Let me tell you why.
- I had a pretty significant crash at 98km. Yes Ants, my bike is fine (nothing that our super mechanic Jordan couldn’t sort in less than 10 min anyway). Me on the other hand I’m pretty sore – missing skin from my knee, hip, ribs, elbow and upper arm as well as an interesting bruise on my abdomen and pretty sore muscles in my arm, shoulder and neck.
There was no way to clean the blood up so I simply pulled my leg warmer back up over my knee graze to try and keep it cleaner and carried on riding. Once I got into camp Liz offered to clean up my arm and was using a sponge. When Mark came over to take a look he suggested that more was needed to get the dirt and gravel out, so he turned the sponge over and used the pot scrubber side to really get things clean (which hurt as much as you think it might!) - The roads for at least the last 30km (of the 120km) were complete shit – either reasonably deep sand, or hard corrugations which shake the hell out of you, and make your hands, arms, and arse hurt. Add this to the fact that I was bruised and bleeding and it really wasn’t any sort of fun at all.
- Next I was happily asleep in my tent shortly after 10 when the wind hit like a freight train coming straight into the side of my tent (which it’s really not designed to cope with). And it blew, and blew, and blew some more…! until with a deceptively quite ‘click’ the pole fitting broke and my tent was no-longer serviceable.
Michael came over to help out, and we tried to turn it into the wind more, but that wasn’t going to work, so with Jay’s help we wrapped everything up (I’d already managed to pack everything inside up while the wind was howling because I feared things weren’t going to go well) and moved over into the lee of one of the vans.
Unfortunately in that process another of the poles got broken, so despite trying to fix things with several metres of tape and a couple of pegs as splints, with the broken fitting it wasn’t possible to get it erected properly so in the end it had to be pulled down.
At this point I joined about 10 others as refugees with no tent to sleep in as the wind continued to howl. - After helping other people secure belongings and damaged tents to really top it off as I climbed into the back of the dinner truck to try and get out of the howling wind and now torrential rain I stood up too sharply and smacked my head hard on the door frame of the truck.
So as you can see not a particularly great series of events at all.
Some of us had been woken around 0400 by what sounded like scaffolding being unloaded – turned out someone was moving in next door to our campsite:
A partially constructed ger next to our camp
After an initial climb the riding had actually been really great – for a while Grant and I were humming along on hard-packed dirt and gravel at over 30km/h which was great fun, but as the day progressed the road began to deteriorate, though the scenery was still pretty stunning.
Stage 20 rider notes – complete with warning ‘Tough day’
The first big climb of the day was before lunch and it was at this point that I pulled ahead of Grant – he seems to be able to endure the bumps and corrugations better than I can, but when it comes to climbing I can pull away from him.
After lunch the hills came along one after the other and at times they felt about as steep as they look in the diagram above – particularly after I injured myself!
We were camping just on the edge of a town, so I stopped in for an ice cream and to pick up a cold beer for camp which I drank prior to the scrubbing of my arm and leg. The afternoon was also really hot, so we spent most of the time sitting in the shade of one of the vans.
Dinner tonight was also noteworthy – fried chicken…! It’s amazing what Mark manages to pull off to feed to 35 hungry riders and crew with pretty basic equipment, and all in an ex-army tent which in the sun gets to about 40ºC inside…!
It clouded over and even rained briefly as we were finishing up from dinner which was a welcome relief from the heat and meant that getting to bed, and getting to sleep at a reasonable hour, were both possible – until the wind storm arrived.
While we sheltered in the back of the truck and vans one of our drivers went into the town and found a local guest house (for want of a better term) which had room to take in the tent-less amongst us. It was nothing flash – three rooms with 11 single beds between them (no electricity, no running water, long-drop in the corner of the garden), and room on the floor for others with their sleeping mats but at least it was warm, dry and windproof!
By the time the van had ferried the 13 riders and crew who needed a bed for the night into town it was gone 0130 before I got back to sleep so it was always going to be tough the next day after such hard riding conditions today and with scrapes, bruises and no sleep!
Riding data
Oh dear, I bet there have been a few choice words spoken in the last few days!
Been enjoying following the stories from your Swedish friend who seems to be a bit the worse for wear as well. Which begs the question, how are the less experienced/masochistic members of the group coping?
A few choice words indeed…! One of my current favourites to shout at the countryside is “How the f**k do they expect us to ride on this sh*t!”
And yes Pär has had a few ‘adventures’ too – the less experienced/masochistic cope by only riding half the day (or not at all) and completing the journey in one of the support vehicles, all of which have bike racks on the roof so that they can carry sick/injured/can’t-be-arsed riders.
Wow that was not a fun day horrific. Sleep was a blessing
It certainly was 🙂
Crap!
You said it…!
Ouch. Glad the bike was unharmed, bugger about the pot scrubber but better the grit and grease out than in (will scar less too!), hope you’re nearing the end of this camping round and can sort the tent before the next lot. Hugs.
Yeah that bit was not much fun but it was for the best. We camp six nights out of eight, so today (our rest day in Ulaangom) I’ve been able to get some epoxy glue (think Arildite) which I’m hoping will hold things together till we get to Gorny when I have replacement poles arriving.
The pot scraper part had me squirming, feel for you. Whiskey would have been my choice before that. Hope you have some antiseptic cream.
Now if only I’d had some Whiskey…! So far antiseptic cream hasn’t been needed, but yes, I have some if it does!
Yes that qualifies as a supremely shit day. Hope you’re recovering from your injuries, the sun has emerged and the road has smoothed out.
So what you do about accommodation now that your tent is battered? I’m guessing the MEC/REI in that part of Mongolia doesn’t stock the parts for your particular tent 😉
I’m recovering thanks (now four days later) and the grazes and bruises are starting to go. So far the road hasn’t got a whole lot smoother, but we only have two more riding days in Mongolia before we cross into Russia and get back on tarmac for a while!
I’ve been able to repair my tent enough that it can be pitched and slept in, and have replacement poles being brought by a rider who is joining us at our next rest day in Russia so will be back to ‘full strength’ from then.
They these things come in three’s…..you had your three now. Clear riding all the way from now on…. A bit of ointment on the graze….that’ll soon sort it out.
Let’s hope so as far as the threes go!
Hope it’s all moving again (today?) you’ve come a mighty long way.
We need more photos with you in though – to show the kids what you are doing!
Oh, Steve! That is an utterly rotten day, to say the very least. I guess any trip like this will have its low points as well as the highs but this day really threw everything it had at you. Wishing you a speedy recovery from all the scrapes and bruises. I shuddered to read about how they had to clean out the wounds with pot scrubbers!
I hope you’re not too stiff and sore and I hope fate has a brilliant day of gentle weather and exhilarating riding in store to make up for this awfulness.
Thanks Trish – when the winds hit I really was thinking ‘who have I offended so badly today’…! As harsh as the pot scrubber sounds (and is) it’s for the best since it gets all the gravel, sand and dust out, and means that there is far less chance of any infection and it heals more cleanly and more quickly. Right now (four days later) and it’s healing well.
The ger that was being built next to your campsite ( as per pic) – that’s really impressive
How do they fit a gazebo, tons of kit, a wooden bed frame and 2 people on a small motorbike??
Now that’s clever packing!!
They all get moved about on the back of Hyundai and Kia trucks, but you do see some amazing loads on the back of a motorcycle!