The Mountain Races Podcast

The clock has finally wound down. After more than fourteen days, 2,060 kilometres and 38,000 metres of climbing, the 2026 Silk Road Mountain Race comes to an end on the shores of Issyk-Kul, at the finish line at Hotel Zeto. Riders roll in sun-weathered, filthy and running on empty — five spokes gone and a wheel rebuilt in Bishkek, blistered hands from one last descent of sand and cobbles, a phone broken on day two, a mascot named Beaker who's been everywhere and never had a wash. We greet them as they arrive on the final day of racing.

Riders featured in this episode:
Walter Mayerhofer — Cap 109
Luke Patch — Cap 125
Nina Holtrup — Cap 212A
Verena Walter — Cap 212B
Frank Soll — Cap 161
Avri Beach — Cap 15
Thomas Quirk — Cap 136
Matthew Franklin — Cap 59

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The race clock is ticking into its final twenty-four hours, and time has gone strange — seconds stretching into hours, hours vanishing in the blink of an eye. High on Ükök Pass, the media team hikes to 3,920 metres alongside riders bouldering their loaded bikes up gray scree toward a hard blue sky, some doing the climb twice to carry bikes and bags separately. Beyond it lie Kegeti, the bonus climbs of Kokorik, and finally the shores of Issyk-Kul. We hear from riders all over the map as they navigate the final days of this year's race.

Riders featured in this episode:

Anirudh Dagar — Cap 41
Toon Roebben — Cap 147
Tom Baker — Cap 201A
Adam Carlson — Cap 201B
Andrew Poynter — Cap 134
Paul Creusvaux — Cap 39
Rob MacLennan — Cap 104

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Completing the 2,000-plus-kilometre course in nine days, 15 hours and 51 minutes, Nathalie Schneitter took the women's win and tenth overall at the 2026 Silk Road Mountain Race. She came to Kyrgyzstan with a professional pedigree few could match — a former junior world champion, elite World Cup winner, and Olympian in cross-country mountain bike — but almost no experience of racing this long or this remote. She came, in her own words, out of curiousity: to see how her body would handle the distance, the altitude and the solitude. The answer was a patient, calculated ride that came down to the final quarter, when a race-defining night high on the mountain turned a multi-hour deficit to Kerry into the lead. In this episode, Nathalie shares all about her winning ride, the delicate balance between pedalling and faffing, running out of food on the climb to Arabel, and the tight, thrilling race against Kerry.

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Justinas Leveika is the overall winner, and first man, of the eighth edition of the Silk Road Mountain Race, finishing in 7 days, 16 hours and 56 minutes.

In this episode, Justinas shares his winning ride: surviving on fluids and pickle juice through the brutal first days, falling into a glacier river in the dark, and the ins and outs of a race he never expected to lead.

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Nils Laengner

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kegeti Pass is one of the best mountain passes in all of Kyrgyzstan. Control Car 1 spent a gorgeous sunny day, catching riders as they make their way toward the summit after the brutal hike-a-bike over Ukok the day before. What comes out, between the switchbacks, is everything at once — Kristen close to tears one minute and calling herself invincible the next, Paul laughing off a welded frame and a breakfast of sheep-butt fat, Nick finding the wire he needs wrapped around his own cassette. Two years lived in ten days, as one rider puts it: not sure whether to laugh or cry, and doing both.

Riders featured in this episode:

Antti Laaksonen — Cap 220A
Teemu Lemmettylä — Cap 220B
Paul Creusvaux — Cap 39
Kristen Tonsager — Cap 168
Andrei Ostanin — Cap 124
Rasmus Bozyk — Cap 202A
Nick Perkins — Cap 126

Follow the dots on MAProgress and follow @silkroadmountainrace on Instagram for visual updates from the trail.

Production & hosting by Mel Webb
Sound design by Ben Crannell
Cover photo by Stephen Shelesky

Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex and Tailfin.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.