Outer Mongolia :: Arkanghai Mountains :: July 2007

Just about a year after the Tibet trip, I packed up the bike once again for trip to Mongolia.

Starting in Ulanbataar, the capital, I put the bike on to a minivan and travelled 450km west to the ancient capital of Khakorin, where

Chiingis Khan set up shop before causing mayhem throughout the rest of Asia and Europe back in the 11 and 1200's. In fact the

cheeky mongolians spread from Beijing and almost got as far as Egypt before retorting back to Mongolia in chaos over their

leadership.

The riding in Mongolia can be extremely isolated, oftentimes I would see a car for while day while in the mountains. The terrain is

tough on push bikes, I had 5 spokes snap on me, 3 in the rear and 2 in the front wheel. I lost my Billy can and lived on twominute

noodles for 4 days with nothing but water and yak cheese :o)

The people of Mongolia absolutely made this trip special. I was treated so well by everyone I met. The kids would run up to the bike

and start

prodding at the computer and try to get water out of my camel backs duct taped to the frame.

I recommend taking some little souvenirs of your home country for the kids, I gave all the kids little Koalas from Australia and they

would run off to show their parents who would then come out with Milk Tea and Cheese for me.

The temperature ranged from early 20's to late 30's and I got caught in a couple of storms so got very good at putting my tent away and

getting it out again very quickly.

I rode just over 450km in total. The roads can be tough, corrugated and pot holed which can really shake the bike so best to tighten up

all the screws and bolts at the end of every day.

The Ride

Total Distance | 450km From Kharkorin to Bayonhongor over the Arkangahai Mountains

Highest Peak | 3,485m

Number of Punctures | None

One snapped pannier rack bag handle

3 snapped rear spokes

2 snapped front spokes

Days Ill due to utter stupidity of not carrying good food and waterproofs = 4

Of course, the Lonely Planet - it misses a lot out though as it assumes travel by 4WD/Minivan

But it's a great book to get you started.

Tent: Exped Vela 1 person tent www.exped.com

Sleeping Bag: Aktiv8 -2, Importer | Karimoor

Pannier Bags: Ortlieb Backroller www.ortlieb.com

Jackets: Mountains Designs www.mountaindesigns.com

Bike: Kona Kula Hard Tail 2006 model

Pannier Rack: Old Man Mountain www.oldmanmountain.com

Stills Camera: Ricoh GX8 with 2x 512Meg cards

Oh, and a billy can!