Heavy Metal around Mongolia and Central Asia

Timolgra · Aug 21, 2009

The river crossings felt endless, we soon learnt to cross where any other vehicles had been and worn some of the slippy algae off the rocks and not neccesarily at the shallowest point.

Free of the river we climb higher.

Up on the high pastures I'm slightly unsure of the direction to take, there was a choice of two valleys. I'd tried to make some waypoints on the GPS the previous evening, they indicated left but the most worn track went straight ahead.
We'd learnt early on in Mongolia that when in doubt, take the most used track, it'll go somewhere and even if it wasn't where you wanted, well does it matter

We came across this family who were dismantling their ger, in fact their whole home, to move on elsewhere.
I ask them the direction to take, the answer was vague, confusing matters further so went with gut feeling which is often right one.

Greg Masters · Aug 21, 2009

Timolgra said:

I trust that you proffered some wardrobe advice to the guy in the <strike>left</strike> centre!

:ymca

Greg

... or are you gonna say that's a burd too?

Timolgra · Aug 21, 2009

Higher still and we pass a frozen lake.

It's a long way up this high valley.

Oops

Finally we make the shrine which marks the top of the pass and there's a cold wind blowing.

It's custom to circle a shrine twice leaving an offering. Note the bizarre range of offerings left at this one.

Timolgra · Aug 21, 2009

A great ride along the valley back down in some lovely scenery followed with more trees as we dropped down.

We stop and wait awhile for Dennis to catch up and these two guys turn up, one riding a Yak. I love this photo, so will post it again

They're interested in the bikes and where we're from, I'm interested in their horse and yak and where they're from.

It's getting late and we have more river crossings.
Pete drops his bike and it won't start....remember this is a 1200 in a river

The bikes stuck in the rocks and too heavy to push out.
Even more concerning for Rick is that he owns the bike so rushes back to the rescue

Plugs are taken out and the engine spun over etc, it still won't start :augie

Baz, a fellow 1150 owner is giving me 'that look'.

HOORAH it starts :clap

Pete's soaking wet, cold, tired and pissed off

so he, Jarvo and Baz decide to press on to the town and try and find a hot shower or at least some warmth....little knowing there were further river crossings ahead

...a few hours later they did find a town which by all accounts didn't match their expectations :comfort

Rick, Dennis and I thought we were in the most perfect campspot so decided to stay...... 47 minutes and 7 seconds later (we timed it for the benefit of the other three), tents were up, a roaring fire lit, Rick raided his stores and we were all eating bacon and eggs washed down with a single malt probably about the same time as the others were on their second out of a further five river crossings :ChrisKelly

easyman05 · Aug 22, 2009

Tim,

did you decrease pressure in the tyres for sand/gravel?

did all of the participants take an enduro course prior to the trip?(like a BMW Enduro 2-day course in Hechlingen)?

garfield · Aug 22, 2009

Tim this is the most awesome and brilliant ride report ever..... :bow

I'm sat here in awe.......... :beerjug:

Titch · Aug 22, 2009

Just read this from the start....... Awesome!!! :bow

Please could we have some more.

Cheers
Titch

Fanum · Aug 22, 2009

Before people start asking- Smugmug is down for a few hours for what they say is a major upgrade, which is (I guess) why some of the photos may nor be showing.......

Patience :rob

(buggeration, I wasnt to see the missing ones!! :blast

)

Timolgra · Aug 22, 2009

easyman05 said:
Tim,

did you decrease pressure in the tyres for sand/gravel?

did all of the participants take an enduro course prior to the trip?(like a BMW Enduro 2-day course in Hechlingen)?

You need to be very careful dropping pressures too much in Mongolia with a heavy bike due to wheel damage as you'll see later, but yes I always run TKCs at around 28psi, not really enough to make a big difference in sand though enough to improve the handling

Enduro course????

Riding a bike offroad is what Rick, pete, Jarvo and myself have spent much of their lives doing. Baz was a novice who had ONLY done a course and one day on Salisbury Plain but when choosing who should go on this trip I sensed he would take to it like a duck to water, which he did.
As anyone who's ridden these bikes fully loaded with luggage offroad will know, make a mistake and they'll bite you, so minimise that risk by improving your skills through practice and time. Mongolia is not really the place to learn, or take a lighter bike

easyman05 · Aug 22, 2009

Timolgra said:
Riding a bike offroad is what Rick, pete, Jarvo and myself have spent much of their lives doing. Baz was a novice who had ONLY done a course and one day on Salisbury Plain but when choosing who should go on this trip I sensed he would take to it like a duck to water, which he did.
As anyone who's ridden these bikes fully loaded with luggage offroad will know, make a mistake and they'll bite you, so minimise that risk by improving your skills through practice and time. Mongolia is not really the place to learn, or take a lighter bike

That's what I meant, thank you!

