Beshbarmak of racers

SRMR22 - day 1

Form and orderly queue please!

Women and pairs category, plus a bonus.

Day 2 General Classification

Day 2 - women and pairs

 A bridge too far

Inside scoop - Max Riese

Day 4 update - women, pairs, tandems, broomwagon and Riders of the Day. Phew!

Day 5 - insomniac snail, women and pairs

# __Beshbarmak (бешбармак)__

Beshbarmak or *'five finger'* dish is Kyrgyz's national dish and traditionally eaten with the hand - thus the five fingers. Served on large platters and shared between several people at significant milestones. Like a *'hotpot'* but just more significant. A bit like the terrain, weather and altitude the racers will face over the next two weeks.

# __Weather__
Always a key question! Like many parts of the world, a heat wave is underway in Kyrgyzstan with the start in Osh currently around 32°C in the daytime. The mountains are a cooler 3-6°C and with the highest point on the race (4,185m) coming in around 112km after the start, it will be a relief to summit this without the threat of snow. Much can change in a two week race, so I'll keep you abreast of any unfavourable conditions looming on the horizon.

# Route
Part old, part new. The start and finish are different from previous years, while the middle retains the old favourite of Naryn - aka Scratchers Paradise - the much loved steep ascent through the Arabel pass up to the Arabel Plateau, where riders continue along the plateau further than previous routes and cross the river at a point where it may be flowing more strongly. No race would be complete without passing via Son-Kul Lake either and this comes late in the race.

The start ventures to the south of Kyrgyzstan, a first, and tackles it's highest point for the entire race series - the aforementioned Jiptik pass at 4,185m. The first racers will tackle this in the dark, while those with perfect timing will crest the summit to the awakening dawn. All well and good unless the micro-climates in these big mountain-passes throw a curve ball to the weather forecasters and bad weather rolls in.

After dipping south from the start, the route heads north, takes a small loop through, what we hope will be, some spectacular new mountain scenery before heading due east to Naryn with it's large market, plenty of hotels and a chance to recharge before the steep ascent to Arabel Plateau and the descent to Issy-Kol Lake.

Sewn into the tapestry of SRMR is Tosor Pass, and once up and over, racers get a second sniff at Naryn before taking a new ascent to Son-Kul lake. Approaching from the North East side, it is no less steep than any other approach to the Alpine Lake. But once up the hike-a-bike section, the ride to the Yurt Camp is along flat roads rather than jeep tracks - those await riders after they've received their penultimate brevet card stamp.

Racers can't rest easy and will need to work for their final stamp as organiser Nelson Trees sniffs out challenging terrain like a well breed truffle hound. After scaling the final 3,474m final climb and navigating the very steep 26% gradient just after the summit, it's a gentle climb to 1,700m before rolling downhill to the finish in Bishkek. Or more precisely, cursing the rolling terrain hampering your speed-over-ground to a comfy bed and a cold beverage.

The longest route so far, but as Trees reassures, there's more rolling roads for racers to make it faster over the ground. Let's see if the racers agree with this statement when they're all done and dusted. Or dusted and done. No gravel race is ever the other way round.

So all that's left to say is __GOOD LUCK__ racers, safe miles and fair weather.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - Peta McSharry - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a 'get out of jail free' card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I'll also report on a 'race within a race' by adding a category for the women - it's something I`ve been asked about previously and I'm sure there's an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit's the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)

# Overall category

12 hours and 115km covered. By road standards, that distance would be covered in a matter of hours. By SRMR standards, that’s pretty normal. Rough roads, high passes and reports of some landslides on the highest pass of the race, made for slow progress.

The start was fast, with a group of 8 racers breaking away from the main group - we can’t call it a peloton because there’s no drafting allowed. *__James Hayden__* made it into the breakaway while *__Sofiane Sehili__* trailed in the chasing pack. Suffering from tonsillitis in the lead up to the race, Sofiane - who is fresh off his win at the Tour Divide at the end of June - is back to defend his title after winning last year. Marred with issues in 2021 - broken spokes, stomach issues, heat issues - Sofiane is hoping for an incident free race. 

James Hayden is coming back from a fractured radial head in late May, missing the Highland 550 to rehab the injured arm. His goals are to finish, have fun as a priority and to be able to race if possible. From the gun it looks like his fitness to race is with him as he took up with the leading pack. 

