Five Lessons Learned at the 2024 Silk Mountain Race

A rider approaches from a distance, and I stand by the trail with my mic in hand. I can’t tell who it is yet or how they look like they are doing. I might be the first person they’ve spoken to in hours, maybe even days. If people tend to be either on an upswing or a downward spiral, having a great day or a terrible day, which one might they be on right now? And are they willing to talk about it?

I think, “Well, I hope it’s a good story.” 

Are they going to tell me everything is going fine, or will they tell me a wild story and the list of life affirmations and conclusions they’ve come to, the hardships they’ve suffered through, and all the ways they have (or haven’t) figured out what their plan is?

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I start every day not knowing what the story will be, who I might run into, or what experiences riders might have gone through since I last saw them. Recording a daily podcast for an ultra-distance bike race can almost feel like being a fisher, casting a wide net out into the mountains of Kyrgyzstan each day, trying to reel in grandiose and relatable stories from adventurous cyclists along the way.

The Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR) media team is spread between three cars over the 1,960-kilometer race course, twisting between high off-road mountain passes and remote valleys. It’s a huge distance to cover in a race with endless spectacular scenery and good stories from the 172 starting racers.

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As the sole person on the ground for the podcast, I worried about missing parts of the story and being unable to cover such a vast field alone. But I soon realized it was more like a choose-your-own-adventure novel—skipping ahead, circling back, and inevitably missing a few chapters. Just like a racer, my goal was to keep adapting, keep moving, and keep making it work.

As I move through the field and follow riders throughout weeks of intense experiences back-to-back, I see them in all emotional states, from blissful and excited elation to crushed and demotivated hardship. An ultra race this long and intense is like a boot camp in mental agility lived in fast-forward. So many doubts, so many failures and successes, and so far to go.

After 16 days of interviews from the registration to the finish line, these are the five most valuable and common lessons the people I spoke to came away with.

1. Everything is temporary

 
 
“One thing I really learned is everything ends. How hard you are suffering, when I think, ‘Will I still be here in two weeks? No, I won’t even be here tomorrow again.’ So, everything, how hard things are, if you keep moving forward, if you keep pushing, in whatever situation you are, things will come to an end.” —Femke Van Kessel, Episode 14, Day 13. Kok Ayrik Pass.

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One of my favorite adages relating to this idea is “It can’t rain forever.” It’s just a fact, and it’s so simple. In the Silk Road Mountain Race, change is the only constant. When times get tough, holding on and moving forward will lead to something better. It’s easy to understand in theory but hard to embrace when things fall apart. Yet, this mantra has real power. If you can practice it, you’ll find it easier to let go of the bad times and embrace the good ones.

2. Fear is okay

We often talk about pushing limits, expanding comfort zones, and unlocking potential during endurance races like the SRMR. We want the idea of where we can go, what we can do, maybe who we are, to feel expansive and full of potential. We are all so much more capable of extreme physical and mental efforts than we have to endure in our day-to-day lives, and racers have an opportunity to learn this other side of themselves and how they will react. 

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“I think the takeaway for me is that it’s okay that I have my comfort zone. I still want to make sure that I challenge where it is, and that as I get older, it doesn’t become smaller. It’s important to keep checking where it is and keep prodding at it, but it’s okay that it’s there.” —Charlotte Inman, Episode 16, Day 15. Cholpon Ata.

The thing we don’t talk about when we talk about pushing our comfort zones and limits in these races is that you also end up with a much clearer knowledge of and respect for exactly where those comfort zones and limits lie. They are not static and will always change throughout our lives. In the comfort of everyday life, we often don’t examine our fears as sharply, but the race brings them into focus. They are there, and they always will be, and during these races, you lean into them hard.

3. There are things you can control and things you can’t

While racers know they can’t control everything, many underestimate how much control they actually have. Gala, an emergency doctor, shared how the race parallels her work: you must prepare for what you can control and adapt to what you can’t.

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“In my work, you have to have everything under control that you can. This way, you minimize the possibility of errors, but there’s actually a lot that can happen that is not under control. I realized later on that it’s actually similar to what can happen in this race. You can prepare for everything you can control, but there are still some things you can’t predict.” —Gala Giannini, Episode 16, Day 15. Cholpon Ata.

