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DAY 173 | Mongolia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world · How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride twice around the world

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  August 5th, 2013. Horses and a pretty sunset.
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  Throughout the day I saw horses grazing under drifting clouds.
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  They would come to me from far away, approaching shoulder to
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  shoulder in a unified front, curious and cautious.
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  Perhaps I was the first person on a bicycle they had ever seen.
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  When I pedaled past large herds, A captive audience of more than
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  fifty horses would watch me go by.
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  My knowledge of horses is entirely gleaned from media
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  consumption. When several dozen of them ran
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  across the road ahead of me, for the first time in my life I
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  heard the real sound of thundering hooves.
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  But with the movies never portrayed is how much the horses
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  are farting. The flattering chorus was as
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  loud and consistent as the pounding hooves.
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  All the large animals living out here make me uncomfortable.
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  The horses are aggressive. I've seen them bite chunks of
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  fur out of each other and try to land violent kicks.
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  The cows seem docile enough, but they have large sharp horns that
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  remind me to keep my distance. I don't trust the yaks because I
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  don't know a single thing about them.
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  Same with the camels. Even the goats are intimidating.
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  The biggest ones are healthy, strong animals with thick
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  curling horns. I would not stand up well to a
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  head butt. The humble sheep is the only
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  animal I trust. Their domestication is so
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  thorough that I struggle to even imagine one being aggressive.
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  I biked on dirt streets through the outskirts of toss into
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  single, the town of about 9000 people.
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  Folks were out walking and kids were playing basketball.
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  Three times people stopped me to see my bike and small crowds
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  gathered to ask questions. The community seemed pleasant,
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  but the weather look of the wooden homes indicated this area
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  is a harsh place to live. The summers are hot close to 90°
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  today and the winters are painfully cold for three months
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  a year. The average temperature is -30°
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  and the people regularly have issues with fast winds bearing
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  their animals and snow drifts. I bought more food wires in
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  town, then left on a sandy Rd. that forced me to push for the
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  last hour of the day. A week ago that much sand would
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  have been terribly frustrating, but at this point biking 9 hours
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  a day at a crawling pace has become normal.
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  I've embraced the challenges of Mongolia, resigned myself to
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  overcome them. Tonight I'm camping on a hill
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  overlooking the Eider River, which meanders down a broad
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  valley between gently sloping mountains.
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  Low, flat clouds captured the evening light magnificently.
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  A crescendo of orange and red brightened and changed in every
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  moment, culminating in a vibrant climax of color before slowly
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  fading like a cooling ember. As darkness engulfed me, I laid
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  on the ground to watch the stars come out.
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  I've seen a dozen bright meteors burn across the sky, some with
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  long, glittering tails that lingered for a breath before
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  fading into the night.