Why race anything? I think that the best answer we can really offer is to simply direct you to the article below, by Mike Hall who explained it far better than we ever could.

THIS IS NOT A TOUR

Rider-led racing grew out of the World Cycle Race and its ethos is to bring racing back to where it was over a century ago: when riders challenged each other over impossibly long distances and without the support and conveniences associated with today’s racing. Gone are the team cars, the Death Stars and the gourmet energy bars, and in their place is the simple joy of the pursuit. One man only has led the way to this new reality – Mike Hall.

Five years ago I entered my first bikepacking race, a race quite unlike anything else I had encountered. It wasn’t just any race either; the Tour Divide is possibly the ‘queen stage’ of Bikepacking races. It is also claimant to the title of world’s longest mountain bike race.

The route itself follows the continental divide and was originally prospected for the touring cyclist. For many who take to the start line on the ‘Grand Depart’ it is still first and foremost an adventure, but out front it is absolutely and unquestionably a race. The record stands a few minutes shy of 14 and a half days, and last year’s first three finishers were separated by just 40 minutes. Somewhere through the pack the mentality changes though. Whether one is racing or touring is largely a mind state and the line is often blurred.

Touring many people can understand, but the motivation to race such a distance can provoke questions, particularly when there is no apparent reward. Questions of why, for any endeavour, I struggle with. This may be, in part, because I feel so ill-equipped to articulate it concisely to those who have no notion. It may also have something to do with the exasperation I feel that the question should need asking at all. To me the reason is self evident and the obvious but unhelpful retort is “why wouldn’t you?”. For some, whether it’s 250m of wooden boards or more than 2,700 miles of Continental Divide, racing is reason enough.

The response “for sport” alone seems a flimsy one, yet to me it should be enough. Is questioning the pursuit of any sporting challenge not akin to questioning the notion of sport itself? Should the racer bear the burden of this justification? Central to sport after all is that it’s a game, and fundamentally pointless. Therein lies its beauty.

Could this disconnect be a symptom of a widespread culture of convenience which seeks to remove physical effort from our lives without forethought and replace it with a packaged commodity sold back to us? One where sport must either have a point, be a profession or a business interest to be credible. Otherwise it should be a leisure activity and its assets resigned to toys. Its easy to see in such world that voluntary physical activity taken to such an extreme and without compensation would be viewed as alien or perverse and requiring explanation.

The question of why racing versus touring was given a more poignant form for me on the day I finished the World Cycle Race. A journalist with a particular interest in cycling wrote a piece in the Guardian bike blog entitled exactly that; ‘Cycling around the world, Great, but why race?’ I can appreciate some of the author’s points, but one of the main assumptions is there is only a choice between leisurely pasttime or an industry, and there is no room or reason in between for a sporting bet struck between amateurs for the sheer sake of curiosity and an interesting life.

By now this question has come to me in numerous forms, more often than not as “wouldn’t you enjoy it more if you slowed down a bit?” Over the years I have ruminated on a more detailed response, perhaps introspectively on the odd long ride, but largely the answer comes down to the same; “not really, no”.

I wonder if anyone asked Stirling Moss after he won the Mille Miglia in 1955 whether he wouldn’t have enjoyed it a bit more had he slowed down to appreciate the Tuscan hills, or stop by at the Campo in Siena to watch the world go by with a few slices of Pecorino and a glass of Chianti? Likewise did anyone suggest to Juan Manuel Fangio on his way to victory at the 1950 Monaco Grand prix that maybe he could park up at Cassino and play a few games of roulette and chat to the locals? Probably not.

I would not like to draw personal comparisons with such illustrious figures of history. I mean more to illustrate how we are influenced to perceive sport and how what counts as legitimate sport is closely coupled to our cliched perception of what success is, one that is only read at the bottom line.

I also wish to counter the premise that one cannot enjoy intensely one’s surroundings adequately whilst expending ones self. Indeed I’ll go further and assert that the effort of climbing a mountain or crossing a continent serves only to enhance its delights and majesty in a manner no leisurely wanderings can approach.

