No smartphones, please
22 03 25In January 2024, Marin de Saint-Exupéry left his home in Switzerland with an ambitious plan: to travel across the world by bike and compete in all three of the Mountain Races. This journey would take in the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco, Hellenic Mountain Race in Greece, and culminate in Kyrgyzstan, to race the Silk Road Mountain Race. Afterwards he'd then begin the final leg of his journey and ride home to Switzerland.
Marin is not a stranger to this approach. In 2022 he won the Atlas Mountain Race, having ridden to the start in Morocco from Switzerland. He's ridden to the Transcontinental Race, Traka in Girona, and many more races where he has decided to take the 'no fly' route.
This trip would be the next step for him in exploring what's possible when travelling by bike. Combining slow travel, adventure and a desire to compete. Marin did it his own way. Opting not to take a smartphone, he embraced the different countries and the people he'd meet along the way.
Marin is purposely quiet online. You won’t find him sharing day-to-day updates and it would be impossible to summarise 35000km and 11 months of travel in one go. That will probably take years to unravel, but his decision not to use social media or a smartphone whilst away means these memories feel more special for those who get to read them. They're his selected reflections, a glimpse into what he saw, of which we hope there will be many more over time.
I have crossed the desert between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan three times now. A stupid feat that no sane cyclist would chase. A feat so weird that border guards kept me waiting after seeing all of the stamps in my passport. A tourist might come here once, but three times? Maybe it wasn’t tourism for me, maybe it's becoming more of a commute. A necessity to ride to race in these places.
Out there in the desert it’s a straight road surrounded by steppes for about 1500 kilometers. There is only one proper junction, a turn where if you are lucky you trade headwind for tailwind. Or just crosswind. Over my three rides there it only gets better and better. I have been lucky with temperatures in 2024, nothing much higher than 40° celsius this July, okay when compared with July 2019 when I faced 50°. And this time there are more and more possibilities to hide in the shadows and get a drink, the road is being developed by China as part of the New Silk Road. The terrible tarmac I experienced in 2019 between Bejneu and Nukus is now a perfect four lane road. It’s been built in concrete and not tarmac to stand up to the heat.
When you are on an A to B ride, there are things you don’t want to see but have no choice, you are not flying over an area or passing by at high speed. You go through at 25 kilometers an hour, so you're spending a long time in places. This is the case whilst crossing the never ending greenhouse around Almeria in southern Spain. The worst is that from afar it eventually looks good, an ocean of plastic surrounded by mountains. But coming closer you see the dirty side, the misery, modern slavery, an environmental disaster. After that you don’t want to eat any tomatoes in the winter.
On my way home after the end of the Silk Road Mountain Race, I chose to make a detour to the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan. I left Osh in the south of Kyrgyzstan with my cargo vest full of about 20 packs of instant noodles, knowing I would be far from civilization for a while. Not the best recovery food after such a tiring race. With the effort and the high altitude it broke me. I remember evenings when even just setting up my camp felt like a massive endeavor.
The Bartang Valley is the most remote place I have ever been. It’s in Tajikistan in the heart of the Pamir mountains. It was September and at this time of year the nomads had left. For hundreds of kilometres the only human presence is a narrow gravel track. You go through high open valleys surrounded by 6000 metre peaks, you go through a narrow canyon, all the way to the Afghan border.
Having the time in between Atlas Mountain Race and Hellenic Mountain Race, I enjoyed taking some B roads. This European traverse felt really peaceful in comparison to the experiences I've had racing the Transcontinental Race. A world almost empty of cars. A dream world.
While navigating Spanish backcountry and its old western-styled scenes, I have really been caught up by my childhood dreams. A bike desperado lost in the sierra. I have read too many Lucky Luck cartoons.
I really thought the 'ride to the start' approach would train my stomach ahead of races. Atlas Mountain Race proved me wrong. I get properly sick at the worst time, right ahead of the race. There was nothing I could do but take it with phlegm and move on to the next race.
The best times are often the unexpected ones. Like this morning stop in the middle of Moroccan nowhere.
Mechanic with a view. I actually had very few mechanicals issues considering the amount of kilometers I pushed through on my setup. One of the craziest was to lose the use of my hydraulic brakes because of high altitude in the Pamir. I managed to find a mechanical brake setup that was meant for a kids bike. It definitely wasn't efficient to stop an adult on a loaded bike but it allowed me to reach the next town, Douchanbé, and a bike shop.
It’s been good to be joined by friends. Especially when it was for some of the craziest days of the trip, like this one, with Sacha in the Italian Alps in April. The trail was still full of snow and we had to hike-a-bike until dark. A really good upper body workout.
Staying clean is a real thing when living the wandering life, especially where there is no river. You have to be creative and eventually steal some water from a farming pipe. I also became really efficient at being able to shower with only one litre, you learn to be thrifty. To feel clean became a real pleasure, a taste of luxury on the trip.
Life is good on the road, especially when you are treated to a homemade rakia (alcohol from the Balkans) at breakfast. Shepherds are nice people, always ready to share their field with wanderers.