Awesome bike tour: if time and money were no object

Check out this bike tour posted on Bike Rumor, the Silk Road Open Tour open as a race and tour (for us mere mortals). Anyone want to sponsor me, I will provide daily coverage and marketing opportunities—seriously anyone? Jamis, Trek, Giant, Cervelo, Felt, Travel Agencies, USAID, UN?

Ride your bike in the footsteps of Alexander the Great, Marco Polo and Genghis Khan across the most famous trade route in the world, the Silk Route.

The Silk Route epic tour is offered as a bicycle tour and a race, you can do either.  It’s put on by Tour d’Afrique Ltd., who since 2003 have put on the Tour d’Afrique, Orient Express and Vuelta Sudamericana bike tours and races.

The Silk Route carries you from Istanbul to Xi’an, with elevations ranging from below sea level to more than 3,600m (11,800ft) through the Taldyk Pass in Kyrgyzstan.  During the nearly 10,700km (6,649 miles) and 114 days of riding, you’ll pass through markets and civilizations that have been around for more than 2,000 years.  The route traces the steps of soldiers, merchants, monks and adventurers through some of the highest passes and harshest deserts as they created powerful political and trade routes as far back as 138 BC.