Silk Road Mountain Race route map and checkpoints

Everyone fills in an application, which the organizer uses to judge whether you can make safe decisions in the mountains. They'd like to see multi-day bikepacking trips behind you, ideally off road and somewhere remote. For 2026, applications had already closed by early January.

Entry was £490 per rider, plus £80 if you need to rent a tracker and a £50 fee if you plan to promote your sponsors. Once you're accepted you pay a 50% deposit that isn't refunded; the balance can be refunded up to three months before the start. You can't transfer your place. Kyrgyz riders get a discount. You also need medical insurance that covers extraction and repatriation, and a note from your doctor that names the race.

The 2027 dates weren't announced when this page was checked.

Manas International Airport, 25 km from Bishkek, is the country's main international airport. Talas sits in its own valley in the northwest. The only road to it from Bishkek that stays inside Kyrgyzstan crosses the Too-Ashuu and Otmok passes, both above 3,000 m. The other way round goes through Kazakhstan, via Taraz.

The finish is at Hotel Zeto in Cholpon-Ata. The entry fee covers moving your bike box to the finish.

Unsupported means you ride on your own equipment with no outside help, and fix what breaks yourself. A pair counts as one unit: two riders can share kit and draft each other, but nobody else can help. Outside media crews can't follow a rider.

The checkpoints are staffed. The organizer aims to have hot meals there around the clock, but doesn't promise a bed, and any help from volunteers is up to them. Between them you resupply where you can, and the race manual lists where. For the long empty sections, the organizer's advice is to work out your pace, pack food to match and then bring extra.

August in Talas averages highs around 28°C and lows around 12°C, by the 1991 to 2020 normals. Higher up it's far colder: July at Son-Kul averages 11°C. In 2026 riders saw heat above 40°C in the first days, then rain, hail, snow and deep mud in the Burkhan Valley.

Required kit includes a sleep system for -15°C, your own shelter (the organizer strongly recommends a tent, though an experienced rider can use a bivy), water purification, two pairs of gloves, one warm and one waterproof, a waterproof jacket, a down or synthetic jacket, a survival blanket, lights, a helmet, a first aid kit and a spare derailleur hanger. The organizer's pick of bike is a hardtail 29er with tires of at least 2.0" and a lowest gear of at least 1 to 1.