Unfortunately camping wasn’t the best option, as there were also two dogs in the compound who didn’t really like us being there. The upshot was a spiral into no sleep – the dogs barked and woke the people, which meant the people moved, which meant the dogs barked, which woke the people, so the people moved, which upset the dogs so they barked… you get the idea.
Quite a number of riders elected not to ride at all today. Because we’d stopped early last night we had those seven extra kilometres to cover, plus a couple of decent hills, and the forecast of similar head winds by mid-morning so the vans were full this morning.
Camp Karaoke to Ulaanbaater rider notes
People began heading out as soon as it was light – Ivan and Rob first, then Grant and Jackie and Will and Charlie. The remainder of us decided that breakfast was necessary before we left, so Dan and I headed out at 0615 – after a false start when Dan discovered he had a flat tyre.
The morning riding was lovely – a gentle uphill, on generally good roads with little traffic and no wind, so we made good time (averaging 27.4 km/h) to lunch at 83 km. We’d passed Grant and Jackie along the way, and the others were all at the lunch stop when we got there.
Back on the road and just as we hit the ‘Start of 6km climb’ the wind arrived again. Dan and I kept switching lead and gradually made our way up the hill overtaking everyone other than Rob, who we met at the top of the hill heading back down – he’d enjoyed it so much he was doing it again, mad bugger…!
Over the top of the pass and the landscape changed further – much more grassland now – previously it had looked like Central Otago, now it’s looking more like South Canterbury.
More ups and downs and we were making steady, but not spectacular progress before we hit some really horrible road – huge concrete slabs with cracks and potholes between each slab and a huge volume of traffic driving at crazy speeds. At one point Dan was leading and he yelled ‘Bus’ and made a dive for the ditch – I didn’t hesitate and followed him off the road before looking to see a bus overtaking other traffic coming directly toward us leaving only cm of road.
Through the Ulaanbaatar gate we were grateful to turn off the main road onto a much quieter and better condition road for the last few km along the river and in to the city – where the traffic was so heavy that it was actually relatively easy to ride in because it was moving so slowly!
Once again Dan and I were the first (of the riders) into ‘camp’ (in this case a very nice hotel) and both tired and relieved to be there.
The last three days have been nothing like what I had imagined this part of the trip would be. Getting up in the dark so that you can be riding at sunrise, as fast as you can, so you can get as far as possible before the wind arrives and thereby minimise how long you’d end up slogging your guts out into a brutal head wind just wasn’t quite the picture I had of cycling and camping across Mongolia.
The weather forecast for the next few days is looking a bit more cheerful, so hopefully things will be more like my expectation soon!
Riding data
| Total distance: | 154.03 km | Total Time: | 07:23:59 |
| Max elevation: | 1751 m | Min elevation: | 1296 m |
| Total climbing: | 1237 m | Total descent: | -1229 m |
| Average speed: | 20.82 km/h | Maximum speed: | 57.24 km/h |
Definitely feeling the Canterbury vibe there with the scenery. I am appreciating the photographic evidence of the more domestic activities too. Do you see many kids in your travels?
Was going to do some further domestic chores in the river this afternoon, but it’s an interesting shade of brown, so maybe not. And yes, plenty of kids about, but we’re mostly in pretty rural areas at present.
Loving the washing routine ?
Falls into the category of ‘crude but effective’ (after about three rinses to try and get all the desert out 😉 )
So beautifully written – was very tempted to write for an engineer but that would be unfair it is beautifully written! Sorry about the wind but it will be something to look back on with a sense of achievement 😉
Thanks Simon – it will indeed…!