If you go further, you will see more
Pic by Stephen Shelensky
Silk Road Mountain Race
the recap (read below)
A recap that took me a few months to process…
The Silk Road mountain race, as for those who don’t know, is probably one of the hardest ultra endurance races out there, they call it a race but I believe is more like a survival event. It happens since 5 years now in Kyrgyzstan and Nelson, the race organizer, creates this crazy routes where you ride, hike and go through some of the most remote places on that country while experiencing the culture and nature from this amazing place.
When I decided to do this event it was because it fitted very well to what I wanted to experience and create during the year, my project Adventure More, joining events in different parts of the world to showcase the beauty of its culture, landscape and nature.
So here I was on the afternoon of a Friday in the second biggest city of Kyrgyzstan, Osh, about to take over in this crazy adventure of a lifetime. It was 6pm when it started, a group of 260 people, yep that’s insanely a lot for an ultra race in the middle of this part of the world, we took the streets of Osh city and it was a while to get out of the city center escorted by the local police, until at a point a little mistake on the route was made and the chaos began. We went out towards the hills where I found a few friends and chatted to them, I was so stoked and hyped that I think my HR was above 1million and I was not even going fast.
The night came quickly, and to go to these remote areas and our first big pass we had to go through some towns. At this point I think it was like 11pm. I felt uncomfortable in a few situations while I was only seeing men on the street smoking and drinking. I don’t often feel insecure or unsafe, I feel I'm a very careful woman with no problem saying anything out loud, but that night felt a bit strange maybe because I knew and heard of stories before. Anyways, I stopped to buy some water and coke but asked a guy on the bike to stop quickly with me if that was okay. He did and after I got it all done he left. I can’t even remember his name or cap number, but if you read this, thank you :)
After quite a few hours and km, a little sleep and what was more of a hike a bike than expected reached the top of the first pass, it was magical and I celebrated with a Ferrero roche as I said on top of every pass I will celebrate with some sort of food price, this was my first one, but the package was of 6, so i had to keep pushing to keep rewarding myself.
Fast forward, made it back to maybe 1000-1500m elevation, with some brutal head wind on the first tarmac part, the first shop with resupply appeared. I tried to be efficient as I knew there was a long stretch to some of the most insane river crossings coming. Definitely one of the most insane crossings I’ve ever done, while they were only going to be 3 or 4 I think we crossed like 7 and above knee deep, luckily I bought those 1euro crocks last minute, they were so helpful to not get wet feet but also pinched by rocks or any other thing that could be on the water. So yes I will sit down and change shoes nearly every river crossing unless I could see an easier stretch I could cycle on, I think only happened once. That day my goal was to try and get to the bottom of CP1 by daylight, and cross all this rivers not on the dark, after a while I realize everybody who was behind had to stay on the valley because it actually was pretty sketchy to cross those at dark without seeing where you were going or how deep was the water.
And there I was on the bottom of the sign that said Lenin Peak, just 25km and a lot more climbing I expected, also at that time I learned that the peak is the 7th highest in the world motivated me to keep pushing on the dark and wake up on the CP1 camp and to be able to see this amazing mountain covered of snow. I reached CP1 around midnight and I wrote my name on that list which told me I was the 42 or 43 person to come through, I didn’t believe I was closer to the front than to the end of the field, but there I was, and still everything can happen, everything was still in front of me
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Oh yeah now I remember, I think writing this here right now is making me remember many things that I forgot, so much that I will look at the photos I took and if it was not because they are chronologically organized I will not remember where they were taken. So after that check point there was this river crossing everybody was very concerned about, some people were there before the race to acclimatize and they saw that river overflowed the bridge, so the best time to take it was 100% in the morning. And so timed a nice 3hours sleep which I think they became 4 hours plus all the fuffed around, and yes I discovered I have been the biggest fuffer overall basically seeing my phone videos I see I enter the CP1 at midnight and was leaving at 6.40am… omg terrible fuffer
I jump fast forward as I could explain in very detail day by day but I really want to highlight a few moments. After around 3 days or 4 (depending if you start counting from 6pm start time) we entered the hike a bike section, a scary part because we were all warned about it. Just some kilometres after the last resupply for a while I found Charlotte with a lot of sweets hanging on her bike, so I caught up on some chit chat, shared some sweets and sometimes enjoyed horses passing and galloping next to us. We decided to stick together as they alerted on some big river crossing again through the app the organizers use, we saw it just before we entered the area and therefor we wanted to be safe and help each other, as the organizer agreed on the rules the river crossings can be helped, but this is a self sufficient race so nothing else can be organized, helped or done with another participant.
