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Sounds fun/tough. I guess a lot depends on weather in this one. If you got lucky or pushed at the right time you might miss the shittest weather which can do wonders for your health and motivation. Getting stuck in a storm up there isn't going to be fun. I don't think my off-road skills are up to scratch for it. I'd do so much walking I'd question the point of entering it as a bike race.
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And we have a winner,pedadled currently live streaming the finish
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Very very impressive ride by Petervary. Had it under control from day 2 or something? Weather's been pretty bad still he averaged 200k+ a day.
Meanwhile Searby scratched after Cannondale bottom bracket failure shocker.
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So she was ceoeoeoeoeleliicc and she carried her own food but scratched because she was worried about finding (more?) gluten-free food? I think I'd work out some way of carrying enough for most of the race like some kind of Arctic expedition and then making do with eating other racers or wildlife after that.
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Yeah, he's crushed it.
Mechanicals were going to knock out a lot in this race with presumably very little resembling a bike shop out there. #stickwithshimano #pressfitkills #whyallthehashtags #notsureijustgotofftheturboandiamalittlebitmental
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Yea like I said earlier, surely it's something you'd prepare for ¯_(ツ)_/¯ Also, Kochkor and Naryn got a reasonable amount of stores where you'd be able to stock up on nuts or whatever.
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Meanwhile Searby scratched after Cannondale bottom bracket failure shocker.
What the actual fuck - it’s just two bearings pressed in to cups pressed in to the frame. They can get noisy but short of total bearing failure they don’t stop working.
Full sus bike would be doable for this but not some weenie XC rig that had a fork with a 50hr service interval.
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Chris Phillips caught in a blizzard on the 4000m pass. May have had to be rescued by control car - no tracking or comms.
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Yeah I agree, taking a lefty Cannondale to do this is gutsy. Almost paid off though! Says on his IG that the left bearing fell out...
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I’ve heard of the pivot bearings on those frames failing at the rocker - on the inside they are unsupported.
Can’t really see how you could achieve that with a PF30 BB as it’s all sandwiched together and supported on both sides.
Possibly crank failure. Ho hum.
It was a stretch in my belief to take my 2.0 Lefty PBR to Bike Park Wales let alone the wildernesss...
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Then we all got in a hidden hot spring in a old farmers hut next to the river...being typically British and wearing lots of Lycra meant it took me a while to get in with three other men in the buff! Damn it was hot!!
Reminds of the time I ended up in a sauna on a Russian freighter...
... being beaten with Birch twigs by naked sailors.
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It slightly bothers me that Kim and Pierre Arnaud Le Magnan in second place have ridden together for the last day and a half.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnAzlJzh-CD/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1tj0tc984wtei
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56 scratched, 32 still racing, 5 finished.
Some hard guys still toughing it out, like Mikko with his rim brakes and TCR in his legs, and Shell who is 61 and has NordKapp-Tarifa in his legs.
As @hippy says above, when you hit the bad weather is a factor. The pic above that Chris took of snow on his bike shows that he hit it at the wrong time and had to scratch for personal safety. However, Jay reportedly pushed his bike over the same pass in another blizzard through night - so it can be done in the face of weather, but incredibly hard!
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Among others Jay has raced the Iditarod in Alaska 10 times so he has the experience and knowledge how to deal with cold, foul weather. Yet he called his last bivy in #SRMR one of the hardest he has done.
So it begins. I will share post race randomness over the coming days. This morning after my first worryless sleep I remember this bivy. The most challenging of the race and one of the hardest in my life. Earlier that day I overcome the highest pass of the route, in the snow! I descended down a huge valley for many, many hours. It started to get very cold as I was looking to bivy but kept procrastinating, I'm good fooling myself like that, on when and where to sleep. I finally went down, 100% bundled in. It then rain, sleeted and snowed on me and dropped even colder. Bivy and all things outside had a frozen blanket on them. The inside of the bivy was also moist. I could not peel myself out of the bivy whem my alarm wemt off and hit the snooze until I seen some light, another 2 hours later. My entire body had swole up that night. I was hurting. It lead to a morning of constsnt stopping and adjusting which led to a very inefficient day in the heat with more of the same. It was the worst of my 8 days. By the end of that day I finally reached a service stop and ate a disgusting amount of food. I checked the leaderboard and noticed the 100km lead I had went down to 40km. That previous bad night and day had then turned into my last and best sleeplessness night of the route. With new motivation I tackled the hardest hike a bike of the route (bike on back for many hours, 10 hour total hike) under a full moon and wind storm that had me pinned to the side a scree slope. I forged thigh deep rivers in my destryoed shoes into the morning and as the sun rose I new there was no possible way the person chasing did the same. It was an absolutly crazy night, partially dangerous, but full of adrenaline. Its amazing how many things can happen and change all in a matter of 36 hours. I slept 3-4 hours every night except the last with zero. #silkroadmountainrace2018 #adventurebybike #salsacycles #teravailtires #industrynine #irideissi #absoluteblack #ospreypacks #katesrealfood #guenergy #princetontec #BBD #RideForward #JayP
A post shared by Jay Petervary (@jay_petervary) on
Also some interesting insight to his gear in the latest instargam post:
I do not carry the lightest kit. I base most gear choices on the practicality and function of a product first, weight second. In this case of @silkroadmountainrace I knew we would be in the mountains and at 8-10k feet a lot, cresting many passes at 12,500'. Mountain weather is unpredictable and is often cold, windy, can rain, sleet and snow. As it did. Sleep system: @nunatak_gear custom made, synthetic fill, anorak coupled with a custom made JayP skirt. The skirt has a draw cord bottom and I can ride in it. I am comfortable and confident with this system in below freezing tempertures. Note the expedition socks and mitts. Not some mid weight cycling non sense. Having confidence in my gear is what allows me to conquer mountain passes even when I see the weather is bad. Most people will try and wait out the weather. I like to embrace the weather and I actually enjoy riding in adverse conditions. I am 100% happy with all I carried and used all but my long tights. #silkroadmountainrace2018 #nobadweatherjustbadclothingchoices #RideForward
A post shared by Jay Petervary (@jay_petervary) on
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Fair play to Nelson for upholding the rules and spirit of the race.
On facebook, Kim not reacting well to not being placed! Loads of people weighing in to support him. I can only think they didn't follow the race.
https://www.facebook.com/silkroadmountainrace/?hc_ref=ARQSMcdX973nnJSLZqbtFiYFfi-ihaDLSxWctnFtzUHW2PAIrrwLKiHxXxMN0JGf4bM&fref=nf&xts[0]=68.ARAx_e9B7kFPB972C3cbmUPqCFGqQvppsIQaSoH0kglPjU8GY5nl81urarOABe9Bv7AMsYOq0WJxz07Utemtlte1q8aj3emnDv7ZUQzZE0So813DW_ZfJQZb1BJxd9TYaPxY8H0&tn=kC-R
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Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR)
Posted by
@hippy
Is there? I'd fucking hate myself for scratching.
Fixed crits are the demolition derby of the cycling world. They exist FOR the crashes.