A new year of racing brings new faces to our sport and this year the number of participants from smaller countries represented at the SRMR are far greater than seen in previous years. So it’s no surprise to find a Peruvian rider in the lead after 12 hours. Hailing from a country with altitude a-plenty and living in Italy, *__Rodney Soncco Zuniga__* recently completed the Italy Divide while previously taking part in Bikingman events.

Sofiane made up ground from the initial starting summiting the pass in third place, trailing *__Steve Halligan__* in second place. Racing under an Irish flag but living in New Zealand, Steve completed the 2017 Tour Divide as a rookie, but wasn’t able to take part this year - a lucky escape given the horrendous conditions on the Tour Divide this year (I speak with personal experience). High snowy passes were the training ground for Steve over winter in New Zealand, so he’ll be accustomed to the terrain on the race.

# Women’s category
It’s the strongest field seen to date in the women’s category, with 18 taking to the start - this count includes the pairs category. Last year there were 5 women on the start-line (correct me if I’m wrong). 9 riders are in the solo category with *__Scotti Lechuga__*, *__Bernarda Jurič__* and *__Anna Petters__* returning to the race. Scotti won the 2019 pairs category with partner Ernie. Bernarda scratched with knee issues in 2021, but not before putting on a real show of strength through the snowy passes and high altitude. While the broomwagon caught up with Anna around CP2 and she made her way to Naryn. A return to the race gives riders another shot at the finish-line and we hope this time lady-luck will deliver success for them. 

# Pairs category
Sneaking in with a last minute entry, South African racers *__Jeanne and Martin Dryer__* come from a mountain bike racing background, competing in the Cape Epic a number of times and winning their category as well. They’ll be ones to watch. Returning pairs *__Shona Oldfield and Richard Naylar__* completed the inaugural race in 2018 but weren’t able to do the same the following year. Hoping to put their scratches-demons to bed, they’re back this year to conquer the beast but this time on a tandem. *__Mattia de Marchi__*, a regular to bikepacking races brings with him *__Frederico Damiani__*. The Italian pair currently hold the lead in the pairs category followed closely but the Netherlands pairing of *__Sam de Haas and Wouter Weeks__*. If Belgium racing is anything to go by this year, fellow racers should keep an eye on these two.

You may notice three racers still at the start-line. All of them pairs. It's not that they've already fallen out with the partner, no doubt it's a tracking issue and the dots will be reunited once their trackers are sorted out.

# Unofficial racers
The infectious nature of racing and the tenacity of teenagers saw two youngsters from Kyrgyzstan load up their camping kit onto some old mountain bikes. Taking to the start, when questioned by race organiser Nelson Trees where they were headed to, they announced Bishkek. We hope to follow their progress and see them complete the course.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - *__Peta McSharry__* - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a 'get out of jail free' card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I'll also report on a 'race within a race' by adding a category for the women - it's something I`ve been asked about previously and I'm sure there's an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hits the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)

# 1st 36 hours

Form an orderly queue please! Jiptik Pass. 4,185m, 112km from the start. Landfalls scatter along the road, riders must queue to pass through the narrow sections. Only the leading riders summit in 12 hours, the middle pack take around 16 hours with the tail end taking 18 hours. A handful of riders are still on the ascent 24 hours into the race.

Sofiane calls in a voice message: up and over the summit took 4 hours, part of this on the ascent and part on the descent. Headwinds made the descent harder, while in the valley the headwinds made for slow, hard going.

In hot conditions the wind blows up the valleys and up the mountains. With the descent off Jiptik Pass facing the south, this side of the mountain will heat up more, creating more winds. The reward for slogging your bike uphill for nigh on 12 hours is ripped from your hands with every pedal stroke needed to keep your downward momentum on what is meant to be the ‘recovery zone’.

# General Classification - overall category
Out front Rodney is blasting his way through the terrain, not stopping to sleep and taking time into the other favourites.
### At 24 hours:

- *Rodney Soncco Zuniga* - 345km (not sleeping)
- *James Hayden* and *Steve Halligan* - 295km (sleeping)
- *Sofiane Sehili* - 270km (sleeping)

## The Sleeping Game
If this were a 3 day race, sleep aka recovery can be forfeited for getting a jump on your competitors. With a race heavily front-loaded with services and small towns, it’ could be advantageous to make use of these services and save the hard going for the remote areas where nature is going to give you a hard beating. 

