Beautiful Sheep and Gummy Bears

Lessons Learned

Matt reveals his pick for Greatest American Hero

Wrestlers

Naadam wrestlers in Darvi.  Watch out for body slams.

What is different about this moment?

This was some Wizard-of-Oz-style mustard field. 

hi friends,

We are all finished riding bicycles and are happily eating ice cream in Ulaanbaatar.  The road here from Moron was seriously beautiful and empty of traffic, lots of lovely climbs up into the trees, herds of horses wandering through our camps at night, and easy rolling hills.  We even had 100 (!) km of pavement there at the end.  We also met a nice man riding his bicycle around the world.  His videos of riding a bike in -40 degree weather will make you shiver.  www.earthodyssey.net  brrrrrrrrr

Getting into UB was a little hairy this morning with all the traffic.  There were plenty of meeshees (sheep pelts) lining the road as we rode into town, and sometimes trucks passed very close.  Drivers in Mongolia like to basically try to run you down by passing within inches of your handlebars, then give you a big grin and a thumbs up while they kick dirt and dust in your face as they speed off.  Mixed signals, for sure.  Matt pumped himself up by shouting unwholesome catch phrases while entering jammed roundabouts, while Ben meditated on the possibility of bacon at Cafe Amsterdam.  Everybody won. 

The lack of enthusiasm that characterized Ben's general spirits in Moron was quickly alleviated by a trip to the pharmacy for giardia meds (it's so much easier to get medicine over here...why go to the doctor when you can just look your symptoms up online, then self=diagnose and medicate as you please?).  This last week riding may have been our favorite of the trip, and it's easy to see things to love about this country; big landscapes, friendly people, easy camping and empty roads.  However, it's not the easiest place to travel in (by bicycle or jeep), so plan on bringing a seat cushion and a couple pairs of earplugs if you make it out to these parts anytime soon. 

Here are some quick stats:
-28 days on the bike
-3 rest days
-2300 km of riding (2100 on dirt/gravel)
-30+ lbs of pasta eaten (total)
-6 other cyclists encountered (2 guys heading around the world on separate quests)
-100+ Snickers bars consumed (estimated)
-7 books read between us
-2 sweet beards

pictures below.  looking forward to seeing you back in America.

love,

ben and matt

Nice boys in a mustard field. 

Bacon at the finish line. 

Watch out horses!

Hoop dreams...Mongolia style. 

climbing

Whoa...we finally found some trees.

Loved meeting this nice family on the steppe...they helped us out with some water.  By far the most talented group at riding our bikes.  Dad was drunk as a skunk...8 am on a Sunday morning.  Get some. 

Oh no...here comes rain.

Beware of Bull.  I mean bulls. 

hi friends,

here is the scoop.  7 big days of riding from Ulangom to Moron. Lots of desert, sandy roads, a couple really unpleasant climbs, tons of underwhelming ice-cream bars in backwoods towns. Water has been a little tricky to come by but so far a couple of super-nice Mongolian families have helped us out. One day we saw some purple wildflowers, which was cool.  Now we're hanging in town getting caught up on calories and internet memes. 

The really crazy thing was running into Miles.  Miles is this cool guy from Alaska who is on a 3 year around the world bike odyssey. Matt actually ran into him during his last trip to southern Africa when they rode together for a month, looked at lions and Victoria Falls, etc.  Anyway, so we're just riding along on this little Mongolian backroad and suddenly there is Miles, going the other direction.  So crazy.  Of course everyone was super excited and we sat to tell stories and marvel at his impressive beard. He had some pretty crazy stories to tell about biking Central Asia in winter...carried three sleeping bags, etc.

Besides that morale has really sunk to new lows, especially for Ben.  Even a healthy intake of ice cream bars and Coca Cola over the last 24 hours has done little to repair a seriously destabilized sense of purpose...he went and bought a bus ticket back to UB, leaving tomorrow. Unknown whether it will actually be utilized...  Matt is feeling chipper and is excited to see some absurd monasteries on the way back to the capital. Both of us dream of super burritos and milkshakes. Constantly. And vegetables. Sweet, nutritious vegetables. Maybe put the vegetables in the milkshake, except in a secret way were you would still only taste milkshake. How awesome would that be? 

ben and matt

We bike-herded this camel like crazy. 

Super beautiful ovoo, made even more sweet by the 3000+ ft descent that followed. 

Pouring some gasoline, as you do. 

One day our lives were enriched by some beautiful wildflowers. 

Bull runs into Miles.  Last time they cycled together was in Namibia.  So so so crazy.  Turn out the world is small. 

Matt ate a bunch of mutton with this family. 

Look at how much choice you have!  3 different types of cookies and 2 (!) types of ramen. 

hi friends,

okay, here is some news.  we left Olgii four days ago, heading up into the mountains on our way to Ulaangom. There was a lot of rain but luckily we had bought the following items to maintain our strength during the ride through the mountains:

5 cans of John West tuna (Matt)
3 packs of (real!) Oreos (Ben)
Innumerable Snickers bars
Also, there was some pasta. 

The rain just kept on falling for a couple days which made our fingers cold and the roads muddy. Per usual, no real "main road" to speak of, just a bunch of interweaving mud and gravel tracts that all seem to generally go in the same direction. Sometimes we felt frustrated but sometimes we felt very excited because the mountains were so huge and beautiful and we kept finding these big crazy lakes.  At one point we were stopped at a ger chatting with some nice folks and a van pulled up.  Out popped two gringos like us who not only happened to be American but were from SF and lived like a block away from us in the MIssion.   Whoa.  That is seriously crazy.  There was a lot of talking and making of friendship, and in the end they gave us some extra Gatorade powder (big score) and we decided to to meet up back in the city and possibly be friends forever.

