The Silk Road Mountain Race came to an end on Saturday. And anyone who followed the race on Dotwatcher quickly realized that this year it was even more demanding and harder than ever before. The route was longer and there was also more elevation gain. That resulted in the second-highest scratch rate in the history…
At 2,050km and 35,500 meters of elevation gain, the Silk Road Mountain Race is this year’s longest edition and also has the most elevation gain. A total of 229 participants lined up at the start, which was once again in Talas this year. Talas and My SRMR And this starting location brings back a lot…
This year marks the fourth edition of The Bright Midnight, a bikepacking race that covers 1,100km and 20,000m of elevation gain through the impressive landscape of Norway. Organizer Justinas aka King of Chaos is himself a very successful ultra-racer and has packed the route with a lot of love and challenge. And if you believe…
Since Friday, May 29, they’re on the road again: 170 participants are fighting their way through the Balkans over 1,400 km and more than 30,000 meters of elevation gain. And I use the word fighting deliberately, because for me the Trans Balkan Race is one of the hardest and most demanding bikepacking ultras in Europe….
Since 2020, you can find a deep analysis of the bikes and equipment of the major ultra-bikepacking races like the Atlas or Silk Road Mountain Race in my Bikeanalytics. The basis for these evaluations are the “Rigs of…” posts by Bikepacking.com. At this point, many thanks for your work on this and the careful gathering…
On Friday, the fourth edition of the Trans Balkan Race (TBR) started: 1,380km with around 30,000 metres of climbing await the participants. I have a bitter-sweet past with the TBR: I failed in the race itself and injured my hand nerve, which is still with me today. But I was also physically and mentally not…
Yesterday at 6 pm it was that time again and more than 250 participants started the Atlas Mountain Race 2025 in Marrakesh. The race has become one of the most popular in the ‘scene’, which has led to a real rush of registrations. As a result, many applicants received cancellations or were only able to…
So far, I have mostly limited my analyses of bikes and equipment to the more well-known bikepacking ultra races, such as the Atlas Mountain Race, Silk Road Mountain Race, Tour Divide or Hellenic Mountain Race. But there’s really no reason for this, apart from my personal interest in these races. And so I am expanding…
For many years I have been analysing the bikes and equipment of participants in some of the larger bikepacking races. The basis for this are the “Rigs of…” articles from Bikepacking.com, where some participants introduce and briefly describe their bikes. Two weeks ago I introduced you to Bikeanalytics Atlas Mountain Race 2024 and analysed 109…
It’s that time again and 228 adventure seekers are waiting impatiently in Marrakesh – as I write this – for the rain to stop, for the race to finally start and for them to set off on the 1,300km with around 21,000 metres of elevation gain. But this delay gives me time to present my…
On August 12, the Silk Road Mountain Race will start. Riders from 17 nations will set out to finish the 1,900km long and over 37,000 meters high race. Besides the climatic conditions, the challenges at high altitude and in changing weather and temperatures between 40 degrees plus and minus 15 degrees, the mental strength will…
Let me start by explaining the shortcuts in the headline: SRMR 19 = Silk Road Mountain Race 2019 AMR 20 = Atlas Mountain Race 2020 TD 21 = Tour Divide 2021 And that basically tells you what it’s all about: I took a closer look at the bikes of the participants in the above-mentioned…