Silk Road Mountain Race 2023: Training & Altitude
As I write this, I'm winding my way up a valley in Kyrgyzstan, heading towards the start town of Karakol. I’ve started icing the cake of my race preparation. From here, myself and Malik (@the_last_nomad_republic) will head to Juuku pass, which we will ascend over a couple of days. Malik is a photographer and a cycling guide here in Kyrgyzstan. Extra training isn't what’s needed during this period, time at altitude is. I’ll spend five days above 3,000 m while sleeping at up to 3,700m, dropping back to Karakol just a day before the race.
Photo credit: Malik Alymkulov (@the_last_nomad_republic)
Things have changed for me, so my preparation has been different this year. The first time I came here in 2019 I did most of my training on the road bike, with the occasional off-road ride on my mountain bike. There wasn't much else I could do as we were living in South London! Now we live in the Catalan Pyrenees and can't even remember the last time I was on a road bike. These days, the short distances I ride on tarmac have one aim: to get off road, into the mountains.
My training started in December. That’s when I started putting in consistent hours into my fitness. However, rather than spending all winter on the bike, I went ski touring and dabbled in ski mountaineering. The difference in the two is subtle, but substantial; For any of you not sure of the difference, thanks to elanskis.com for these descriptions:
“Ski touring is a form of movement in the mountain world with the help of touring skis. It differs from alpine skiing in that skiing is complemented by cross-country skiing. For many, the most beautiful activity of winter recreation, which can combine mountaineering, demanding alpine descents, or easy wandering through the snowy mountain landscape.”
“Ski mountaineering is an upgrade of touring skiing in the high mountains, which takes place on steep slopes (above 45 degrees) or more exposed slopes, where any slip or fall poses a serious danger. The approach requires climbing knowledge in rock, ice, and steep snow in winter conditions.”
As my skills improved. It's fair to say that skinning up hill on skis while using your arms for propulsion is hard work. It makes cycling up a dirt track feel quite friendly. When combined with cycling up to the snowline with skis strapped on my back, these became serious endurance building days. As I’d cycle 2-4 hours from my home to find snow and then ski beyond that. These days made for beautiful human powered adventures. Thanks to my friend Montse for showing me the mountains in safety and good company.
With this training I wanted to build the resilience needed to be able to hike or run longer days, so that when July came and the high mountains opened, I could explore properly on foot. There's no doubt I came out of winter with a lot of strength and depth due to skinning. I also spent more time on my feet than ever, whether hiking with Lennox on my back, or trail running.
Where we live, the roads mostly end around 2,200 m. If you want to go higher, while you could drag a bike up then drag it back down, using your feet is the most efficient option. I know that Silk Road is such a hard race, involving plenty of ‘hike-a- bike’. It's hard to ride or even walk at over 3,500 m, when you're tired (which is guaranteed), whatever the surface.
All of this means that I see spending time hiking and running as well spent. It's a more dynamic movement than cycling and builds good core strength with robust knees and strong legs.
High levels of fitness can be short lived and some of the strength I’d built over the winter was lost during the spring as I suffered a spate of illnesses, though the foundation mostly remained. In late May, the Highland Trail 550 in Scotland, which has again been a major personal objective, ended as a disaster, for me at least. I love this race so much and have never been happy that I’ve been able to give it my best. It did take some time to recover.
By mid-June I was feeling good and back training well. In early July there was something I'd been looking forward to. A good friend was coming out from the UK, and we were going to fast hike a lot of the Carros de Foc route in the Parc National d'Aigüestortes i estany de Sant Maurici. We planned to scramble a few other higher peaks for fun. We'd spend a week living above 2,000 m and even up to 3,100 m, a great way to kick off altitude training for Kyrgyzstan. The trip was a huge success, the multi approach to training I'd been using meant I could move fast and well, covering many meters and kilometres on food with little fatigue. More importantly, I was finishing big days with little tiredness or soreness. We had such an awesome time.
From mid-June I stopped most of my trail running, for fear of injury though kept up some of the hiking. Now, most of my time was on my bike (of course - off road).
While our house is in the mountains, it's only at 1,000 m, so not high enough to prepare for Kyrgyzstan’s 4,000m passes. However, we live near the bottom of Port de la Bonaigua, which peaks at 2,100m. Frankly with some reluctance, I spent the rest of my time before leaving for Kyrgyzstan, up there. This meant my final training mostly took place between 1,590m and 2,500m as I spent most of my days and nights at a good height. I would come back home in the evening to spend time with family and eat Isabelle's wonderful dinners!
Thanks so much to Isabelle for enabling and supporting me these past few months. Special thanks to Lennox (who never complains) for being such welcome company and a great training aid!
If you want to see and feel my training this year, you can watch the short film by Fairlight Cycles titled “Movement” here: https://youtu.be/qd1PeoGXbtE