The mountains of western Mongolia are sort of overwhelming, both in their beauty and their challenge for cycling.  Here's what they look like  - huge open meadows with goats, sheep, cows, and camels grazing, gers dotting the green hillsides with little plumes of smoke spouting from their chimneys, sunshine and rainclouds dappling the mountainsides, empta vodka bottles littered all along the roadside...oh wait, I guess it isn't all beauty. But seriously, this place is full of splendor. What's really amazing about this country is the fact that I don't think I've seen a single fence since getting here.  I guess it's that nomadic notion of communal land, but it is amazing to see so many families sharing pastures without the need for lots of barbed wire.  Pretty cool. 

Now in Ulaangom taking a rest day. We had a delicious sauteed beef dinner last night and the Chingis Kahn steakhouse and are looking forward to the corner stores opening up again so we can double our ice cream ration for the day. Distinct possibility of double giardia infection, but nothing a little Cipro won't handle.

thanks for reading.

ben and matt

Throwing up double peace signs above Lake Achit.  Naturally.

we drank the lake water.  then we got giardia.  

Cricket?  Scorpion?  Both? 

Top of the first pass between Khotgor and Ulaangom.  Love the cows nestled up in from of this Buddhist ovoo.  The blue scarves are offerings to the sky gods. 

taking a rest before the descent. 

One really big pasture.  The cowboy lives on in Mongolia...

about to descend...the road was pretty gnarly on the way down. 

dogs in Mongolia are scary. They have lots of fleas and they can give you rabies. 

Camels, on the other hand, are awesome. This guy was just hanging by himself next to the road. 

No fences. 

Lively discussion as to the grammar/syntax of this sign. 

Big ovoo before the descent to Ulaangom. 

Love seeing these. 

this was a pretty cool place to camp

Naadam in Hovd.  So much throatsinging!

Put a bird on it. 

Willie, look at this eagle!

Heading into the first pass between Hovd and Olgii. 

Makes mutton, bread, and pasta taste amazing: Es Una Salsa...Muy Salsa!

Dropping down into Olgii.  Look a lot like northern Nevada. 

Trading clothes; the international sign of friendship. 

storm approaching. 

real horse

steel horse

riding horses at the Naddam festival: the real horse race goes more than 25 km. 

getting in to Hovd

I shared something with this lizard. Then we became friends. 

Note to self: do not run out of water. 

hi friends,

some things have happened.  first, we went to mongolia with our bicycles.  we got off the airplane in Ulaanbaatar and found a place to sleep.  we saw a statue of genghis kahn, ate scrambled eggs, and said hello to the European backpackers singing reggae in our hostel.  

Next, we rode a bus for 26 hours over to a town called Altai.  We put our bikes on top of the bus because there was no room inside; the bus had 34 seats and 46 passengers.  Ben had to fight an old lady with a big bottom for his seat, and everytime Bull fell asleep he would whack his head on a pole.  There were lots of babies crying and the bus kept breaking down.  It was fun.  We named the bus "Vaca Once" because it was a terrible, terrible experience.  

In Altai we put our bikes together and bought things from the store.  We bought pasta, chicken broth, dried apricots, snickers bars, and cookies.  There was nothing else to buy.  Then we put all that stuff on our bikes and started to ride north.  

The road is very bumpy in Mongolia. It can make your bottom hurt. There are not that many cars and there are not that many places to get water and the sun shines down all day.  You can get a sunburn if you are not careful (Mama, I am being very careful.  Thank you for the sunburn cream).  In the afternoon rain clouds sweep down the valley and you can see rain and sunshine intermixed with lots of beautiful mountains in the background. It's like a hotter, dustier, drier version of that scene in Lion King whem Simba's dad gets pushed into the stampede of wildabeast (wildabeasts?).  The scenery sort of looks like the drive from Hardin to Billings if you squint your eyes and pretend you are on Mars.  

There is lots of mutton in Mongolia and not much else. Sometimes you drink mares milk tea.  Sometimes all you have to eat for dinner is pasta boiled in chicken broth, and you drink the pasta water because you are very thirsty. Sometimes the road is so bumpy and full of rocks that you become frustrated, but then sometimes there is pavement and you are happy and you say, "I am so glad this part of the road is not bumpy." All-the-time (not sometimes) people stop you on the road and ask to ride your bicycle and make you ride their horse or motorcycle. Then you drink vodka together and say sain, which means good. Big scary dogs chase you everytime you ride past a ger.  

that's really about it.  we'll post some more photos when we get to Olgii.  hope you all are super duper.  sending you all our love and affection.

love,

ben and matt

Ghengis Kahn presided over the greatest empire in history.  Mongolians basically worship him.  So does Bull. 

Bicycles on the roof of the bus. 

Wrestlers at the Naddam festival in Darvi.  They try to bodyslam each other.  Exciting!

Making friends. 

First day riding

Bull points north from a temple in Altai.

Wrestlers waiting to get body slammed in the dirt!

Sunrise on the Vaca Once.  We ate Oreos and watched the sun come up, happy to still be alive. 

Ben's obligatory semi-surprised self-portrait.  At the time, he had no idea how much his bottom was going to hurt in the days to come.