Racing the divide has been a transformative experience for me in so many ways and in some way has touched almost everything I have done since. The trail might take the body to the physical place; covering vast distances through wild open and desolate landscapes alive with wildlife and changing before your eyes. The race however, the thrill of the chase, the potent cocktail of adrenaline, endorphins, fatigue, sleep deprivation, stress and finally relief takes the mind to quite another. The personal satisfaction, confidence and empowerment from the achievement lasts a lifetime. For me this combination is untouchable.

This is why, for now at least, you can keep your nice, your leisurely and your convenience and if it comes to it, you can also keep your professional sports. This is not a tour and no, I do not want to slow down because I really don’t think I could possibly enjoy any more than I do.

We wish to thank ‘The Bugle’ by Brooks England for allowing us to reproduce Mike’s article.

For us, self-supported means that you completed the race entirely under your own steam, using only your own equipment and without any outside assistance. When things got tough you got through them yourself, when things broke, you figured out how to fix them and when you got lost you managed to get yourself un-lost. You will be able to learn more about the unsupported ethos and rules in the Race Manual

The race is primarily designed as a solo challenge. However, we understand that it’s a pretty serious undertaking and in the interest of making it a little more accessible to less experienced riders, you can also rider as a pair. The same rules apply as to solo riders but to the pair as a whole. That means no outside assistance to the pair as a whole. Sharing equipment, drafting, support, etc. is perfectly fine between the two members of the pair.

• Race Logistics: registration, 3 staffed checkpoints, control cars, race media, medical cars to liaise with local emergency services, 24/7 race HQ, dotwatchers.

• Race manual

• Race GPX track, fully checked and validated by SRMR teams on the ground

• GPS tracker rental if required & online tracking platform provided by Maprogress

• Some goodies provided by our sponsors

• Numbered SRMR Race Cap

• Bike box transfer to the finish line

Applications to race open in November for two weeks. Keep an eye on our social channels and newsletter so you don’t miss anything. There is a form to fill out where you will need to tell us about your experience, motivation and answer some situational questions. We will then get back to all applicants with the results of their application and, if successful, the next steps. We do not usually accept applications after this date but it doesn’t hurt to send us an email to enquire about a possible late entry.

There are no precise qualifications required, no qualifying events, etc. That being said, we will be asking some questions on your experience during the registration process. You don’t necessarily need to have done a similar race but we need to know that you have experience out in the wilderness, that you know how to look after yourself in tough conditions. Our number one concern is your safety. If your cycling experience is limited but you have extensive experience of independent travel in a mountainous setting, that will not be a problem. Mountaineers with very little cycling under their belt have been accepted and done well in the past.

There are a number of bike options that would all be solid choices for this race. There are few extremely technical sections, but you will benefit from wider tyres, flat bars and mountain bike geometry on the rougher sections and on descents. When it gets very tough, you probably won’t be able to ride, regardless of the bike you choose.

I think the ideal bike is something fast and light with at least 2.0” tyres. When it comes down to it, it will depend on you: your bike handling skills, how much comfort you need for long days in the saddle, and the bike that you have available. What I would recommend though is low gearing, with, at the very least, a 1 to 1 ratio for your lowest gear. There are some steep, steep sections. You may well also want to go with front suspension, but it is not required. We would personally recommend a hardtail 29er.

At the end of the race, many gravel bike riders wished they had brought a mountain bike, but not a single rider on a mountain bike wished that they had brought a gravel bike. You have been warned!

We don’t like to nanny our riders and tell them what to do but unfortunately a few riders have turned up with some crucial equipment missing so we’ve had to make a short list of essentials that you MUST HAVE with you:

• Front and Rear lights

• Helmet

• Basic first aid kit - this includes bandages, antiseptic/sterile wipes, medication

• Suitable sleeping system. We won’t be enforcing a specific temperature rating for each piece of equipment, but rather, you should have with you equipment to be comfortable sleeping at -15°c degrees (we’re not exaggerating, it does get that cold!)

