Might be a few more things to do on the 660 & the 570, during the quick test of the 660 I found that the the rear shock there leaking it's now delivered to Ljungrens Motor for a overhaul, the last minute fixing is part of getting in to rally mode, the problem in Mongolia is if you need any more spares.
Various links where you can follow Berglund Brothers from Rally Raid Sweden in Rally Mongolia 11-18 August.<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o> During the race our, and the organizer’s, access to internet or mobile phones are limited and the updates irregular. However the following links might be useful.<o></o> Rally Mongolia 2013, the official site for the rally<o></o> Rally Raid Sweden Blogg, our own blog<o></o> SOE-Forum, the site where Swedish Off-Roaders bullshit and brag.<o></o> You are also able to follow our progress in real-time by using the our GPS-tracking system <o></o> <o> </o> Mikael: https://share.findmespot.com/shared/...bZ4ozD0WJhyIcZ Password is RRS1. Anders: https://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=1TbamSHzViOq4U54JpCUfznaDEPNcMQ DR Password is RRS2
man there are a lot of lakes around where you live! Good luck! You will be racing with a legend of Dakar!
Kind of cheating but here is the team story in Swedish http://www.stilit.se/rallyraidsweden/?p=761 , Will try to translate the same to English, but please I'm a Swede and having problem with the Swedish spelling and grammar and you can't expect perfect English and should accept some Swenglish in the text, still I believe you will understand. Been following the Rally for a few years and as I got the opportunity to live and work in Mongolia for a few years it's kind of no brainier, My start in Mongolia could have been better, the plan there to move right after Tuareg Rally 2012, but due to a washout in Morocco the move there postponed a month, no point in meeting your new colleagues high on morphine http://
Preparation Shipped my 570 to Mongolia during winter and managed to get around 100 hours of practice during the spring and summer including a 3 day Rally east of UB, not the best result due to some navigation error day 2, but a confirmation that the knee there usable for riding. During the winter I also overhauled a 660 Rally for my brother. Final preparations in Ulaanbaatar 5th to 10 of August, picked up my brother Monday morning at the airport and we spent Monday and Tuesday with the final preparations of the 660 mounting trip, tires, led light etc you know all this last things you have to do as mental preparation for a rally. Wednesday the scheduled for a test ride to find out who will use the 660 and who will use the 570, we started to cross UB city as I there having a appointment at a hospital to get a tetanus shot who is mandatory for the race, on the way in the middle of the traffic the 660 stopped at a junction with dead battery, told my brother to stay in the junction and I headed for the hospital, once back we managed to get the 660 started and headed out of UB. We managed to get a descent test run of approximately 100 km and as I never did get the opportunity to test the 660 I assumed that my brother there happy with the bike.
A small incident on our way back to UB, we used the same track as I been using during the summer, I new it where some kind of water reserve area and now you could see some new warning signs with a soldier and a gun, well we did not care about it and entered the track, after 1 km a guard stopped us and as he did have a gun we handed over our papers, he entered my bike behind me and told us to go to his guard tower once there he called his boss and we waited 30 minutes for his boss to arrive in a UAZ together with some other guards. I called a colleague who could translate. After some time the boss called his boss and they agreed to release us and handed over the papers and escorted us out from the area.
Thursday/Friday/Saturday During oilchange we found some metal on the drainplug of the 660, but I thought the same came from a missing washer on one of the oilpumps. Finally the 570 did get some care and maintenance. Friday afternoon we did scrutinering without any major issues, they checked everything, sat phone, compass, GPS, flares, cap, medical etc. Due to the rally exhaust they upgraded me to Super Production over 450 and finally both bikes and riders there approved.
Anybody recognizing this two Japanese gentlemen standing ? to give you a tip together they have around 40 Dakar starts.
Day 1 Liason 125 km Special 395 km Liason 60 km Finally race started with a transport of 125 km and you could focus on learning the RB symbols and calibration of trip. Some rain in the morning out of UB.
Started as #14 and in front of me a group of Korean riders, I pushed quite hard in the beginning and passed most of the Koreans, made a small navigation error just before CP 1 after 120 km and next time I looked back, a yellow 660 there behind me. After some time I got passed by rider #17 to be followed by #32 & 36 and I realized that the speed there to slow to be in top. Came in to RCP as bike 4&5 and after some time bike 32&36 arrived they made a small navigation error just before RCP, brother made a small navigation error in the afternoon missing a note in RB, probably to excited by the photograph who there standing just before the note after some time he realized the mistake and came back. Position 8 on the day, lost 40 min on the leader and 25 min to second place and 1 min to brother after all quite satisfied with the day, max speed 140 km and more to give.