Singletrack/MTB
Gravel/All-road
Dirt-road Touring
Fat-bike
The Silk Road Mountain Race is back for 2022, and the organizers just released the route and event details. Learn more here…
Photos by Chris McClean (@chrismcclean)
Last year, nearly 100 riders lined up in Kyrgyzstan to tackle the beautiful and demanding 1,800-kilometer (1,120-mile) Silk Road Mountain Race route through the Tian Shan Mountains, which packed in some 30,500 meters (100,000 feet) of climbing on a diverse and rugged mix of trails (check out our Tian Shan Traverse route from 2016 to get a sense of the terrain).
Now in its fourth year, the 2022 Silk Road Mountain Race (SRMR) sees some updates, including a slightly longer route and more elevation gain. There are also more fast-rolling sections and fewer hike-a-bikes, so it shouldn’t be significantly harder than the previous versions (which isn’t to say it isn’t already extremely challenging). It will follow a 1,895-kilometre route with roughly 34,500 meters of elevation gain. It will again take riders through the now familiarly remote mountain landscapes of the Tian Shan range in eastern Kyrgyzstan but will also start to explore the south of the country. One of the more notable changes is the new start and finish location. In 2022, riders will line up and start the race in the southern city of Osh and finish in the capital, Bishkek. The event will start at midnight on Friday the 12th of August and finish at midnight on the 27th, giving riders the best possible chance to get up and over Jiptik Pass, the highest point in any SRMR to date at 4,185 metres (13,730 feet).
Keep an eye out for more coverage from the 2022 Silk Road Mountain Race. Until then, you can check out the official route below and scroll down for some excellent coverage of the 2021 SRMR.
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