Sofiane stopped early, 7:30pm in a little village called Gul Cha. He took his race win at Tour Divide on 24 June, giving him around 5 weeks to recover before travelling to Kyrgyzstan. These hard races are ridden better on wisdom than stubborn tenacity and where you conserve at the start of a race, you can tap into these reserves at the end. 

It’s going to be an interest race to follow, understanding where riders who’ve short changed recovery may suffer later or whether racing prior to SRMR leaves Sofiane with a recovery deficit the other racers can take advantage of. 

### Sleep hours:
- Rodney: 0 hours
- Sofiane: 5.5 hours
- Steve: 2 hours
- James: 4 hours

Steve stopped to sleep just before the summit of a climb at 10:20pm, James rode past around 12:30am and Steve left shortly after. Assuming James woke him as he went past, it would appear Steve is racing to stay ahead of his rivals rather than racing to his strategy. It’s a trick that could work, but with plenty of altitude ahead riders are going to need as much recovery as possible.

## Cat and Mouse
Sofiane caught Steve and they played cat and mouse for much of the afternoon. Sofiane is faster on the descents, while Steve is gaining and passing Sofiane on the more shallow gradients, leaving Sofiane to overhaul him on the steeper gradients or descents. It’s made for fascinating analysis and knowing your strengths over you rivals can play havoc on the mental side of the game, knowing you can sap a rival’s mental resolve when catching and overhauling them with relative ease. 

There are other 'races with in the race’ so I’ll pause here and publish this before continuing on to the other categories.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - *__Peta McSharry__* - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


# Women’s category

After 36 hours 255km separate the 1st and last racer in the women’s category, with returning Pairs winner from 2019, __Scotti Lechuga__ taking the charge upfront. Hailing from a pro-racing career and switching to the adventure side of racing, previous experience on the route and knowing you’ve completed this event previously are showing in her lead over the other women. She holds a 110km lead over second place __Daniela Kirchner__ with a 40km gap to third place __Bernarda Jurič__.

Scotti made the Jiptik Pass summit around 6am, from the pace on the descent and the early morning cool air, riders look like they were spared the ferocious headwinds the general classification leaders would have faced. Bernarda summited around 7am, while Daniela summited at 8pm. Bernarda was ahead on the trail and stopped at 8:30pm with Daniela taking the opportunity to camp with a large groups of riders at 10:30pm. Daniela left at 2:30am overtaking Bernarda at 4:15am while she slept. Bernarda started moving again around 6:30am leaving her trailing Daniela by 25km.

![You liar](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2jvokqQ6g77HCQ0NvSfDTp/78d6e61805dd77f4dd5c3393b4f4bc2c/IMG_6818.jpg)
Source: Instagram - Scotti Lechuga

Five of the women stopped around 9:30pm at 102km, leaving the summit of Jiptik for the next day along with __Victoria Makarova__ who was ahead at 106km.

It’s hard to see how Scotti can be overhauled with such a large lead early on, but it’s a long race and luck needs to be on your side.

# Pairs category
Racing in pairs means one thing, there’s twice the amount of things that can go wrong, twice as many pee stops, food stops and you’re only travelling as fast as the slowest person. To see a pair summiting Jiptik Pass in 5th place and largely holding this place on the first day tells us one thing. This is an evenly matched pairing of two strong riders who, no doubt are syncing their pee-stops and limiting their stopping times to the bare minimum. But stop they did, giving *Mattia de Marchi and Federico Damiani* a much needed break of around 6 hours. Stopping for a similar amount of time, the mixed pair from South Africa - __the Dreyers’__ - trailed their Italian counterparts by around 100km. Followed closely by __Matti Köster and Michele Miani__. The Dutch pair of __Sam de Hass and Wouter Beeks__ hold a 20km deficit to the two pairs ahead. The Dutch pair were ahead of Matti and Michele but took a longer sleep and lost around 75km to both the South Africans and the Matti-Michele pair. Who will suffer the most? Those will less sleep or those who need to ride harder and faster to close the gap they lost? Time will tell.

