SRMR 4 – Race

Friday 12th August

The race wasn’t starting until midnight, so we had the whole day to get sorted. I went over to the sign on, which involved a couple of trips back and forth to take bike, bags and cardboard box.

Sign on was quick and gave us a chance to chat to other riders, get the tracker and the all important cap!

After sign on, I went to get more food, and back to the hostel to try get some sleep and do some last minute faffing with the bike. We then went back for the pre race talk given by Nelson, then back to the hostel. Sleep didnt really come, so a few netflix episodes took my mind off the long wait for midnight.

A few of us went to get some food at a local wrap place and this gave a nice break and we had a chat, and a photo, with the owner, who wished us luck in the race.

Then, 11pm came round and the 6/7 of us at the hostel packed up and off we cycled. The ride to the start was great, all the locals were cheering us through the city, giving us beeps of encouragemnts from cars. Great laugh.

We reached Lenin square, where the start was, which was closed by police just for the race. Such a great atmosphere, mixture of nerves, excitement and all the above coarsed through everyone there. The young locals on cheap mtbs with oversized sleeping mats who wanted to join the race looked eager too! Great to see some locals getting inspired.

Saturday 13th August

Race time!!

Midnight struck and the police convoy, with Nelson and a photographer in the front car sticking up from the sun roof, set off on the 6 lane road, with no other cars to deal with!

Me and Sam wished each other good luck, and off we went with all the other racers.

The convoy was great and lasted until the outskirts of the city, maybe for 20 minutes. The locals lined some parts of the roads and clapped and cheered from restaurants and bars.

Then we turned onto a gravel road and into darkness, the race had started!

it didnt take long for evertone to split up and I was cautious of not going too hard too early, keep at my pace.

The first few climbs felt very tough, and I put it down to lack of sleep, race nerves and just general fatigue from a poorly tummy in the run up to the race. I kept eating and drinking at regular intervals and kept to the plan.

Around 3am, I came into the first village since Osh, which I knew from the ride at the start of the week. No one was in sight, until coming out of the village, a car was stationary up ahead, in the middle of the road…

Luckily, another rider was ahead, and slowed down. He said the people up ahead were drunk and suggested we cycled through together. I agreed. We cycled up to them at a decent pace, and there was 4 men, who looked pretty drunk and they shouted and jumped at us both. They were laughing, but we certainly were not. Not sure what their intentions were, we kept the pace high, but they got back in the car and caught up to us again. Then passed us, then got out again. This happened another 3-4 times, and probably only lasted 5 minutes, but seemed to last an age. Luckily, we didnt get hurt or have anything bad happen to us, however, it defintely shook me up, and kept me ultra vigalent until the sun rose.

Luckily, after the village where that happened, the route followed a quarry road and then up to Jiptik Pass, where there were no other big villages.

Sunrise

The sun rose, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was pleased with my pace and stopped at a stream to filter some water and have a few minutes sit. As soon as I did, my head dropped and I fell asleep. Only for a few seconds, but it just showed I needed some sleep.

After this, the road started to go, and the track started to rise. I passed the yurt camp where I spent a night and there were a few riders there, I didn’t stop, keen to keep progressing up Jiptik, albeit slowly.

The sun was well and truly up now and the heat started to increase. I saw a big rock and couldn’t resist getting off the bike and leaning against it for a little sleep. Setting my alarm for 20 minutes, I got up and started to pedal slowly up.

I then reached the point where I knew it was all walking until the top, around 7 miles and from around 8,500ft up to the top at 12,500ft.

The re route around the landslide turned out to be much tougher than the actual landslide, although a lot safer, which I was pleased about. I just followed the rider/walker in front of me.

It was a tough afternoon. Push a few steps, put brakes on, catch breathe and repeat. The views and surroundings compelty made it all worth it though. We were defintely going slow enough to appreciate the views.

Also, the camaradarie of all the racers on the side of this crazy mountain helped us reach the top too. Passing, then being passed by the same bunch of racers added to the craziness of it.

