Nelson Trees

Fabrizio de Andrè diceva che la stessa ragione del viaggio è viaggiare. Non ha mai detto come doveva essere fatto. Nel 2018 @nelsontrees pensa a una gara in bici. Dovrà essere molto lunga, migliaia di chilometri. In posti impervi, fra strade militari sovietiche abbandonate e passi a 4000 metri. Nessun supporto esterno. All’epoca è una idea completamente folle. Nasce la @silkroadmountainrace Il mondo delle gare ultra sta su un universo semplicemente diverso, parallelo e non coincidente. Non si corre per un premio, non si corre con un enorme organizzazione che sta dietro. Ogni partecipante ha un suo motivo personale per andare a sfidare da solo la sorte e l’assenza di sonno. In pochi anni quell’evento, cosi come poi @atlasmountainrace , @hellenicmountainrace o @taurusmountainrace , diventa epico. Dietro a queste meravigliose follie, c’è lui, Nelson Trees. E sarà con noi al Bam per raccontarci cosa si cela dietro all’immaginare questi eventi, la sua idea di bici e di felicità. Nelson presenterà il documentario a lui dedicato che sarà presentato per la prima in Italia al BAM. Il BAM sarà in Villa Contarini dal 5 al 7 giugno. Sarà un evento più bello se verrai anche te! 🎫🎟️ L’evento è gratuito 🏕️ Se vuoi dormire al Bam invece prenota un link in BIO #nelsontrees #bameurope

I’ll be in Paris this Wednesday for a screening of ´Mountains and Trees’, a film by @finley.newmark produced by @albion.cycling and @pertexfabric It will take place at @centre_commercial_outdoor and starts at 7PM. Sign up on eventbrite using the link in my bio. Finley did an incredible job of capturing Kyrgyzstan, the race and where all of this came from, why I do it and all the people that join the adventure and help to make it all happen. It still feels pretty weird being in the spotlight but I think the film turned out really well. Looking forward to see some familiar faces in Paris and meet some new people who are curious about the races and maybe thinking of signing up. I’ll be doing a Q & A after the film (probably in French but can answer any English questions too!)

In 2025, @albion.cycling and @pertexfabric joined together to support the Mountain Races, which are bucket list events for many ultra distance cyclists. After a year of nail biting racing and life changing adventures for riders who took part, we caught up with race director @nelsontrees to reflect on the year of racing and look ahead to the new year. In 2026, the series will expand with the addition of a fourth race, taking riders into Türkiye’s Taurus Mountains for the first time. Read the story via the link in bio. Incredible imagery across the year thanks to @lloydjwright @stephenshelesky @nils_laengner

With only a few days left in the year, it’s about time we finally share some details on the latest addition to the Mountain Races: Taurus Mountain Race. DATES: 14-24 October 2026 START: Antalya FINISH: Erdemli DISTANCE: 1460KM / 36,000m REGISTRATION OPENS JANUARY 2ND It’s been a long time coming but we’re finally happy that we have something rather special to share with you. With anticipation high for this one, we’ll be keeping a lot of it under wraps. You’ll get some glimpses of what’s coming, but we don’t plan to share the full route until shortly before the start of the race. We want everyone to embark on this adventure together in the first edition under the same conditions. That being said, you’ll get plenty of information in the Race Manual for planning purposes. Without wanting to risk over promising, race director @nelsontrees thinks this may well be the best route he’s come up with for a bikepacking race. It’s an incredibly diverse journey through the Taurus mountains of Türkiye. The route features everything from verdant forests to desert plateaus and soaring rocky peaks. There’s very little in the way of transitions and there are literally dozens of highlights. It’s probably best to just let the images do the talking. Supported by: @albion.cycling @pertexfabric @tailfincycling @styrkr.uk Edit @chistyakov.evgeni 🎥 @nelsontrees

Most people in the bikepacking world know Nelson Trees as the mind behind the Silk Road Mountain Race—a race that has become legendary for its beauty, difficulty, and unpredictability. But before he was designing these bucket list adventures, Nelson was a mountaineer, a Deliveroo rider, and someone who once rode a homemade carbon tandem from Shanghai to Paris. In this episode, he shares about his path to founding The Mountain Races: a series of fixed-route, unsupported events that now span Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Greece, and soon, Türkiye. We talk about his first experience racing the @thetranscontinental and how that race inspired the @silkroadmountainrace , what it actually takes to build a good race route, and the power of experiences where the outcome isn’t guaranteed. Nelson shares stories from the early editions of SRMR—including a bull trampling a rider’s bike—and offers a sneak peek at the newest addition to the series: Taurus Mountain Race @taurusmountainrace , coming in 2026. Whether you’ve raced one of Nelson’s events or just dreamed about it, Nelson shares his thinking and intention behind some of the wildest bikepacking races in the world. Catch the full episode on Detours: Bikepacking, Ultra-Cycling and Adventures by Bike wherever you get your podcasts. Cover image by @lloydjwright

