Mongolia

Holy Mongolia! This place is rad. The last 2.5 days have been spent running around Mongolia’s capital city UlaanBattor, grabbing race supplies, drinking sketchy milk and dodging traffic which doesn’t stop for pedestrians. This is a nomadic land in which the majority of the population lives off the land herding animals around the most sparsley densilated independent country in the world.

It is crazy to be here, pretty much a living dream that keeps unfolding in front of us. There is a problem with communication though. Trying to speak the language is like trying to eat a steak with a straw. We have decided we might be better off trying to learn sign language. One word we are all familiar with now if Chinngis Kahn. Pretty much half of everything in this country is called a Chinggis. Chinggis airport, Chinngis beer, Chinggis yak milk, Chinggis restaurant, Chinggis beauty parlour, Chinggis cigarettes…. We figure that by knowing this word we already know 10% of the countries vocabulary.

Looking into it we have found out that Chinggis Kahn was one of the Worlds first conquers back in the late 1100’s, early 1200’s. He lead the Mongol nation into a unified unit which eventually led to the United Empire of the Mongols which took over much of asia and europe. Like all great legends, the empire eventually fell but it brought a sense of unity to Mongolia which they have never let go.

As for the race we are here for, the organization has been dialed with the opening ceremonies taking place yesterday in the city centers square. It looks like there is around 13 countries represented in the 70+ riders. We have a solid Canadian contingent with Craig Richey and Thom Skinner from Victoria BC, as well as Ross Mckegney from Toronto.

SAM_9799 — The Canadian squad at the opening ceremonies.

The Mongolian people are down to earth and most of them live like a bunch of country folk as they herd yak and live in round flat white buildings called yurts. Coming to a land with such laid back locals makes it easy to feel a sense of ease and comfort. For sports they take great pride in wrestling and archery and horsemanship. I’m not too sure where mountain biking fits into the equation but we will surely find out soon as we race across the desserted landscapes of this wild country.

The climate is unreal as the weather has been sunny and hot but the 1600 m elevation of the city keeps a cool crisp breeze in the air. Today we will fly 1.5 hrs south into the middle of the Gobi dessert to start the race tommorow. I’m already sweating just thinking about it!