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DAY 165 | 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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  July 28th, 2013 Much better day. Early this morning I biked into
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  a small town of Yurts to get supplies.
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  People were only just waking up and no one was outside.
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  I went up and down the few dirt streets looking for a market.
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  The dog started following me. Then another big mongrel guard
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  dogs. They kept their distance but
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  started yipping, which drew the attention of more dogs.
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  By the end of the next street, six of them were on my tail,
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  working themselves into a fervor.
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  I picked up my pace as I started moving in, then took off at a
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  Sprint as the first one bit my trailer.
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  My heavy bike slammed over to the rut head and rocky ground.
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  I knew there was no way I would be able to outrun them.
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  I pointed towards the edge of town and just beyond the last
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  year. I look back to see the dogs
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  begin to fight among themselves, barking viciously and jumping at
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  each other in their moment of distraction.
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  I got far enough away that they lost interest.
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  All six dogs trotted back home. My adrenaline was still pumping
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  hard and I charged up the long hill out of town.
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  A Russian man on a touring motorcycle coming from the other
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  direction stopped to talk to me. He had been in Mongolia for a
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  few weeks and was on his way back home in a few hours.
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  He expected to be at the border where I was three days ago.
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  The man spoke English well, and as we chatted, he had the divine
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  intuition to offer me his map, the exact thing I needed.
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  He handed me photocopies that covered all Mongolia and kept
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  only the page that would take him to the border.
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  The map even had enough detail to show the track we were on.
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  Right then. On my digital map, the closest
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  Rd. was 20 miles away. I felt a wave of relief to know
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  where I was again. I reached the top of the hill at
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  the same time as a van. Full Mongolian college students
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  from Ola Batar. They were out on a week long
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  field trip and gave me a Mongolian beer that I packed
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  away for later. One of them spoke English and
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  pointed out a six foot wide ring of stone circling a large
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  central pile. She explained that we are
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  looking at the 1000 year old grave of an ice queen, but she
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  didn't say what an ice queen was.
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  Other ring graves had knee high stone figures for headstones.
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  The carbons were rudimentary and the details had weathered away
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  long ago. As I was going down the hill I
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  met a Chinese cycle tourist pushing his bike up.
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  He's from Beijing and started his trip 18 days ago in
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  Olenbatar. I felt greatly relieved to hear
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  this. After yesterday I thought I
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  would need a month to get that far.
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  The other guy had more immediate concerns.
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  He had been pushing uphill for an hour and wonder when he would
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  reach the top. I told him he'd be pushing for
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  two more hours at least. As encouragement, I said there
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  would be a pile of rocks to look at when he got there.
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  The way down from the past was very steep and covered with
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  loose gravel. I crept along at a walking pace,
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  though my brakes were barely up to the task of slowing me.
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  I squeezed them so hard and for so long that my hands cramped
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  from exhaustion, and several times I had to pause to let them
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  rest. I knew that if I lost control of
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  my speed, even for a moment, wrecking would be the only way
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  to stop. I hadn't yet reached the bottom
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  of the hill when a pickup truck stopped with three men in the
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  cab. The driver was a large Mongolian
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  man who spoke English well. He's a mining engineer and had
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  earned a degree at the University of Idaho.
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  He handed me a bottle of water and we talked while I drank.
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  The two other men in the truck were ridiculously drunk.
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  The man in the middle was poking the engineer's belly.
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  He tried ignoring him and slapped his hand away.
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  The drunk guys were giggling and the engineer was trying not to
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  laugh. The guy was being pretty funny.
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  I asked the engineer who they were and he said they were his
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  Co workers. In the late afternoon I followed
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  A narrow Rd. up a gnarled low mountain.
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  The top was mostly flat and a couple on touring motorcycles
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  caught me there. John and Anna from Romania.
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  They were fluent in English and while we were chatting other
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  people started to arrive. The first to stop were three
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  Mongolian men on motorcycles. They were in a warm mood.
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  One of them had a plastic bottle with clear liquid that he
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  offered to us. I held the drink to my nose and
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  smell the alcohol. Teasing him.
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  I asked if it was a bottle of water.
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  He laughed and said water is like drinking poison.
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  Another car arrived with five people and some of them had been
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  drinking too. A minute later, three more men
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  pulled up in a small car and suddenly a party had coalesced.
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  At the urging of his friend, one of the men performed a folk song
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  using the deep reverberating technique of Mongolian throat
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  singing. Everyone was jolly and having a
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  fun moment together. Then, after 10 minutes, the
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  whole group dispersed. I agreed to meet John and Anna
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  10 kilometers farther down the road.
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  I told them to pick a spot, then look for me in an hour.
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  Along the way, a Land Cruiser passed me as I slowly climbed a
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  hill. The SUV stopped 50 meters ahead
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  of me and I watched 21 people climb out of the five seat
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  vehicle. They gathered along the edge of
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  the road to watch as I slowly struggled past them.
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  A few people cheered me on. They all looked happy to be
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  stretching their legs. When they drove past me a second
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  time, I saw that they were sitting 4 high on each other's
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  laps. Shortly after, I met a
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  delightful husband and wife driving home.
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  The wife gestured to somewhere over the hill.
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  They gave me a bottle of hydration drink.
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  I was out of water, so I was happy for the fluids.
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  I quickly finished the bottle, which prompted them to go into
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  their trucks to get me a cucumber and a chunk of lunch
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  meat. I thanked them, then they went
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  back to their truck one final time for a bottle of vodka.
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  They only had two glasses, so I drank a shot with each of them.
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  When they offered me more, I held my hands up.
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  I got them laughing when I mined that I would fall off my bike.
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  I found John and Anna getting their tent set up next to a
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  group of three yurts. Dan needed water too, and when
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  they stopped to ask for some, the grandmother invited them to
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  stay. This place is beautiful.
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  There's a wide open view of the grass covered hills and the Big
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  Sky above. Rainbows dance beneath clouds
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  throughout the evening. Now the stars are coming out and
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  goats are murmuring in the darkness.
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  A big scruffy dog is running into the night, barking with
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  excitement. Most nights I'm alone to seeing
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  the guard dog working so hard makes me wonder if there are
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  things out there I need to be worried about.