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DAY 170 | Mongolia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world · How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride twice around the world

• 0:00
  August 2nd, 2013 Runner. This morning I met Brian, a
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  child's pastor from Wyoming, attempting to run across
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  Mongolia. He was in a Land Cruiser with
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  his Mongolian support crew, driving to the day's starting
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  point. He told me to keep going, then
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  in the evening he would be back to pick me up and we could all
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  go to his camp for dinner. Biking the rest of the day was
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  OK. There were a lot of mosquitoes.
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  Despite the seemingly dry landscape, the rough sandy roads
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  forced me to pedal slowly. My dawdling pace has been good
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  for my knee these past few days, which after a week of aching is
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  finally feeling better. Though after so many long days
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  on bouncing roads, my sit bones are now suffering.
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  Around midday I discovered a shallow Creek which was just
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  what I needed. I stripped naked in the hot
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  sunshine and squatted in the ankle deep water to rinse the
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  salt from my body. Two dozen horses were there as
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  well, watching me as I splashed in the river while water was
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  available. I refilled my bottles and rinse
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  my socks as well. The water that I carry is such a
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  scarce resource that I never spare a single drop to wash
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  myself, my clothes, or even my cooking pot.
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  Being strict about this is easy, especially here in the desert
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  where my survival might depend on my caution.
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  After 8 hours of biking, Brian caught up to me in the Land
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  Cruiser. We strapped my bike to the roof
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  and I climbed into the back. The driver immediately abandoned
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  the well worn track, going fast across the open land towards a
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  low gap in the mountains. He slammed on his brakes
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  whenever a boulder or ditch appeared in front of him.
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  To stabilize myself, I held onto the seat in front of me with
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  both hands. At the pass, we slowed for a
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  narrow, rocky trail. A boulder at the top was painted
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  with white Tibetan lettering. The driver told me a prayer was
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  written, but that he can't read Tibetan to tell me exactly which
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  one. We arrived at the camp on the
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  side of a gently sloping hill, and I noticed right away there
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  would be no flat ground to sleep on, such as where my thoughts
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  go. This place is beautiful though,
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  away from the mosquitoes and with the spring nearby.
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  The magnificent view looks far into the gently rolling
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  mountains Waiting at the camp for Ryan's wife, two young
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  children and a Mongolian lady who cooks for them.
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  We sat for a delicious meal of noodles and soup.
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  I felt so civilized seated on a chair at a table and eating off
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  a clean plate. My normal was to sit on the
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  ground and eat out of my dirty cooking pot.
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  Having company for a meal also felt like a rare treat.
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  While we ate, Brian explained that he runs about 20 miles per
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  day, each morning getting a ride to where he ended the previous
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  day. The Camp Leapfrogs is running
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  once or twice a week. The downside of this method is
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  all the driving. You'll pass some places 12 times
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  in the car in order to run past them just once.
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  Brian told me he was inspired to visit Mongolia by the British
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  television show Long Way Around documentary, following the actor
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  Ewan McGregor and three others as they ride motorcycles across
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  Europe, Asia and North America. Before I started my own journey,
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  I watched the first episode but no more.
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  The amount of preparation they were doing was making me think I
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  was severely underestimating what my own planning should be.
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  They hired A logistics team to decide their route and invited a
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  doctor to come along if anyone got hurt.
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  By comparison, I overlooked bringing a map for Mongolia and
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  I've never even taken a first aid class.
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  The show has been brought up to me several times across Eastern
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  Europe and Russia. After telling non-english
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  speakers that I'm from the United States, I see them try to
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  think of anything that might be able to bridge our languages.
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  Very typically, they'll say one of four things.
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  New York, California, Long way round with Ian McGregor said
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  just like that, always including with Ian McGregor, who is
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  Scottish. And most common of all, when
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  someone learns that I'm American, they say Arnold
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  Schwarzenegger, who is originally from Austria but also
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  arguably represents the American dream better than anyone else.
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  After dinner, Brian's family retreated to their tents while
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  he and I stayed up to watch the stars come out and discuss the
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  nature of adventure, a subject we are so immersed in that we
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  could talk of nothing else. I think we're both glad to have
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  someone who understood.