KYRGYZSTAN: Racing the Silk Road Mountain Race

[@marcellopacifici]

Such a great documentary film Josh, I felt I was there. You're a great storyteller and athlete. Editing and colour grading is top notch too

[@shred3005]

Editing was done by Ryan Le Garrec who does great work. If you haven’t seen his other stuff (and he’s done editing for Josh before) then search out his work. The edit can turn good footage into a great movie

[@marcellopacifici]

@@shred3005 I'm aware of Ryan's work. Such a fantastic artist. His film "The easiest crossing in the world" moved mo to tears

[@shred3005]

@@marcellopacifici agreed he’s able to embed so much feeling and emotion into his movies.

[@CG-99]

Kyrgyzstan is one of the most amazing countries I have ever had the privilege of visiting. You capture the raw beauty very nicely in this video.

[@BikepackingAdventures]

I've done a fair few ultras now with some vlogging and people always ask how do I find the time. The reality is, the vlog is a very short snapshot of the journey as whole, time management is important as ever. At the end of the day its such a great way of catching memories of the race which will live with you long after the race has finished.

[@movingpointcc]

Love it! We are adding it to our "long distance cycling stories" collection.

[@omare_biketonature]

Epic ride! Congratulations on finishing top 10.

[@alanhanley9515]

Delightful and a great music score, what a place!

[@jeffieh]

FANTASTIC vid, Josh. What a mission! Some incredible footage in there. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. Jeff in Aotearoa.

[@shalakabooyaka1480]

What a sick race

[@maximkrivov]

Congratulations Josh! What an epic edit too.

[@nankestein1073]

Beautifully made, you’re a great team with Ryan. Loved it!

[@Ryanlegarrec]

He has all the fun and I work hard. Great teams ain’t fair teams 😂

[@roncarr7179]

Great job, awesome video

[@jills2157]

Thank you for taking the time out of the race to film and comment for us, just brilliant coverage and spectacular scenery. Not to mention riding with one hand on some of that terrain. Thanks also to Lukas for additional footage.

[@ballernsticker]

Killer doc! such a good flow with this nice d&b sound. And huge Respect for this epic effort

[@tednruth453]

The landscape is just stunning. Awesome job Josh✌️

[@Emonk2010]

Incredible looking place, not sure if I want to ride a bike over it 😮. Those are some rough old roads. Exceptional effort, congratulations!

[@ctouzelet]

Giant Race and fabulous filming/editing. Thanks for sharing.

[@mhilde7744]

Nicely done!!!! The music, the narrative, the country, and THE EDIT!

[@TheYanchau]

Great content, great riding Josh... and congratulation to Ryan for the great editing. You guys make a good pair! Keep on inspiring us!

[@chrlmlln9018]

Amazing achievement and a great and beautiful and very impressive movie making of this epic, the Silk Road Mountain Race! Well done! Congratulations! God bless you always!

[@CA-ub6pf]

Cool, and great choice of music!

[@alex_n8863]

Awesome film that mate, some what envious! Well done, looked like a great adventure! 👍

[@rasmus9311]

Absolutely breath taking landscapes and climbs ;)

[@dylillama5203]

Extraordinary. Thanks for letting us ride along Josh 🙏

[@TailfinCycling]

Great film Josh, you've really taken the viewer on a close-up journey through this incredibly beautiful & challenging event!

[@bogdanc2309]

Amazing video and well done on completing the race!

[@TheJoniGomes]

Stunning documentary, love the soundtrack. I've watched pretty much every Silk Road Race video on youtube and yours is up there with the best.

[@nurakhmed2176]

amazing journey my friend, thanks for sharing 🤜🤛

[@markcarpenter3245]

Great video Josh, congratulations on an epic race!

[@markfangen-hall9182]

Josh - what a great piece. Brilliant! Thank you so much.

[@philtomlinson8220]

Love the way you told the story of your ride as a series of snapshots.

[@michaelbudler7369]

Incredible video and experience 🙏

[@carlhopps]

Amazing footage! Seriously considering this event for 2024. Really enjoyed the race recap video too. Great stuff Josh 👍

[@joshibbett]

Yea you’d love it, kinda like the ht550 on steroids

[@edzeppelin933]

Fantastic stuff Josh. Thanks for taking us all along! Such a great insight into how tough these races are.

[@vanbarrettdesign]

Thanks you so much! Well done! Yay, footage from the race!!!