• Down jacket or synthetic equivalent. Something warm if you get stuck in cold/wet weather

• Individual shelter. We strongly recommend that you bring a tent but a good bivy is also acceptable if you are confident and experienced in its use

• Survival blanket : they’re super light and could prove invaluable in an emergency

• Water purification tablets / water filter / steripen / equivalent - very important - please use them at all times even if the river looks clean and you can’t see any animals around!

• Gloves : to our surprise we had a rider who didn’t bring any gloves in the first edition. You will need to have two pairs of gloves. One warm and one waterproof. These are to protect you from the weather rather than cycling specific. You are not required to have cycling specific gloves

This is an unsupported race. That means that you need to sort yourself out before, after and during the race. Volunteers may provide some limited assistance at checkpoints but that is entirely at their discretion and would be confined by the guidelines we have given them. Assume that no help will be given. We cannot guarantee that there will be accommodation at the checkpoints but we will do our utmost to have hot meals available 24/7

This varies from one edition to the next but there are a handful of sections where there is over 250 kilometers with essentially no resupply whatsoever. Think carefully about your estimated pace and the quantity of food you will need to bring with you and then bring extra. More detailed information on resupply points is included in the Race Manual.

The Rider Agreement is the document that participants are required to sign to participate in the race. It outlines the rights and responsibilities of the rider and race organisation. It makes clear the risks involved in taking part and asks riders to waive the responsibility of those risks for the race organisation. It will be made available to riders upon being given a spot to take part in the race.

When a rider takes part in SRR, they sign the rider agreement, in which, amongst other things, they agree to give the commercial rights to any media that they produce during the race, to Silk Road Mountain Race Limited. We can then license some of these rights back to you, with the media license. This means that if you plan to use the race to promote any commercial enterprise (if you are sponsored for example), even your own, you will need to pay the £50 media license. The main aim of introducing this is to make the entry fee fairer and more representative of what riders are getting from their participation. It will mean that sponsors who derive a benefit from a rider taking part in the race are charged for this, and allow us to keep entry fees as low as possible for true privateer racers. Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions about this.

There are two requirements to take part in the race besides signing the Rider Agreement.

• All riders must have medical. This should cover extraction and repatriation as well as any other potential medical costs in case of emergency.

• All riders are required to provide a medical note from their doctor, confirming that they have no medical conditions preventing them from taking part in the race. It should mention the Silk Road Mountain Race by name. There is a list of topics in the Race Manual that you may want to discuss with your doctor to be well prepared prior to arriving in Kyrgyzstan.

After receiving confirmation of their successful application to enter the race, riders will be asked to pay their entry in full to confirm their spot in the race. They will then have the possibility of asking for a 50% refund if they wish to cancel their entry (without justification) until a date specified during the entry process (usually the 1st of May, during the year the race will take place). Further to this, riders may ask for a 50% refund if they cannot participate for medical reasons up to one month before the start of the race. They will need to provide a signed & stamped medical not as justification.

Due to the serious nature of the event and the entry process that requires the race organisers to screen each applicant’s experience prior to acceptance, it is not possible for riders to transfer their entry to another person.

This used to be an unlikely possibility, but in recent years, due the COVID19 pandemic, we’ve seen that anything is possible. If the race cannot go ahead for reasons beyond the control of the organisers, riders will have two options : either transfer their entry to the next edition or cancel their participation and receive a 50% refund. If the race has to be postponed more than once, we may require riders to pay a small entry deferral fee of £30 to keep their spot and help ensure the survival of the race.

We don’t allow any kind of outside media crew following a single rider. We don’t consider that it’s compatible with the unsupported ethic. It will also impact negatively on other riders’ experience and that is not something we’re willing to sacrifice. As much as is possible, we want a fair, level playing field.

Yes. The entry fee for locals is 10,000 KGS (about £95), tracker rental included.