The Mountain Races Podcast

Afleveringen

1. TMR 2026 Day 2: At The Speed of Bike

   16 oktober 2026 · 34 min

   Afspelen
   Day two of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race, and the field has well and truly spread out. A night of thunderstorms has left riders scraping peanut-butter mud from their tyres. Some slept on mosque verandas, in goat sheds and under concrete shelters. Others found a warm welcome from strangers, including a Syrian refugee family offering tea, dry clothes and a litter of kittens. We catch riders pushing up the hike-a-bike before CP1, chat with others as they head back out from the checkpoint, and follow them through the cedar forests and up onto the yaylas. Lees meer

   Riders featured in this episode:

   John Roe — Cap 161

   Tori Riemersma — Cap 159

   Justine Rondeau — Cap 162

   Blair Blackwell — Cap 15

   Gürkan Alarçin — Cap 2

   Catherine de Medici Jaffee — Cap 36

   Lucas Le Glaunec — Cap 108

   Steven Petrar — Cap 149

   Melina Boening — Cap 16

   Maarten Vanhaverbeke — Cap 203

   Leanne Bentley — Cap 11

   Maxi Unger — Cap 199

   Merlijn Sluiter — Cap 177

   Svenja Betz — Cap 13

   Rogan Martin — Cap 117

   Emma Bateup — Cap 10

   Jacob Dugdale — Cap 46

   Follow the dots here.

   Production & hosting by Mel Webb

   Sound design by Ben Crannell

   Music by Visal

   Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

   Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex, Tailfin, Supernova and STYRKR.

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

2. TMR 2026 Day 1: Baptism of Rain

   16 oktober 2026 · 35 min

   Afspelen
   The first Taurus Mountain Race gets a baptism of rain, with 100 millimetres forecast for the first 24 hours. In places the track has turned to thick, sticky mud. We hear from riders as they settle into the adventure ahead. Lees meer

   Riders featured in this episode:

   Lorenzo Carraro — Cap 22

   Daniil Sadomskij — Cap 167

   Marco Sartori — Cap 303B

   Jost Litzen — Cap 113

   Christian Dupraz — Cap 48

   Hannah Simon — Cap 175

   Josh Ibbett — Cap 82

   Steven Davis — Cap 35

   Chris Mehlman — Cap 122

   Joachim Maclean — Cap 115

   Sebastian Sarx — Cap 169

   Sean Geivett — Cap 312A

   Emma Missale — Cap 312B

   Stefan Haehnel — Cap 70

   Grzegorz Sowa — Cap 181

   Nicholas Hulse — Cap 80

   Eric House — Cap 79

   Follow the dots here.

   Production & hosting by Mel Webb

   Sound design by Ben Crannell

   Music by Visal

   Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

   Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex, Tailfin, Supernova and STYRKR.

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

3. Day 0: Prologue

   14 oktober 2026 · 53 min

   Afspelen
   We begin our race coverage in Antalya, where the Taurus Mountains rise straight out of the Mediterranean, for registration day at the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race. Riders trickle in throughout the day outside The Beaver, a coffee shop on the beachfront boardwalk, collecting trackers and race caps while storm clouds gather over the mountains. With the route only revealed 48 hours ago and 100mm of rain in the forecast, the mood is equal parts excitement and nerves. We hear from first-timers and old friends from past Mountain Races, ahead of what will no doubt be an exciting first edition. Lees meer

   Riders featured in this episode:

   Stephen Fitzgerald — Cap 56

   David Hornick — Cap 77

   Jochen Böhringer — Cap 17

   Rufus Wenlock — Cap 208

   Karen Ekman — Cap 51

   Alexander Kopp — Cap 99

   Joachim Maclean — Cap 115

   Bengt Stiller — Cap 186

   Emma Bateup — Cap 10

   Paul Creusvaux — Cap 30

   Sinan Kargi — Cap 89

   Svenja Betz — Cap 13

   Katrien De Smet — Cap 37

   Chris Mehlman — Cap 122

   Sean Greene — Cap 66

   Conan Thai — Cap 194

   Jacob Hora — Cap 317A

   Jay Petervary — Cap 317B

   Claire Stevens — Cap 185

   Follow the dots here.

   Production & hosting by Mel Webb

   Sound design by Ben Crannell

   Music by Visal

   Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

   Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex, Tailfin, Supernova and STYRKR.

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

4. Welcome to the 2026 Taurus Mountain Race

   12 oktober 2026 · 2 min

   Afspelen
   Not long now until the start of the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race… Lees meer

   With the route under wraps until 11th October and little known about what lies ahead, follow our race coverage for a full taste of what’s in store.

   Follow @taurusmountainrace on Instagram for daily visual updates, and subscribe to The Mountain Races Podcast wherever you listen for daily episodes from the trail.

   Racing begins in Antalya at 9AM local time on Wednesday 14th October. Follow the dots here.

   Production & hosting by Mel Webb

   Sound design by Ben Crannell

   Music by Visal

   Visit our website to learn more about The Mountain Races

   Thanks to our race partners Albion, Pertex, Tailfin, Supernova and STYRKR.

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

5. SRMR 2026 Day 14: The Finish Line

   30 augustus 2026 · 28 min

   Afspelen
   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. Lees meer

   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.

6. SRMR 2026 Day 12&13: Come On Then

   28 augustus 2026 · 29 min

   Afspelen
   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. Lees meer

   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.

7. SRMR 2026: Nathalie Schneitter, Women's Winner

   28 augustus 2026 · 51 min

   Afspelen
   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. Lees meer

   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.

8. SRMR 2026: Justinas Leveika, Men's Winner

   28 augustus 2026 · 52 min

   Afspelen
   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. Lees meer

   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.

9. SRMR 2026 Day 11: To Laugh or Cry?

   27 augustus 2026 · 27 min

   Afspelen
   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. Lees meer

   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.

10. SRMR 2026 Day 10: Tick Tock

    25 augustus 2026 · 19 min

    Afspelen
    Day ten of the Silk Road Mountain Race, and at Checkpoint 3 in Tamga the clock is running down on the back of the field — the general classification cutoff closes at 4pm, and these are the last riders to get their stamps in under the wire. Lees meer

    Riders featured in this episode:

    Frank Soll — Cap 161

    Erika Bout — Cap 23

    Leonie Leitgeb — Cap 99

    Kristen "Kiki" Alan — Cap 5

    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.

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