“probably was like a 45-50 degrees, which in mountain language is like scrambling”
As I looked at the clock, time passed and the first river crossing didn’t yet come, it was later than 6pm and that was the limit recommendation for crossing time. We kept going, nothing will stop us, as the real hike a bike starts my Hammerhead lights up with a 35km climb, which yes straight into pushing hard the bike on a very little trail path, probably where long time ago cows and goats will go, maybe some sheep sheppers but not many many more. We crossed the first river where we found a few other guys, we all helped each other. I took my bike bags off and put my crocks and my bike on my back and crossed that first river, pretty strong and pretty high in that middle part, oh and of course it was pretty cold. We celebrate with another candy, we dress up again, we chit chat but quickly get going to not freeze and to basically keep going. The night came quickly and my speed was a bit faster and efficient compared to Charlotte even if I felt like a turtle stopping every 5 minutes. I get to this insane steep section, I try to push the bike, doesn’t work, probably was like a 45-50 degrees, which in mountain language is like scrambling, but the thing was the path was muddy and wet and there was only plants to get your hand on, some of them strong to stay some others no. I tried everything but I couldn't make it up, my exhaustion and my body were on the limit that i really couldn’t. I stopped, breath, restarted and tried again, pushing myself so hard nearly crolling on the floor with my bike on the back and holding to whatever I could with a headlamp lighting where my head was and my bike bumping into the bushes and illuminating the sides. I don’t think I can explain it well enough to picture this moment, but it was wild.
As the night kept going and I navigated on a thin line on the map and some low headlamp light to save battery, another river crossing came, at this point I just saw somebody's tent before camp a few meters above that river. I went down thinking I could do it, but the reality was that it was too strong, I couldn't see clearly and the noise also made it a bit scary. So as it was 11.30pm I decided to go back up and pitch my tent next to that guy's, so if he would wake up I would also hear him and wake up. If I'm honest I didn’t sleep at all as it was minus degrees and everything froze, in and out the tent.
It took more than 7 rivers, even at times stream river up was the only path, alot alot of hiking and from that bottom where I got to start the hike, the sleep until the top, about 20hours. I probably didn't even have enough food in general but when I reached the top I was very grateful, a few people left just when I reached the top and started layering up. I tried to be as quick as possible and descend riding, but the descend was also not that much ridable, I kept sitting on the bike, and going down but at a point I had a scary call and nearly crashed hard face first, I think at that point the adrenaline of that nearly crash and some emptiness anxiety, I cracked started crying and shouting help, don’t go to far. Pushed to get a guy that was in front of me, talked to him for a second and felt a lot better, we kind of rode together but separated and as pace is never the same we separated after a bit.
This race is a survival, there are parts like a hike, a bike where connection was not a thing, you will spend a day or even two without any signal, not knowing where others will be, if you didn’t have things downloaded you will not even know the information like town names, town supplies etc. And for this you need to make a plan and write down as much information as you can. I, somebody who loves planning, excels and maps thought I could plan it all and know, like in other races more or less through the average speed where i will be when, but it was actually impossible, no chance to even get close to that on the first 100km, so while I was trying to do it pre race, I gave up, I wrote on the iphone notes, the same resupplies the organiser wrote on the race manual and that will be it, if there were more, lucky you, if there were less you had to be smart and have a lot of food.
After CP3 and gaining some positions plus standing 2 overall women part of me wanted so badly to finish and even get that special Kyrgyzstan hat that you get in the podium, that I pushed, omg I pushed so into the limit after that CP3, I slept there for around 3 hours, took a shower, eat a lot, and bought some food at that CP but not much just thinking that 160km will take me not more than 20h, very naif of me and wrong to not check a bit closer that section. The weather was coming in and I knew the next day was a lot of snow predicted so I thought pushing through the night and not stopping moving would be my best call into some of the gnarliest sections and places I’ve been through. A 3893m pass called Tosorpass completed at 3am in the morning followed by some wet rocky section, full peanut butter mud, hail, and the most scariest moment swamps, grass swamps that i got stuck above my knee and nearly pressed that SOS button because I couldn't get out of there as my bike was pushing me down because of the weight and i knew nobody was in front of me or behind me or at least close enough.
While the blue hour and day started lighting up the hike that I think all participants thought was going to be an easy section, it was a nightmare. The hike probably took 25 km of what was called a “trail” where I think only cows and horses will go. I cracked a million times but made it to the road, where a peanut butter muddy pass with a lot of big trucks that will splash you mud will go through. At this point I realized I was running out of food, I had a few little things left, a bag of M&Ms, one of oreo, maybe a gel, some carbs drink and some nuts. All for I think another 70km which who knows how they were going to be, in my head downhill and easy, but not at all… It took me another 12 hours to complete that next section, and running out of food was for sure the hardest thing ever. I will count m&m one by one every half an hour, at a point I saw a road worker, he saw me struggling, stopped, kind a depleted, he went in the car, got two sandwiches and gave them to me, it felt like it was a miracle, and not that I believe in things, but I believed in humanity and human connection and that was one of those moments. I took one of those two sandwiches, opened it and had some tears while telling him he saved my life, even though he probably didn’t understand a word of English.
These races sometimes are taken for granted, I've got a mentor, I've got somebody to help me on the mental side to believe my decisions were good decisions, to find a mantra and a path towards the finish line without giving up. As this year I wanted to carry and photograph along the way, I trained hard, prepared the gear and had some of the best support with me. So I carried two cameras, an analog with 5 film rolls and a little one just in case one of them failed. I had taken more than 2000 photos and filled up those film rolls, stopped to take photos of plants, landscape, some people, horses of course, and so on, i will keep going thinking on the mantra, if you keep going you will see more, and the curiosity of everything could give me more desire than anything else. I managed to complete this race, which is probably the craziest thing I've done in my life. In the best way possible, I pushed and finished in a great position but I also completed it by taking all the photos and documenting my journey along the way. This changed my perspective of believing in myself and in being capable of doing things like harder and harder every time.
Pic by Stephen Shelensky
