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