In a race like this, riders must confront their relationship with control. In daily life, most of us cling to a sense of order. We plan, prepare, and try to predict every possible outcome. But out here, on a mountain pass in the middle of Kyrgyzstan, you realize how much is beyond your grasp. Everything can change in an instant. 

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Despite the dynamic race conditions, the small, smart choices racers have control over really matter. Decisions about food, sleep, or timing can make or break their ride. They can prepare, set parameters, and then let the cards fall. Perhaps, in life, as in the SRMR, we have more control than we think—we just operate under more extreme circumstances here.

4. One step at a time

Racers arrive knowing it’s better to think small. Break up the route and focus on micro-sections. But even with this mindset, the race will present surprises. Long, hard sections challenge expectations, and riders’ moods can shift dramatically.

“Just focus on the next thing, not the whole thing.” —Alden Roth, Episode 12, Day 11. Arabel Pass.

We should also think of our problems and our successes with the same broken-up mentality. Tackle one problem at a time, and don’t let successes go to your head. There will always be more struggles ahead. Racers learn this lesson repeatedly. A rough section might turn out easier than expected, and an easy one might become a grind. One moment, they’re cruising at 40 kilometres an hour. The next, they’re walking downhill. The race throws everything at those who take it on, and it’s best to drop any expectations and stay ready for whatever comes.

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By the end, this mentality becomes second nature. When I interviewed racers on the last section of the last pass, barely 60 kilometres from the finish line, almost every racer told me something to the effect of. “Anything could happen. I can’t think about the finish line yet, what if…”

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Don’t take anything for granted, but feel confident that bit by bit, step by step, you can absolutely figure it all out. One rider told me it was like climbing a ladder: you just have to keep moving up, rung by rung, knowing eventually, you’ll reach the top.

5. Shared moments make the biggest impact

Racers spend more than ninety percent of the race on their own, but the memories that stick with them the most are the brief moments they spend with others.

“These little interludes and chats are like having a big meal. It’s restorative. It pays dividends.” —Rob Thomson, Episode 5, Day 4. Moldu Ashu Pass.

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Rob’s quote made me think of one of these moments when I raced Silk Road last year. I hadn’t seen anyone in more than a day. I was suffering from bad stomach problems and wasn’t enjoying the dry and hot landscape. I crawled to the top of a climb and got passed by a married pair, Dylan and Sara, near the top. I shared with them some of my woes, and Sara told me she had had the exact same stomach problem a few days earlier. Just before they jetted off ahead, Sara turned to me and said, “Just hang in there. Things will get better.”

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This was an obvious fact I, of course, already knew, but in an instant, my whole mood lifted. For many of the next hours, I repeated the phrase in my head with the same calm, assured temperament of Sara, and it helped enormously.

If we wanted to do these things truly alone, we could do them as a tour at a different time, but we do them as a race, together and alone, partly because we get to share this wild experience with others, at least on some level. There is a level of competition and a focus to stay solo and keep moving, but there is also so much camaraderie. The interactions and real human moments you share with other people in the race bubble will fuel you onwards. Whether it’s another rider you get to hike up a pass with, the volunteers at the checkpoints, or meeting the media team in the most remote and unlikely of places—not to mention all of the warm and welcoming local people. Be ready to be alone, but encourage yourself as much as possible to interact with others when the opportunity presents itself.

After Thoughts

At the finishers’ party in Cholpon Ata, someone asked me if many racers had refused interviews over the course of these two weeks. When I thought about it, I realized that out of the 237 riders who said yes to an interview, at most 15 told me “no,” many of them with language barriers. The vast majority opted to stop for a chat, and many heartfelt and great moments are shared across the 16-episode podcast series.

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These lessons stick with you. They remind you to embrace the temporary, confront your fears, and stay present in each step forward, even when the path ahead is uncertain.

As I mentioned in my final episode, this podcast series captures the real human side of the race. It peels back the epic visuals to reveal the everyday people behind them: their struggles, triumphs, and everything in between. It shows the true capability of all of these individuals on their good days and their bad days. The power of their persistence.

Importantly, I think the stories are not only real but are relatable, and so are the people. If you can relate to the people, can you imagine yourself there too? If you can relate to their experience, can you imagine yourself having it too?

This series invites you to walk (or ride) in their shoes, living these five lessons and more each day. You can join the ride by listening to the series wherever you get your podcasts.

Further Reading

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