After a long time, I reached the top around 7pm, 19 hours after the start. 67 miles in and 9000ft of climbing! The views again, indescribable, here is a photo close to the top…

I sent a few messages home at the top as there was a bit of signal, then started the slow push down the other side.

It was a bit steep to say the least and with the tiredness, I was ultra cautious as didnt want any falls. The first 3/4 miles was a push, then I managed to get back on the bike for a few sections.

By 8pm, I saw a few tents by the river. I had to stop, I was done in for the day. I was still at around 3100m, however, my body couldn’t go any further, so I succumbed and pitched the tent.

I stocked up on water, got changed and started to boil some water for a boil in the bag. I ate the first few mouthfulls, then next thing I remeber was waking up an hour later with the spork in my hand still. I was extremely tired. I quickly ate the rest of the food, set my alarm for 3.30am and fell into a very deep sleep.

Sunday 14th August – End of the race

I woke up before my alarm. Chest pains, not good. I moved around o see whether is was a broen rib, I cant remeber hitting it and I didnt fall yesterday, so it shouldnt have been. It wasnt. I breathed deeply and on exhales, the pain intensified. I was at altutitude and was extremely tired, so this was proably what it was. I wanted to get up and cycle down the mountain, but the next thing I new I was asleep again and woke up with my alarm.

The pain was still there. I packed up and set off downhill. I turned a corner after a few miles and was greeted with a view that literally stopped me in my tracks. I had to stop to take it all in. The views over to the snow capped Peak Lenin were breathtaking.

I got the Sary Moghul and a paved road around 7am. The next 20 miles was on a road, all at around 3000m. I decided then that if my chest pain was still the same at the end of the 20 miles,and at the next town I would call the race doctor. Getting home safe is always top priority.

The flat ride on the road was a lot harder than it should have been and I was only going about 6 mph, getting overtaken by a lot of riders. The pain in my chest was bad and not getting any better.

I reached Sary Tash, found a cafe where there were a few other riders, ordered some breakfast, then messaged Nelson telling him about what was happening. he sent the doctors out to see me within 20 minutes. The doctors then told me I would need to go to a hosptial to get checked out.

I was taken by the race doctors to a small hospital in Sary Tash. I was seen by a doctor there and she reccomended I was to go to a bigger hosptial in Gulcha, which had an ECG machine. After a bit of confusion what was going on, I was taken in an ambulance over the road pass and down to Gulcha, which was 1.5 hours drive. I kept falling asleep and one time I woke up to see the doctor who was in the back with me checking my pulse on my wrist, I think I might have given him a freight! I was just very tired. My chest was still very painful, but I can sleep in any situation, even flying along rough roads in the back of an ambulance.

I reached Gulcha, saw another doctor who could speak a bit of English. I met the oter 2 race doctors, Anvar and Sharipova, who helped with further translation and made sure I was okay. Such good organisation, without these amazing people and the race organisers, it would have been very difficult to get sorted this quickly.

I got an ECG and luckily it was fine. Unfortunatley, I had to be withdrawn from the race on the basis that my chance of getting a blood clot if I went back to altitude was severely increased.

Gutted is an understatement, but im pleased it wasnt anything worse!

My race was over.

Journey back to Osh

After a couple of hours, I was allowed out of the hospital and Anvar and Sharipova sorted a taxi out for me to get back to Osh, my bike was still in Sary Tash and it was getting transported back later.

I jumped in the back of a taxi, with a family of 4 next to me and an old man in the front. the journey was around an hour I think. I fell in and out of sleep even with the crazy taxi journey. I messaged home to keep everyone updated and got dropped back at the Osh Nuru hotel where race HQ was.

After a catch up with Nelson, Regina and Florence. I checked in and fell asleep, in a bed. I had not been expecting this 24 hours ago. But it could have been a lot worse, so I was pleased.

Thanks again to Silk Road Mountain race and the doctors in Sary Tash and Gulcha! Without everyone involved and their quick actions, it could have been a different story.