[@davidedwards4676]

Josh thanks so much for this, massive welldone done.

[@ritchequindipan8388]

Awesome ride Josh! Great footages and the landscape is stunning and no doubt brutal! Congratulations and well done on finishing another epic ultra endurance race! 👊🏻👊🏻

[@StefanoMantegazza]

Great short movie Josh, love it!!

[@questadventure6594]

Best film yet Josh. What stunning landscapes to travel though.

[@leesaunders7232]

That was epic!🙌🙌🙌Kyrgyzstan looks absolutely stunning! 😮👌👌👌

[@garethowen2816]

Brilliant. Really enjoyed this journey. Inspiring. Well done.

[@KevinBikeTour]

So much Beautiful scenery. Great riding Josh!

[@craigsmith5134]

That looks like a crazy mad ride. Good job!

[@SebBreuer]

great man!!! good one

[@mojochaser6383]

Absolutely awesome vlog! Thank you for sharing and huge congratulations on this mighty race! 💪🏽🚴‍♂️🌎

[@ascot1049]

Brilliant video, and very well done .

[@saucepanmushroomflip]

This is tops, the videography and edit is *chefs kiss*

[@daviddesmet9082]

Great 🤩

[@eddie.on_bikes]

Congrats Josh for one more ultra and also Ryan for another awesome edition.

[@uclaalum88]

Josh, I loved it! Really well done. With that said, I’d love to see an extended version of this where you didn’t speed up the video clips. I know most people want the abbreviated version (so you gotta speed up the video in places), but for those of us who are looking for videos to watch while we are on our trainers, a full length or extended version (where we can feel like we are riding hard with you) of this ride would be awesome. Just my thought.

[@joshibbett]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll see what I can do next time. What sort of duration would be good?

[@jamesleavesley5501]

Top job josh

[@joshibbett]

Cheers James, hope you are well?

[@pedallingsquaresNZ]

This video is such a perfect embodiment of ‘it’s about the journey and not the destination’. So much so that you don’t even bother to show the viewer the finish, it just cuts abruptly. I love the symbolism of that. Inspiring edit. Another tidbit also love you mentioning listening to d&b and the music before was (not quite, but similar style) d&b. The way that was edited in was so cool

[@FinleyNewmark]

pwoah. Top job here Josh and Ryan. This is quite something

[@FaiscaaaH]

What a ride, chapeau mate !!!!

[@BikepackingAdventures]

2:25 WOW

[@scottsugimoto8223]

Love your videos, Josh ! Great story , great production.

[@robertsetiawan7854]

What a great journey

[@johnwhittington]

Lovely film Josh

[@milanoreddc5591]

Great video Josh, and congratulations on 7th place. 👍

[@Al_Fresco]

Thanks for this video Josh and Ryan! At which point one asks themselves "is this actually a cycling race?!" All that hike a bike seems unnecessary

[@lyboskaz]

Very interesting

[@mej6519]

drum and bass is great cycling music, i usually take a lot of ltj bukem and mc conrad with me :)

[@arcoulant87]

Chapeau

[@garygriffin5432]

Lots of type 3 fun.

[@jeffkoontz2186]

Great film and footage.. have (maybe 'had') some interest in doing something like this - was thinking it might be doable on a gravel bike, but this video hits some reality into that idea. (I know some do). All that hike-a-bike, oof. Congratulations - amazing accomplishment!!

[@joshibbett]

It would certainly be possible in a gravel bike, but I think a mtb would make it a much more comfortable and enjoyable experience

[@fonsovilela1167]

Well done Josh!!! A lot of hardness and beauty in your adventure. Thanks for sharing. What footwear did you wear on this trip to manage pedaling and trekking?

[@RoadyPacking-CyclingAdventures]

Spaghetti pass I think you said? That descent looks like heaven dude!!

[@joshibbett]

Kegeti pass…. Although the descent was like spaghetti!

[@colingoulding3227]

Great achievement one of the toughest ride around. How do you feel about this race, spoilt by the hike a bike?

[@joshibbett]

The hike a bike is part of it and as a percentage is such a small amount. Plus those hikes take you to some of the most spectacular parts. So all in all I love it

[@svmuele]

surreal

[@marcclish]

Wonderful film.. who is the music by at the start?