# Random Rider of the day

- Nationality: South Korea
- Cap: 73
- Name: __Jongha Pak__
- Gender: Male
- Event Option: Solo

[Jongha Pak](https://www.instagram.com/Pjongha/)

__Quote of the day__: Survival report. Yesterday, at 3000 meters of sea level, outdoor drinking water does not purify the melting water. Everyone just drinks it.

Jongha arrived in Kyrgyzstan early, making his way by bike to the start. This bodes well for acclimatising to the altitude, adjusting to the food and any intestinal issues it might cause and most importantly to understand what options for refuelling are available. Jongha currently sits in 58th place in the general classification for solo riders. 

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - *__Peta McSharry__* - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


What’s the one thing that loves some good hot weather more than a bikepacker? Food-borne bacteria! And with limited refrigeration ‘outback’ so to speak, it’s where much of these nasty little critters are heading with the racers - out back. Reports of stomach issues are coming in thick and fast, either hampering energy levels or at worst stopping riders in their tracks. It’s the one place lightening will strike twice if you suffer from a sensitive constitution. Not that I’m implying a sentive constitution in this case, but __James Hayden__, once again is struck down with stomach issues. He seems to be handling them well as his pace is continuing to hold with the leading pack. If there’s one rider we want to bestow with good luck and the opportunity to cross the finish-line, it’s James. 

Leading women __Scotti Lechuga__ also reported stomach issues, not reporting them as eloquently as in James’ case, who reported it in a piece to camera. She just blurted it out. 

![Scotti - reports trouble](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5NurPf2T2VLSLW5JN35XxH/7fc22b97fbfebd31ce4826f726cf198f/IMG_6820.jpg)

It’s one of the most common reasons riders will scratch in this race, drinking water from streams where water purification tablets need an hour to do their job but the rider needs to drink before then. Or just choosing the wrong water source. Planning how to accommodate this is not always part of the training prep for these races. Plus not being adapted to the food racers will find along the way add to their ailments.

# General Classification
Things are getting tight at the front of the race. The large gap held by __Rodney Soncco__ on day 1 and 2 are slowly being eaten into by __Sofiane Sehili__ and __James Hayden__, who are holding pace with each other. __Steve Halligan__, who held second place and wrangled it from Sofiane on and off on Day 2, dropped off the pace of the leading pack. He’s holding off __Rustam Sherizyanov__ ,in fith place, for the moment.

As fatigue sets in, speed over ground starts to change for the riders. Go out too fast at the start and by day 3 the heart muscle is cooked and it won’t beat any faster than it deems safe. So your pace tracks the ability of the heart to beat fast enough. To hold your position leaves one choice only - shorter stopping times. So here’s our 'rest' report for the leading riders (rest/sleep - obviously they need to eat in this time too):

## Sleep times day 2
- Sofiane 5h45
- James   3h15
- Rodney  2h (stopped at CP1)
- Steve   7h30
- Rustam  6h

## Accumulated sleep time after 2 nights
- Sofiane 11h15
- James   7h15
- Rodney  2h30
- Steve   9h30
- Rustam  10h45

By the powers of deduction - given Sofiane’s longer sleep times, it makes sense he is travelling faster over the ground. Plus he’s got more recovery time in the bank. Let’s hope James and Rodney hold some tricks up their sleeves, we know the ability of Sofiane over these distances and as Dotwatchers we’re crowing for a sprint finish in this years race.

## GC positions (as at Monday 15 Aug 13:00 K-time)
1. Rodney Soncco:        683km
2. Sofiane Sehili:       677km
3. James Hayden:         674km
4. Steve Halligan:       657km
5. Rustam sherifzyanov:  635km

## Daily mileage changes
![Daily Mileage](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6NbuQuJuRXGNnxrq255rj/b86b6855166b2f503548e55ca292de5c/Daily_milage.png)

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


# Women’s category

Positions in the womens’ field remained the same, but once up and over Jiptik Pass the the top 4 riders were able to increase their daily mileage making up good ground over the easier terrain. __Scotti__ made it to CP1 around 1pm, she’s remained at CP1 for the past 5 hours. Suffering stomach issues, we hope she’ll be able to continue. __Daniela__ is around 50km away from CP1, giving Scotti another 3-4 hours rest before Daniela closes the gap. With night falling, it may give Scotti some additional time to recover as __Daniela__ is also taking time to sleep overnight.

