Spirits were high this morning as the weather gods shone brightly on the Tuul River Camp. Today´s 120 kilometer course featured rolling grasslands with a number of significant climbs which led to epic green valleys dotted with nomadic herders and their ger (yurt) homesteads. 

 

A large front group was established early made up of 15 riders. The pack was whittled down to 8 riders by the 50 kilometer marker. This group included stage one winner, Cory Wallace and his Kona teammates Kris Sneddon and Barry Wicks, as well as Pau Zamora (Team Buff), Carter Hovey (Team MBC Racing p/b Orbea-SMP), Mongolian rider Tuguldur Tuulkhangai, and Razif Salleh and Marcel Hagener of Team Chiru-WTB. 

 

After the second rest stop at 90 kilometers, Wallace, Wicks, Sneddon, and Tuulkhangai were able to break away and get a significant gap on the rest of the field. 

 

In the end, it was the Mongolian rider, Tuulkhangai, who won the stage, followed by Wicks and Wallace. The sun is still shining at day´s end as athletes settle into camp life in the Undur Sant Uul Mountains.

 

Interview with Cory Wallace from Jasper, BC Canada by Ryan Leech

 

What drew you back to the MBC?

 

The Challenge of it, there is so much to experience out here, it´s a sweet adventure and you don´t forget a day, so stimulating. The camp atmosphere is pretty cool, special people to spend a couple weeks with, learn from them, and hear about their motivations. It´s neat how things evolve, at first sizing people up, then toward end we are all one community.

 

What is the hardest thing mentally?

 

Staying in the moment and not thinking too far ahead ...trying to do 20km all at once or thinking too much about the next feed zone is exhausting, but when in the moment those things will look after themselves, same as the finish line. 

 

Such a small part of the day is on the bike, when looking at the big picture we´re in Mongolia for 350 hours and only 40 of those are on the bike so it´s not that bad, and I came here to bike so just gotta enjoy it. Like life, we´re always striving to get somewhere else but in the moment can deal with anything.

 

What are you happy to be escaping by being here?

 

Electronics. We are here, next ten days this is it, no text messages, no email, no phone calls.