[@joshibbett]

I’m pretty sure it’s by Alaskan Tapes, @ryanlegarrec should be able to confirm

[@Ryanlegarrec]

Nope it s a track from epidemic, The Vision by Sonum but it s very much slowed down to sound this way…

[@marcclish]

Thank you so much.. Alaskan Tapes is a great shout by the way.

[@Ryanlegarrec]

@@marcclishlove Alaskan Tapes !

[@justroadbike]

Hey Well Dorn, what do u think about your jacket? Looks interesting! You wearing the Abion also at night?

[@xavierleparisien929]

Bravo 😊HelloFromparis 😅

[@harrisonwaugh9368]

wicked.

[@alessiosaviane8312]

Great job! Amazing performance and race. I was wondering what's the beep that I hear throughout the video here and there. Is it the bike computer? I heard it while racing an ultra as well but forgot to ask the guy riding with me and was curious to know. Thanks

[@joshibbett]

The the sound that a wahoo makes when it automatically starts/ stops

[@lydiagould3090]

Nice documentary ,excellent filming of the scenery. Beautiful but harsh. Was it the hardest race you've done and where did you finish?(position wise)

[@joshibbett]

Hi Lydia. I'm not sure off it was the hardest race I've done in terms of physical effort as I felt quite in control. But certainly the outside conditions were some of the trickiest to deal with in terms of temperature swings, altitude and availability of decent food.

[@esavirtanen6418]

Views are amazing, I'd love to do this race but those hike a bikes just look brutal lol. How does the tailfin rack hold up on this sort of terrain? Seemed you packed it quite light? Bivy, sleeping pad, bag, down jacket? Can't more be more than 2kg tops.

[@joshibbett]

Yea packed fairly light and loosely making use of the volume of the aero pack. I’ve never had an issue reliability wise with tailfin stuff

[@samuraioodon]

hello josh, i'm wondering if you know when the rear rack bag prototype will be released to public? i like the strap more than the current bag with 2 straps. wondering how much that would cost? thank you.

[@joshibbett]

I don't think it will be available in that particular form, but the prototype will most likely inform some future designs. However I really don't know the timescale

[@rossdouglas8131]

Josh, what light do you use on your helmet and what is the run time? At night, how do you store your food when you are sleeping to keep critters away?

[@joshibbett]

The helmet light is an Exposure Joystick. Run time is anything from 1h-36h depending on the mode selected. Food wise critters were not a problem in Kyrgyzstan so I just left everything on the bike.

[@smellyelle8422]

Josh, this is absolutely remarkable! How do you train for being at 3000m here in the Uk?

[@joshibbett]

You don’t!!!!

[@smellyelle8422]

@@joshibbett Just when I thought you Ultra riders couldn't possibly be any more tougher 💪😊

[@nickisauer9626]

Why the rush? Type 2 fun.

[@markfangen-hall9182]

I think I've just seen why you havent used a hike-a-bike harness!

[@sofianeshl]

Is it me or were you a tad bit tired toward the end?

[@joshibbett]

Just putting it on for the camera!

[@Ludwig2342.]

For some reason our country is quite popular among bikepackers?!

[@joshibbett]

Because it’s beautiful!

[@bricemaieralt]

What is the name of the last music in the video?

[@Ryanlegarrec]

It’s the same track as the intro, only it s a slowed down track so it sounds nothing like the original anyways…

[@alanpage8911]

OMG = 3000m pass to climb. You need a Sherpa pedaling next to you with oxygen.

[@rossdouglas8131]

One more, what shoes do you wear? I would think all that hike a bike you gotta have something flexible, but not to flexcible for pedaling.

[@joshibbett]

I've been using the Shimano ME5. As you say they are a good balance of stiffness for pedalling yet flexible and grippy enough for the hike a bike. They last well too, this pair has done a couple of highland trail 550's, Silk Road and a few other hikeabike heavy bikepacking trips.

[@longboardoli]

What is your camera?

[@joshibbett]

Just a couple of GoPro 10’s

[@joshibbett]

And an old Olympus film camera

[@skypixel9477]

came here looking for a guy named ross ulbricht who created the most popular dark web hidden marketplace and got 2 life sentences in prison but ig this still is pretty interesting

[@fpeter01]

It is nice, but still no sane people would do something like this.

[@Ryanlegarrec]

Sane people are overrated 😅

[@joshibbett]

I think your a bit insane for not wanting to do it 😁

[@rule3036]

The mongol hordes.....on 2 wheels.