Mongolia Bike Challenge

Mongol Life and Fast Times

Cory Wallace (Kona/The North Face) / 01.08.2012

After a very challenging and soggy day one, us riders were grinning mile wide as we started Stage 2 heading towards blue skies.  As we left the gloomy dark skies behind we headed through the heartland of Mongolia pastureland. 

It is a vast landscape dotted with white Ger huts and huge herds of animals grazing on the semi arid vegetation.  These two things are the centre of life to the Nomadic Mongols out here.  Their huts provide protection from the elements, especially the arctic winter temperatures which can get down to -40 degrees celsius.  The herds of animals provide everything else, food, warmth (in the form of dung which is burned), hide for clothing and milk for drinking.

Riding through this landscape and seeing the daily life of the Mongols unfold is an unforgettable experience.  It's probably a lot like it would be to ride through North America back when Native Americans and giant herds of Bison roamed the landscape.

 The racing itself was a drastic change from yesterday as we were now on dry dusty roads and worried about sunburns rather than slimy, bike eating muddy conditions.  For the first 80 km of the day a larger group formed at the front ranging from 8-14 riders.  It was an interesting mixture of riders with the USA, Canada, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain, Singapore and Mongolia all represented.

Kris Sneddon (Kona) would put in a solid effort up a small hill just before the 2^nd feed station which would leave just 8 of us in the lead pack.  Just after the 2^nd feed station, Barry Wicks (Kona) headed to the front of the pack and drilled it up a false flat for 20 minutes, cracking rider after rider until there were just 5 of us left heading into the only KOM of the day.

 Wicks and I would ride ahead and snag the bonus time with Kris Sneddon and a Tuguldur Tuulkhangai of Mongolia following close behind.  Our Spanish competitor, Pao (Team Buff), faded up the climb which provided motivation for us lead 4 to drill it to the finish and strengthen the Kona lead for the top 3 GC spots.  With the finish in sight our Mongolian counterpart would take the win with the three of us Kona guys coming 2-4.

 Camp tonight is set below a steep rock outcrop which we all joked about heading up to the summit for some beers and V8's.  If only we didn't have 1000 km still to ride we may have found some extra energy for this endeavour.  Instead we spent the afternoon following the standard procedure of eating, washing bikes, eating more and resting, this time soaking up the Mongolian sun.  Tomorrow we will head 120 km further south towards the Gobi Desert.