Mörön – N49°27.726 E97°38.003

28th June 2014     24’C       228km sand, mud
Mörön – N49°27.726 E97°38.003

I returned to the same petrol station to fill up this morning, which pleased the two attendants immensely. They were very happy to see me again.

Riding out of Mörön was the usual challenge of trying to find the correct track, and I took the wrong one on the first attempt.

It was a very nice, warm morning and I had brilliant views over the valleys and into the distant mountains.

As I climbed up one of the ridges, a crazy dog appeared. This thing looked half-wolf, with patches of hair missing and drooling ferociously, he chased me for a while but gave up the chase after about 100M.  I continued to the top of the mountain and the view was so good I decided I’d stop for a break and a snack. I took my gear off, had a pee and as I turned around back to the bike, what should I see but the crazy wolf-dog, about 200M away.  He must have followed me for at least a kilometre up the mountain.  I zipped up my pants as he started heading for me with increasing pace.

I’ve never put my gear on so fast. As I jumped back on the bike and started it, looking back to see wolf-dog about 20M away now, mouth wide open and with a rabid look in his eyes.  I gassed the bike,  leaving Rex with a mouthful of dust and rode for the next 10 minutes like I was going to win the Dakar, looking back every now and then to see if he was still there.

I rode on and stopped in the small town of Tsagaan-uul for lunch and a small power nap in the chair at the food shop, before heading on.  I felt that my riding wasn’t up to scratch today, I was struggling, picking wrong lines, hitting bumps I should easily miss, wallowing though slightly harder sections. I wasn’t relaxed, my muscles were tense and I could feel it biting in my neck.   But looking at the trail, it didn’t seem any more difficult than other days.  Maybe I was just tired, as I’d stayed up late doing paperwork last night.

I stopped at another peak for photos and a nomad and his son appeared on their motorbike.  I offered them a cigarette, which they quickly smoked and the old man wanted to sit on my bike, so we took some photos, although when he got off, he forgot to put the sidestand down, and I had to catch the bike from falling.

Later there were some deeper sections of sand, which wasn’t great fun, and the trail dropped into a valley where it had obviously rained last night, there were a handful of small river crossings and plenty of swampy, muddy sections.  I was just a few kilometres from the next town, my destination for the day, when I came across some mud puddles and picked the wrong spot to enter, along with being too slow. Both the front and the back wheel slid together into the mud hole, and I came off, somehow cleanly.   I was barely moving when it happened, maybe 2km/h which was part of the cause.  Prior to today, I’d had a couple of near “get-offs” earlier on this trip, in Cambodia & Laos in the mud, and in the Gobi in deep sand.  But now, after 17,000km a silly little drop in the mud, that could have easily been avoided.  There was no damage at all, to either me or the bike as the ground was so soft, and I picked it back up and rode on into town.

Tseterleg was another dusty town, with a few old and derelict buildings.  I filled up fuel, bought a bottle of water and scouted around town for some accommodation, but it seems there was none.  As 5pm was approaching, and looking at the map I could see the river nearby about 10km away, I thought I’d find a nice spot by the river to camp.  But at 5:45 I had not found a camp that wasn’t boggy, so I headed up the hills about 6km and found a flat spot with a good view and set up the tent.  A quick dinner and now ready for bed, although it’s now 10pm and still the sun is up, making it hard to sleep in the light.