First Steppe: Mongolia

[stamp]

im in have fun

[slimy]

This is going to be great!! I see most of the crew that went to India is going to Mongolia: Joe, Minxter and Buuurrrt. But what about Maja??

[TheKrux]

Say hello to the Mongolian crew for me and have fun. We're in the airport right now headed to Croatia, so post more pics, I'm bored.
Tom

[LC4Dakar]

There are about 5 towns in Mongolia with internet cafe's. 160 miles of paved highway (mostly closed for construction), the rest dirt. Expect many time gaps in this RR.

[Joe Motocross]

Wow. What a trip! As LC4 stated, Internet is not plentiful here. We're back in Ulaanbaatar and done with the ride. The verdict is in on the Chinese all terrain mopeds. We're heading home and will sift through the amazing photos we have and will share the whole journey then. Here's a few ok shots from the iPhone.

Lots of sections of single track


Lots of river crossings. This one not going well for Minxter.


Lots of excellent camp sites

[poolman]

Mongolia, AWESOME!

Looking forward to the actual RR.

Cheers,

[Ryman]

[trackhead]

Originally Posted by Joe Motocross

Liar, that's Utah's west desert, not Mongolia.

[HickOnACrick]

Sub-F'n-scribed. I'll be living my life vicariously through you while my collar bone knits back together.

[RedRockRider]

[Joe Motocross]

Trackhead, you may wonder why we would go half way around the world to ride what we have in our backyards. The answer: no barbed wire. I bet you can relate.

Hick, I don't know if we've met but I think we have some mutual friends. Did you bust up your collar bone riding?

[Joe Motocross]

Day 1

OK, on with the story. We'd been in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, for a couple of days getting some bikes lined up. It's a pretty small city but the streets are pretty congested with cars which makes me wonder why more people don't ride bikes around the city. Our friends live in the building beside the big tower.


We load the bikes and get ready to depart the city. It ends up our buddy could't join us because his passport was at the Chinese embassy to get a visa. As it turns out, him not coming would be a good thing although we missed his company.


We rode out of the city on tarmac for about 100km. There is very little tarmac in Mongolia.


Soon we were on to dirt routes which was the type of riding we would do for the majority of the route.


We were getting our first taste of the Steppe.


We took a quick break and the first local pulls up to check us out. He speaks no english. Nobody does. We note that his bike is made by the same company as ours, Shineray. We think this is a good sign although his bike is completely beat.


We start to see wheat fields along the way.


The roads are more just routes that people have driven on enough to wear in a two track.


It was now late in the day and we decided to find a place to camp. This is easy because you can camp anywhere you want. The land outside of the cities and villages is not owned by anyone throughout Mongolia as we understand it.


We start laying out our stuff.


Not a bad campsite but nothing outrageous. Just a comfortable place to enjoy the Steppe.


A couple of Mongols passing by on a Chinese bike.


About this time the mosquitos start getting out of hand.


I have to "eat crow" and admit that having a tent along ain't too bad! Some minimalist I am. I crawl in, lie down and sip a little Vodka while looking at the sky through the tent screen. Pretty damn good!!!

[trackhead]

Amazingly beautiful. Looking forward to the rest.

[Paratrout]

I'm in. Beautiful pics so far.

[RokLobster]