1. Scotti Lechuga 		524km
2. Daniela Kirchner 	449km
3. Bernarda Jurič 		411km
4. Victoria Makarova 	394km
5. Samantha McMahon	  326km

![women d3 data](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1K14YtfdFrYt0XBMO2UDmU/b7802c23aa10916a621c85e60776e7a8/d3_women_final.png)

# Pairs

1. Mattia De Marchi and Federico Damiani 	653km
2. Michele Miani and Matti Köster 		    518km
3. Jeanie and Martin Dreyer 			        511km
4. Sam de Haas and Wouter Beeks 		      495km
5. Benjamin Ramirez and Aldean Lim 	      462km

__Mattia and Federico__ extended their lead on their rivals intially holding a 120km lead and opening this up to 135km, leaving __Jeanie and Martin__ to be chased down by __Michele and Matti__ for second spot. Sam and Wouter caught and overtook __Benjamin and Aldean__ opening a gap of 30km in a days riding. 

![pairs d3 data](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/283RCwZGWMIHnuLL40AsnM/77a4dc0c58ed3aec64d9c49fb711cdd9/d3_pairs_final.png)

# Virtual Broomwagon
You may recall from last year the reports of the virtual broomwagon sweeping up riders - it was a manual calculation I made as the race progressed. Thankfully the tracking software is doing the calculations this year. So look out for the little snail along the route. Currently 30 riders are behind the virtual broomwagon. Day 1 took its toll by on race pace. Not just because of the amount of climbing but more so due to the queue that formed before the landslide sections. If you run the playback feature on the tracking app, you can clearly see this in action. Look at the delay Sofiane suffered through the top end of the Jiptik Pass and then how this compounds as time ticks on. The terrain will ease up a little allowing riders to make up some time, however it kicks up soon enough and enters into an extended high altitude area which will make progress a little less speedy.

![broomwagon](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/34ezDvPdR9ZWdcqCkpkbhX/2668d8d904b04a6c413c2b803e7e3480/IMG_6832.jpg)

# Random rider of the day
You may be asking how the random rider of the day is selected. I scroll down the list of riders looking for one-off flags to highlight some of the smaller nations represented in the field. Today our rider hails from the Land Down Under, none other than S__amantha McMahon__. No stranger to high mountains, she’s summited some of and even the highest of them all. She looks like she’s been around mountain biking for a good few years, so this handy combination should hold her in good stead in Kyrgyzstan.

[Samantha McMahon](https://www.instagram.com/sammymc/)

No one loves a sense of humour more than the one around food and in particular one’s home food. I’m glad I stumbled upon Jonhga’s profile yesterday, it’s keeping me very entertained indeed. Adding to the fun is the translator interpretation of what's being said. Love it, keep them coming __Jonhga__.

![Jonhgas noodles](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2lYt12iCF5QIqQYRT0rFJv/f67f7354a265981cbe72a1d2436379a4/IMG_6827.jpg)

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)



# Day 3 - general classification

A shake up took place in the GC today as at close of business on Day 3. It looks like the sleep strategies in the early part of the race are starting to take their toll. Again __Rodney__ took minimal sleep and once he got going in the morning his pace ran slower than normal. __Sofiane__ and __James__ caught up with him and held his pace until he stopped early at a small village where it looks like he’s stopping for the night, along with James who stopped a few hours later.

In the race so far, Sofiane made his stops for the night in early part of the evening, leaving earlier as well, while James typically rode for longer and took shorter breaks but left at similar times to Sofiane. Rodney’s been riding on very limited sleep. He stopped today around 8:15pm while Sofiane and James continued to press on. I would guess Sofiane will ride through the night and press on to Naryn. There are some easier passes up ahead before the relative flat leading to Naryn. The steady gradient carries on for just over 100km after the passes and depending on the wind, it could be a tortuous slog into a headwind as the wind funnels down this valley. Get the wind in your favour and it’s a breeze to the multitude of services offered in Naryn. James is looking strong, while he’s running shorter on sleep than Sofiane, he will also probably make the push to Naryn overnight.

