Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR)

Gone to see the ancient Tash Rabat caravanserai according to the Adventure Syndicate tweet.

Apparently had food poisoning and went to the village up there to lie low. Has rejoined the route but, having missed a bit, won't now be placed.

Jay Petervary looks to have this somewhat under control as his lead is now out to 100km - which in this terrain is equivalent to a lot more on road. However there is a picture showing his shoes are already fucked, which might be an issue as lots more walking to come.

FWIW when I thought about riding it I was intending to use flat pedals and Five-Tens. Probably the right call (although my hands would no doubt have been regretting the canti brakes!).

A few more scratched yesterday as they were out of time at CP1. Franziske Kuehne posted that they were telling them to take a road short cut towards Naryn rather than bother with the loop out to CP2. Sensible in that it keeps the field together and stops people being out in the wilds for weeks on end, but puts a bit more pressure on supplies for the mid-pack if they get leapfrogged by the back of the field.

58 still in it, 35 now scratched. Different approach from TCR in that they automatically declare those who miss a CP cut-off as having scratched. Scratch rate should go down as some weren't able to start (eg Bjorn) and the slowest have been cut off by CP1 closing, but it wouldn't be surprising if more than half scratch by the end.

Yeah, I can't imagine doing this kind of race on anything but flats and hiking boots.

Interesting crossover. However being clipped in while flying down a 20% gradient with gravel and rocks all over the shop still doesn't really appeal.

Those would be pretty sweaty in the heat and for my feet they were the worst cycling shoes I've had. But yeah something like that.

leepearce13 Thursday - Fatigued from Wednesday effort. 5/10 sleep. Objective parcour and Naryn. Ambiguity over parcour was unsettling.
Lake was dry so had a ride around. Refuel then off to Naryn. Alltime
low #2. 300m VAM. At 3300m to 3600m. 25 - 40% grade. Hike with bike
section, with old barbed wire for good measure. At this altitude my
body has zero energy, muscles scream for oxygen. Stopping 10 seconds
for every 5s effort. Not impressed. I had a cry. I wanted home. I
wanted out. A loveless environment. The continuing route followed ex
Soviet border jeep track. Relentless. Legs no power. Hiking up all
small inclines, which there were many. Tim and will caught me. We
reached to top. It became clear why we were led through hell. 20km of
downhill single track and mesmeric backdrop. The beauty couldn't mask
the trauma of getting there. Shifty Road to Military border post. The
carrot was a 30km descent over 1000m drop. It was all WASHBOARD!!!!
Arghhhh. You wouldn't wish on your own worst enemy. After than more
washboard. Relentless. Quit 16km from Naryn. Great sleep ensued. Back
in the land of mobile signal.

Wait. Those look like clipless BMX race shoes?!

Then blames shimano for them falling apart?

My mind boggles.

Reckon a pair of SRS Dominators would make it through without a scratch.

(on further googling, apparently they are weight weenie XC race / cyclocross shoes, which strikes me as a sub optimal choice for this event).

The highest I've been was Pico Veleta, and there I was already rather powerless, crawling on gravel close to 3400m. Days and days of something rougher than that. Jealous.

However being clipped in while flying down a 20% gradient with gravel and rocks all over the shop still doesn't really appeal.

Being clipped in will save you from being bounced off the pedals.

That's the trade-off - better when you can ride the bike vs worse when you are pushing!

The highest I've been was Pico Veleta, and there I was already rather powerless, crawling on gravel close to 3400m.

I've done Lhasa-Kathmandu via Everest base camp. Lhasa is 3,400m, then half a dozen climbs over 5000m. When I first got to Lhasa I was finding it hard to go up steps, etc. Spent 3 days acclimatising, then flat ride, which was ok, but any small hills were hard.

Then the climbs started. Even on smooth tarmac with gentle gradients (3-5%), just gasping for air and crawling up in low gear. There was one big off-road climb (to Everest base camp) and that was really hard. While it was higher than these guys are doing, it was much better surface, shorter daily distance, not carrying gear, not trying to race, etc...

^^^ Lee Pearce - great post, really captures the nature of the hell he is in. He was one of the leaders - can't imagine how hard the slower guys will find it

Hmmm maybe flats with straps might be the sweet spot, assuming they hold position well enough but you get the float you need too.

I reckon I'd have hired an altitude tent before racing this thing...

I'd rather have clipless release my legs than be strapped in while bouncing face first down a shale mountain.

I'd definitely go clipless.

I took a pair of trainers on my trip in India last year and after day 1 I relegated my cleats to the bottom of my bag.

There were countless times where I was going up a hill at 1 mph and would've fallen off had not been able to get my feet off the pedals. The SRMR makes the roads I went on look like freshly laid tarmac

Wait. Those look like clipless BMX race shoes?!

from that link "Dedicated X-Country and Cyclo-cross no compromising racing shoe"

from that link "Dedicated X-Country and Cyclo-cross no compromising racing shoe"

"(on further googling, apparently they are weight weenie XC race / cyclocross shoes, which strikes me as a sub optimal choice for this event)."

Doh, the wtf at the initial statement distracted me from the rest of the post :-/

;)

Bottom line, don't blame shimano for your incorrect usage of their product.

Weird to have a brake fail. I wonder if it was already broken before the race and then something happened.

I’ve done 50,000km with hydro shimano and some testing conditions.

But I never start a race with old gear, always brand new or nearly new.

I think I saw Chris mention one of them was bodged before they started the race.

Yeah, broken on the flight over apparently and couldn't get the replacement banjo they needed, so it was off kilter from day 1.

My brakes have done 3xTCR, 2xTABR + eleventy billion miles commuting and training.
Failures have been user. One caliper died because someone put a screwdriver through the seal and I wore out the rotors because I went to Wales with worn pads and carved them up.

I've never ridden in Kryyryyryyryryyryryyryryysysggrgrgrystaaaaan though.