Another question: is it possible to plan the route so that to stay every night in a motel/hotel? To avoid carrying a tent/sleeping bags etc. Purpose - not to overload the bikes. But still to travel without a support car?

Timolgra · Aug 22, 2009

easyman05 said:
That's what I meant, thank you!

Another question: is it possible to plan the route so that to stay every night in a motel/hotel? To avoid carrying a tent/sleeping bags etc. Purpose - not to overload the bikes. But still to travel without a support car?

Yes and no, if we're only talking about Mongolia, remember we travelled through 22 different countries on this trip.

For Mongolia that rather depends on both your route and luck in finding somewhere, it's not like other places in the world where you're sure to find somewhere eventually, equally it's not like anywhere else in the world in that here I'm sure the people will help you if your stuck.

Put it another way, if you wanted to do a route like this, (as opposed to a relatively easy one like the LWR

or using main routes) you'll definately need a tent. I slept under canvas continuously for over 3 weeks, washing in rivers and cooking my own food before having one shower in a flee pit guest house in Russia...that's what Mongolia is all about surely, personally I preferred to camp all the time....although not every one did :augie

, when camping becomes your routine way of life, you may not 'want' to live any other way.

Perhaps by the end of this Mongolian section you'll see that the freedom to camp in some of the worlds most fantastic places was the best part of the whole trip.

All our camping gear was carried on the bikes, so use lightweight equipment. The Landy just carried our spare tyres and one bag each containing extra spares and perhaps some dried food etc. all stuff we had originally planned to do without.

In short, taking camping equipment doesn't necessarily mean overloading your bike, that bit's up to you

Deleted account 211025001 · Aug 22, 2009

Really inspirational stuff Tim

Andres

Deleted Member I · Aug 22, 2009

Great ride report :thumb2

Although it confirms that this will probably be the nearest I get to Mongolia on a motorcycle.

stef25 · Aug 22, 2009

good stuff dude.

how hard is it navigating across russia and mongolia, does the gps do it job?

Timolgra · Aug 22, 2009

stef25 said:
good stuff dude.

how hard is it navigating across russia and mongolia, does the gps do it job?

Two entirely different questions there.

Garmin World map is not always accurate at all, and Mongolian maps just give a rough idea, but hey, Marco Polo managed without

So it's not a question of does the GPS do it's job, more can 'you' do the job using gps, map, research, compass, common sense etc.?

Where would the fun be if we'd had 'street level' mapping of Mongolia? Although I did have a two track logs for the ride down to the Gobi.
For me, although I do use it, Moroccan Topographic mapping has reduced the sense of adventure considerably there.

Perhaps that's just me, think about the term 'comfort zone' which in our modern world has changed for many people. eg. 7 days in Switzerland

stef25 · Aug 22, 2009

totally agree that street level maps all the way to ulan bator and back would be a bit boring.

when i look a those amazing photos of those plains, i just wonder how the fck do you know where to go? strength in numbers is good, alone i think you'd need quite strong nerves right?!

ive gotten hopelessly lost on a bike in north vietnam, constantly asking myself if we should turn back or not. when the sun goes down it gets quite adventurous

Steptoe · Aug 22, 2009

Get on with it............... I've been waiting until the pages have built up so i can read it in large instalments. :bounce1

Stewart H · Aug 22, 2009

Fantastic ride report, the wide open places look amazing, I must get off to Black Rock sands and practice my sand riding

Stewart

Timolgra · Aug 22, 2009

sorry guys..been 'busy'

Our smugness of quickly being warm, fed and half drunk last night vanished in an instant. I'm sure most of you know the bliss of climbing into your sleeping bag pissed but waking freezing cold with a mouth like vultures crutch.

During the early hours the wind got up, the temperature dropped and it snowed a little so we lay in until the snow was gone.

Collecting some twigs to relite our fire and this character turns up gathers more kindling and lights the fire for us, I guess he thought it was cool to show us tourists how to do it properly. He didn't really seem to be having the success we'd hoped for so half a litre of petrol sorted it, he jumped back to avoid being engulfed in the flames and laughed gently.

Once the fire was lit we exchanged tobacco and made a brew for us all, see from the photo he rolled a few and put a couple behind his ears.

This man's world couldn't have been more different to our own yet we don't need to understand each other's words to hold a conversation. He stayed with us an hour or so, a remarkable meeting.

He returned with a friend later that afternoon and they both stayed a while, when it was time to leave they rode across the river, he stood up on the saddle while his mate laughed, they waved, rode into the mountains and were gone.

Timolgra · Aug 22, 2009

.....but not forgotten.

Heavy Metal around Mongolia and Central Asia

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