# GC positions (as at end of day 3)
1. Sofiane Sehili: 830km
2. James Hayden: 808km
3. Steve Halligan: 778km
4. Rodney Soncco: 776km
5. Rustam Sherifzyanov: 740km
6. 
![Daily mileage d3 men](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/oCEo8sI7IV78DpgY5WF4p/a019361ea6379da486872a9927e62ac6/d3_men_stats.png)

## Sleep chart
Riders are currently sleeping, so this chart only covers the first two nights.

![Sleep D1 2](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/2ccZiDZo24LpBn2wEalSov/554180cedeece72bb099ece1e53e5545/d3_sleep_stats_gc.png)

## A bridge too far
Social media posting of this rickety bridge started showing up on racers' feeds. Traversed by local with their herds, it took some riders a few moments to realise they needed to follow the herds, so to speak. I choose the photo from __Bagoli Leventi__, you should remember his brilliant ride last year until he faced an ongoing battle with a slash in the sidewall of his tyre. Eventually punching holes on either side of the tyre before ziptying the slash back together. He'd need a few more zipties for this bridge if it doesn't hold together.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


Inside scoop from __Max Riese__, fresh off completing Transcontinental and twice finisher at SRMR, he shares his thoughts on the route and race so far. 

__Name__: Max Riese
__Age__: 32
__Resident__: Salzburg, Austria.

# Bikepacking Experience: 
Two time SRMR veteran. 20th position in 2019 and 9th position in 2021. I also finished the AMR in 2020. 

# About:
The second part of the route is very familiar to me as I have ridden every kilometre from Naryn on. (Some if it twice 😂) 
I do plan returning to the race as I feel I still haven’t gotten the best performance out of me.
I specialise in off-road ultras and thanks to [@gravgrav.cc](https://www.instagram.com/gravgrav.cc/) I can proudly say that bikes are now my full time job. I know a lot of the riders in the race personally call a lot of them friends and I hope I can give a bit of insight from my experience riding against/with them on how their strategy might unfold.

# The Route Ahead:
Naryn is a welcome resupply for the front bunch. This will be the last chance for real food and good resupply as well as hotels for a while. However, by experience, this will be a rough point to continue for a lot of riders as they will have a hard time on committing to going out to the mountains again. (Same applies for the village of Tosor) Arabel pass will not make a huge difference for the front riders, I think. They will be experienced enough even to push over at night. However, strong winds on the plateau can reduce your speed to walking pace and if there is a storm the descent can turn to peanut butter mud, making a normally smooth 60km descent a pure nightmare. I don’t expect much change through Tosor Pass either. It’s long and high, but not technical. If there is bad weather things might get tricky though. You are very exposed on top with no shelter!

# Riders: 
Sofiane has been sick, I hope he is not pushing too hard. James surely is doing a very smart race. Comfortably in second and I think he has some joker up his sleeve. 
Rodney will be interesting to see if he can recover and make up time again. Mattia and Fede are both very strong. Mattia is a world class rider and Fede brings heaps of experience in the mountains! I think it will be interesting to see if they can keep their pace. But I don’t expect much competition for them unless they scratch or they get into real trouble.
There are a lot of veterans who will surely play their experience now. Levente Bagoli and Ernie Lechuga  are the two I am having my bets on most. Knowing what Kyrgyzstan throws against you and how Nelson is planing races helps a lot. 

For the women I really hope __Scotti Lechuga__ can recover. I had my bet on her doing a top ten. Super strong and experienced I still think she has a chance for the first place as a woman. __Daniela Kirchner__ is not new to ultras as well. She is mentally so strong, I have rarely seen someone so positive and consistent as her. She will come over all the problems she will encounter for sure. It will be a tight battle but I feel she will put up a really good race having the men run for their positions. 
__Victoria Makarova__ last year was at the line as a spectator and support for her boyfriend!!! She is doing amazing and I can’t express enough how excited I am about her performance. In general we can see, once again,  that women do exceptionally well in ultras.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach. My input comes from experience riding these off-road races and understanding just how hard it is to get to the start-line, let alone throwing your dice in the air at the start-line, hoping you'll land a double 6 for a ‘get out of jail free’ card. While the racing categories are for the overall winner in the solo and pairs category, I’ll also report on a ‘race within a race’ by adding a category for the women - it’s something I’ve been asked about previously and I’m sure there’s an appetite for some additional reporting.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)


# Women's category

It was going well, until it wasn’t. Something we know all too well on SRMR. Stomach ailments are awful but in hot weather they’re even worse, with dehydration a higher risk. __Scotti Lechuga__ made it to CP1, but not in good form. She’s been recovering there and unfortunately watched her massive lead get eaten into and then swallowed up as racers passed her. Handing the batton to Daniela, Scotti is still holed up at CP1 and we hope she will be underway soon. But these bugs generally have a week long hold on the guts, unless you’re carrying antibiotics. 

