutal and it might not be feasible to tackle that without a rest.

Skinny is already sixth and might get pretty close to Steven and Adrien on the climb to Son Kul and CP3.

The CP3 is in a beautiful high valley which is kind of like a big crater with a lake in the middle, flat grassland around it at least on the west side where they ride and mountain peaks around the area in every direction. A short but still proper climb out of it on the north side and if I remember right, part of the descend on the other side was surprisingly slow singletrack. Tracks made by the cattle that spend the summer there and some hiking in a shallow river, several small climbs in between.

Jakub's pace is much faster than Sofiane and Justinas, he's overtaken Justinas and now about 1h (10km) behind Sofiane who had the least amount of sleep of the top 3 last night.

Skinny is in 6th-8th position and at CP3 currently. He's reduced his gap to the front from 12-13h to 10h currently.

exciting to see the 'sleep more' strategy starting to pay off

I’d really like the sleep strategy to dominate ultra racing. Not sure how likely that is, but the no-sleep thing just doesn’t inspire me at all.

Jakub's pace is much faster than Sofiane and Justinas, he's overtaken Justinas and now about 1h (10km) behind Sofiane who had the least amount of sleep of the top 3 last night.

His average speed over the course is the same as Sofiane's but his moving speed is 1.3 km/h faster. Really interesting contrast of styles going into the final few hundred KM of the race.

I think it’s interesting to see different strategies go up against each other and some people seem to genuinely do alright with very little sleep - but too many people go into these races thinking they need to emulate people like Sofiane to do well, when in reality most people will perform better with more sleep

I'd like the eating strategy to dominate. Maybe I should run an event that requires a minimum calorie consumption for a given distance. Man vs. Food but with some bike riding required.

Then I'll go on to create the Fatlympics for those of us with bigger bones than the eating disordered, genetic freaks currently competing in the Ol(d)lympics.

2km between sofiane and Jakub now.

Skinny has pulled back 50k on the leaders so that's nice. I haven't even pulled a pint.

I think you should switch it round. Max calories for min distance (but still riding). Basically one of those slow races, but each rider has a table of donuts next to them they have to eat through while trackstanding.

BreadRollapoluza or something

I see both events being popular. Let's do it!

I haven't even pulled a pint.

Who are you and what have you done to the real hippy?

The real hippy is still recovering from dressing up as Dionysus (the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre) and being fucking caned on Saturday. Suffice to say my drunk CX dismount needs work...

I think we've got another birthday to go to tonight. So, rinse, repeat.

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Snap. (Sadly, no alcohol involved, just an inability to unclip quick enough 🙄)

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Don't want to curse it, but it looks like Sofiane will find any way to match whatever is the pace. Don't see him blowing it from here.

First female battle has been great too, don't think it was mentioned here yet.

Indeed and looking at the history of all three of the fastest women it's no surprise they are fast and will probably keep the pace up all the way to the finish.
https://instagram.com/eat.ride.love_

https://instagram.com/nathalie_baillon

https://instagram.com/peggy.marvanova