It sounds like a déjà-vu, a few weeks ago I had a talk with @nelsontrees where we discussed the new @taurusmountainrace , the imminent @hellenicmountainrac , the last @atlasmountainrace and the new track of the @silkroadmountainrace . It honestly felt like home for me so I am quite sure it will be the same for you all. Get one drink or two (beer, coffee or kumis), relax, hit the link in the bio and listen to the next episode of the @broomwagonpodcast 📸 @nils_laengner @danilusmanovphoto

«Chi sono le persone più importanti di una gara di adventure cycling?». Qualche anno fa, prima di buttarmi a capofitto in questo mondo, una persona saggia mi ha fatto questa domanda, la cui risposta pensavo fosse piuttosto banale. I rider – ho risposto. 𝘚𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘰, riprova. Gli organizzatori. 𝘚𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘰. Il team media che fa le foto. 𝘚𝘣𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘰. Quando mi sono arreso, il saggio mi ha detto: «Le persone più importanti sono quelle che stanno a casa e che seguono i puntini sulla mappa, che 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘰 la pagina cento, mille volte il giorno per capire cosa succede e immaginarsi di essere li». 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮, spiazzato! 👉🏽 Dialogo con 𝗡𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 sull’evoluzione dell’adventure cycling. Fuori ora su #alvento38  .  .  . “Who are the most important people in adventure cycling competitions?” A few years ago, before I threw myself headlong into all of this, a wise person asked me this question and I thought the answer would be rather trivial. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 – I replied. Wrong, try again. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴. Wrong. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴. Wrong. When I gave up, the wise man told me: “The most important people are the ones who stay at home and follow the dots on the map, refreshing the page a hundred, a thousand times a day to figure out what’s going on and to picture themselves in the race.” 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘮, I was blown away! 👉🏽 Conversation with 𝗡𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀 on the evolution of adventure cycling. Out now in #alvento38 . . 🚲 @nelsontrees 📸 @nils_laengner ✏️ @damianifed . . [alvento is a state of mind]

We’ve been working on something special for a little while now and are finally able to share the basics: The fourth race in the Mountain Race series will take place in Türkiye in 2026. More details coming soon.

What does it take to create the greatest event routes in the world? We caught up with Nelson Trees, organizer and creative force behind the Hellenic, Atlas, and Silk Road Mountain Races for a detailed look at the tools of his trade – to learn exactly how he creates such striking and iconic race routes through some of the most remote places on Earth. The 2024 Hellenic Mountain Race kicks off at 8am this Saturday, May 25th in Meteora, Greece. The HMR presents riders with 883 rugged kilometres of unsupported backcountry ultra endurance racing through the wild, remote expanse of Greece’s mountainous interior. Ride with GPS is the official routing partner and proud sponsor of this year’s Hellenic Mountain Race and we are very much looking forward to following the action as riders make their way from Meteora to Nafpaktos. _________________________________________ Check the link in our profile for a deep dive into Nelson’s process, tools, and approach for creating the 2024 Hellenic Mountain Race! 📷: by Nils Laengner _________________________________________ #ridewithgps #adventurecycling #hellenicmountainrace #bikepacking #ultraracing #getinspirednotlost #greatridesstarthere #mountainbike #mtb #cycling

Any conversation on top ultra races in 2024 is sure to include at least one staged by Nelson Trees (@nelsontrees ). His events are the stuff of legend – renowned globally as some of the most remote, demanding, and spectacular in the world. The Silk Road (@silkroadmountainrace ), Atlas (@atlasmountainrace ), and Hellenic Mountain (@hellenicmountainrace ) races clearly push rider limits, but also present organizers with a raft of unique planning and logistical hurdles. Nelson was kind enough to walk us through his process of creating and running events of this magnitude. How does he do it? Read on for a deep dive! >>Link in bio for the full story + photoset << Photos 📸 by Nils Laenger and Danil Usmanov — #Adventurecycling #Ultracycling #Ultraracing #Bikepacking #SRMR #AMR #HMR #RidewithGPS #GreatRidesStartHere

New race project. This time in Greece, head over to @hellenicmountainrace to find out more and register to race!

The views chasing riders this morning in @silkroadmountainrace almost made up for the 2 hour sleep by the side of the road.