__Daniela Kirchner__ is at 641km, holding off __Victoria Makarov__ a by 100km, but we can easily see how quickly things can change around. Bernarda is snapping at Victoria’s heels, with only 9km separating them. By this stage of the race, if the wind is in the right direction, I bet she could smell her she is so close.

A special shout out to __Anna Petters__. If last year is a blur for you, let me pop in a quick recap. Anna chased hard to stay ahead of the broomwagon last year, but missed the cut-off at CP2 forcing her out of the race. She vowed to come back and beat the broomwagon. She is 16km behind the virtual broomwagon at the moment. Let’s get some support over to her to get her ahead of the broomwagon and into CP2.

## Women’s category (as at Tues 16 Aug 7:15pm K-time)
1. Daniela Kirchner 		643km
2. Victoria Makarova 		542km
3. Bernarda Jurič 		  533km
4. Scotti Lechuga 		  524km
5. Samantha McMahon	    524km 

![d4 women stats](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/1pXB77oeqMkpjBfVkyN557/b1747f3401b58d8090aa2812046e82c2/d4_women_stats.png)

# The Tandemers
In a category of their own, __Shona Oldfiled__ and __Richard Naylor__ only need to finish to win this category. I hope there’s a hat for them at the end, because if you’ve ever ridden a tandem you'll know just how hard it is to cycle these things uphill. Let alone do it to the rhythm of another’s cadence. Oh and the trust needed in the person upfront steering and braking on your behalf. On the plus side the person behind gets sheltered from the wind, only good in a headwind, in the heat it’s an oven back there. But the views from behind are wonderful because you can look sideways the whole way, never needing to pay attention to the road ahead. Obviously the crick in the neck is a small price to pay for that luxury.

# Pairs

After taking up such a large lead, __Mattia and Federico__ show no miles ridden today, but they still hold a massive 140km lead over their nearest rivals. I saw reports they were suffering in the heat, but I’ve not found any other updates. Message me if you have some intel. 3rd and 4th places is a contest between the South African’s and the Dutch. They share a common thread in their Dutch languages, so race strategy should be discussed out of earshoot of the each other. It looks like __Martin__ suffered a delay yesterday, leaving __Jeanie__ to continue on route. She’s waiting for him today and they’re now pressing on. __Benjamin Ramirez and Aldean Lim__ deviated off course, not sure if this was just a case of missing a turn and if they are aware they were not on track. It’s a definite shortcut, so expect some input from the organisers. Further updates will be posted.

## Pairs ranking (as at Tues 16 Aug 7:15pm K-time)
1. Mattia De Marchi and Federico Damiani 	742km
2. Michele Miani and Matti Köster 		    684km
3. Sam de Haas and Wouter Beeks 		      676km
4. Jeanie and Martin Dreyer 			        664km
5. Benjamin Ramirez and Aldean Lim*	      558km

![day4 paris stats](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/3JXafx5DXbxJo3ulmJOYoF/bfb755557747c5aa67ca61fa935723e1/day4_paris_stats.png)

# Virtual Broomwagon
Nothing motivates than a happy snail stilling ahead of your dot on the tracking app. Four riders remain behind the virtual broomwagon, with __Anna Petters__ the only one with real hopes of overtaking the snail.

# Riders of the day
I’ve broken my rule for selecting riders from the smaller nations and gone full Balmy with the Brit Army. Well, actually two racers, not a whole troupe. When I read __Jenny Wordsworth’s__ profile - I was initially curious on her poetry abilities, but soon learned she loves the high mountains - another mountaineer coming into bikepacking and quite recently due to a knee injury. So I watched her dot with great eagerness. I spotted another Wordsworth lurking close to her Dot on day one and after a little 'Sherlock Holmes-ing' I discovered she was married to one __Martin Wordsworth__ and there’s a mini-Wordsworth too. It was’t long before they fell into the coveted ‘Lantern Rouge’ position and I eagerly awaited some updates. This came in a brilliant post on Instagram. I’ll leave this for you, the diligent dotwatchers that you are, to click on the link below and read for yourselves. They definitely deserve riders of the day. They added to the drama but appear to be pressing on. It looks like they may retain the Lantern Rouge for sometime. I implore you to also look at the Stories, being posted by a friend, it's the dry sense of humour only matched by the weahter todate on SRMR.

