6 keys to the Silk Road Mountain Race 

A video dedicated to avoiding saddle sores would be insightful!

Thanks for those keys :)

Good luck Sofiane! 🚴

Great info and well considered, thanks very much! Good luck for next time.

Thank you for sharing this information

Obrigado pelas orientações, parabéns pelas suas conquistas

Realy good video...👍

Thanks for expressing your love to Kyrgyzstan ❤ Wish you amazing race this year🔥

Several good points I would certainly agree with . Especially because some might seem obvious, but can't be over stressed.

Thank you for this excellent video. Your advice applies to most candidates at the start of an ultra. Equipment, physical condition, diet, butt-pain,... as you say, are all determining factors in not only finishing, but staying in control and happy during the race. A video on saddle sores is a great idea, but the topic is so "personal" - morphology, skin type, bike fitting, saddle model (shape, width,...), the shorts,.... a difficult topic to deal with. Happy SRMR!

Study the course! Well I had a whole camping gear with me on my last ultra, but I didn't really check the course. It went through pretty remote mountainous areas. The race was started on Friday, and it avoided bigger towns for the first couple of days. I had food for Friday, but the resupply was not easy on the weekend!

like the Vitus shirt

great video Sofiane. In addition to the advice about food, I'd add to be careful where you get water from, including for brushing teeth. IME once you're outside of Bishkek don't trust tap water to be safe to put in your mouth, and "never" (maybe in the highest mountain creeks) trust water from rivers, lakes etc

Merci mon ami

Merci pour toutes les astuces, et encore bravo 😊 hellofromparis😅

Hello Sofiane congrat for your results. I'm preparing Atlas 2024 and I'll follow all of your advices even for SRMR. Thanks! Ernesto

Congratulations on the tremendous achievement! We volunteers of checkpoint 3 were disappointed to miss you!

Bonne course 💪

Very good video Sofiane. Thanks! Good luck in the race.

Merci Sofiane, très intéressant ! Dynamo obligatoire? Merci et bonne suite!

Great!👍🏻 What is the perfect drivetrain for you if you have the choice without limitations. XTR, XX1, XX1 AXS, Transmission….and why?

Thank you so much for the tips and advice, great info! I am an avid off road cyclist, familiar with camping and remoteness, love to climb, used to cold temperatures and have made some tough rides and think that I can finish this race but I have never pushed that hard so I’ll know when I’m there 😅 You didn’t mention the mental aspect of the race, what if you are physically prepared, have the right bike and gear but you’re mentally weak! Is there such a thing as be mentally prepared? And during the race, do you have a technique to overcome those low moments when you feel like scratching? Or you are just tough, mentally strong and determinate

salut sofiane, félicitations pour ta récente victoire à la bright midnight, tu n'as pas parlé de la largeur des pneus en semi-rigide voire en gravel, thanks

Salut Sofiane ! merci pour la vidéo. Je serai de la partie cette année. Penses tu qu'avec une cassette 10-44 et un pédalier de 38 dents ca passe (Ekar Campagnolo)?

Merci Sofiane, c'est très complet. Et bravo (on a dû te le dire 3 millions de fois, voire plus). Juste a little question : les rayons ayant la facheuse tendance à casser à l'arrière côté cassette, qu'utilises-tu pour démonter celle-ci ? pas un fouet à chaîne je suppose .... Thanks

Thank you for these great tips. I'm starting SRMR 2024, is the Garmin Edge 1030 suitable for navigation? 😎

salut , super vidéo. Petite question je suis très intéresse par la course , je pratique l'enduro avec un full suspendu tranceX 29 je roule avec un section de pneu 2.50 avant dhf et 2.40 arrière dissector. Donc ma question bête, roule avec une configuration de pneu pareille serais suicidaire pour cette course ? ou un avantage par moment

Do you think it's necessary to download a a map of Kyrgistan for my Garmin or are the gpx files from Komoot enough?

Thanks for sharing this advice. You mentioned you used a repair cream to avoid saddle sores. Whar cream do you use?

Hi Sofiane - thanks for the video, which I found really interesting. Can I ask if you might consider doing a bike pack video, showing how / where you are packing your kit for Silk Road, including that winter / warm sleeping bag, which are pretty bulky. Mamy thanks again, Steve 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Salut Sofiane, @19:35 « I recommend that learn basic Russian (or sumthink) .... it is not mandatory but it will help a little bit ». C’mon, Lad (you’ve learnt that word in Scotland 😉if you didn’t before) as you described, no cell coverage, exhausted, hungry, dirty and desperate to find a hotel.... if you can’t say hotel in Russian, good luck with that. I’ve watched for the second time one of your videos about the Silk race, it’s at the start of the race, it’s dark, where is Sofiane pedaling, at the front of the pack, Nope. Sofiane pedals in the pack, and possibly at the tail end of it. There’s a rider next to you and what do you ask him ? You ask : How do you say « Good luck » in Russian ? That got me smiling, the race has started but good pupil Sofiane is still doing his homework 😉and he doesn’t miss an opportunity to enrich his vocabulary in Russian. Sacré Sofiane 😊! (see also hilarious Spanish lessons and toothless old people in Colombia). Ride on, Champ ! All the best for your future races.

@sofianeshl how you manage wet feet especially if after a river crossing you have a high pass to climb with temp. below zero...?🥶

what healing cream do you use?

Bonjour Sofiane, utilises-tu un harnais porte-vélo pour les grosses parties hike-a-bike? Ou tu la joues vélo sur l’épaule uniquement? Merci

Bonjour Sofiane, quel est le model de ton vélo ?

Hello Sofiane, any tips on what values of W/kg rider should have in order to accomplish such race?

Credit card or current money?

Tu es le Pogacar du bikepacking Sofiane! Y auras t il des adversaires a ton niveau cette annee? (Jay P, james mark,...) ou est ce qu entre barons vous vous arrangez pour ne pas vous faire de concurrence sur les epreuves? Autre question : y a t il une raison pour laquelle toi et les cadors de la discipline ne participent pas/plus au bikingman (tu en as faite par la passe mais j ai l impression que maintenant c est mort?)

Drink Kumiz if you have diarrhea in Kyrgyzstan ;-) fixed my bowels each time (I was bikepacking, not racing)

Kyrgyz language words also will be more useful in the regions, not only Russian. People in remote areas don’t speak Russian, really. I live in Kyrgyzstan and did the race in 2021 (Third edition) and 600 km in 2023 (4th ed)