[Jenny WordsWorth Insta](https://www.instagram.com/jenny.wordsworth/)

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)

# Insomniac Snail
Just when you think ‘she’s about to do it’, night falls and __Anna Petters__ needs to sleep. But she’s competing against an Insomniac Snail, who never sleeps. The snail is at the 477km, running an around-the-clock pace of 4.36kph. Doesn’t seem like much when you read it on paper. If she rides 12 hours a day then her average pace needs to be 8.72kph and in that terrain, it’s easier said than done. Come on Anna, get that snail.

# Women
After sitting out at CP1 for the better part of a day, __Scotti Lechuga__ scratched. Never something we want to report on and it looks like husband __Ernie__, who is 200km up the road scratched too. It’s hard to continue on route under these circumstances. We wish Scotti a fast recovery. __Daniela__ continues to press forward in the lead, maintaining a higher daily average than those following in her tracks.
![Victoria crash](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/6PJ3QCrdEIlM3g8PujdkjC/e87eca39fe6def7d99765b3d3588b6c2/27F865CF-A397-45C6-9FAF-B714E66D1856.JPG)
__Victoria__’s taken a side detour to Jalalabat, she reports a fall damaging her bike and elbow - she needs to see a doctor. Hopefully she'll be back on track soon. __Eleanor Moseman__ made CP1 and also made it into the top 5, her videos and posts on Insta-Stories are very funny. 

## Women’s category (as at 17 Aug, 3pm K-time)
1. Daniela Kirchner 	743km
2. Bernarda Jurič 		622km
3. Victoria Makarova 	607km
4. Samantha McMahon	  533km
5. Eleanor Moseman		523km

Scotti Lechuga 		Scratched due to stomach issues

![day 5 women stats](//images.ctfassets.net/6hyijb95boju/5vsgbWfAuL7zPEMj5GKitw/552c2f7870d95b0808dc33ad281e36f4/d5_women_stats.png)

# Pairs

__Mattia De Marchi__ scratched due to reported fatigue so __Federico Damiani__ is continuing on his own. It brings with it a shake up in the pairs’ category. Dropping out the top 5 and with a route short cut, __Benjamin Ramirez and Aldean Lim__ are sitting at 607km. This brings the Polish pairing of __Jakub Kubinski and Marek Barczewski__ into 4th and Finish pair __Heikki Taulu and Joonas Miettinen__ into 5th. 

## Pairs category (as at 17 Aug, 3pm K-time)
1. Michele Miani and Matti Köster 		  843km
2. Sam de Haas and Wouter Beeks 		    803km
3. Jeanie and Martin Dreyer 			      768km
4. Jakub Kubinski and Marek Barczewski	696km
5. Heikki Taulu and Joonas Miettinen	  664km

# Category limbo
What happens when your ride partner scratches in the pairs category? You’re out of the pairs race and no longer qualify for this category. You’ve ridden with aid until now, drafting in the headwinds, sharing kit possibly and aiding or being aided with mechanicals, thus excluding you from the Solo category. The goals switches to just finishing. Rearranging kit, possibly adding things to the bike you’d not planned on carrying, like the other half of the tent. Do you have place for this on the bike. Then mentally accepting you’re own your own. If you’ve ridden in a well-oiled pairing, switching gear into solo mode might take a few hours to readjust. Or if your in the middle of a 'pairs’ divorce', you may venture into the wilderness in Solo-bliss. We know Mattia and Federico were the former type, so Federico will be leaving behind a great partner, but his experience in the mountains means it won’t take long to click into Solo mode.

# DotReporter
Your DotReporter for the race is me - __Peta McSharry__ - longtime bikepacker and bikepacking coach.

You can follow me on Instagram where I'll post up in *Stories* when a new article hit’s the internet.

[Peta McSharry Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/petamcsharry/)

Peta McSharry

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