Day 13. Monday May 30

   Sage Bush Camp 4 to Tull River Camp 5

Distance:  130 km

Cumulative Distance: 1483 km

Time: 8 hrs 50 min

Speed:  14.8 km/hr

Feet Climbed:  4322

Cumulative Climb: 32,369 ft 

AHR (Average Heart Rate) 106 bpm

Punctures so far: 2.     

Altitude tonight: 3106 ft

A tough day off- road. Not an inch of paved road all day; and the same again tomorrow. We’ll have plenty of this before we reach the Russian border - 1500km of it in fact.

Morning was lovely, not too cold and no wind. The day got very warm and all extra layers were off pretty quickly. By the end of the day I was down to bare Summer gear. Much water was consumed along the way and since I came into camp.

The roads today were gravel and hard packed clay. It was rough and no great chance to take photos from the saddle, though I did manage a few. They were stony, rutted and corrugated in places that shook both bike and body. Also, the roads aren’t well defined - when one track becomes too rough etc traffic just moves a little to one side along the grass till that becomes a road also. The pictures explain it better.  

There wasn’t too much traffic and you could see it coming a mile away with the trail of dust. Roads disappearing into the far distance were scenic indeed but sometimes disheartening. Along the grassy sections we (Mike, Frieder and I) cycled along at  23 km/ hr but the rough parts and gravel sections slowed things down. It was tough going indeed and full concentration had to be on the best line to take especially when descending.

Also there were two major climbs on very rough sections. One was a 3 km  climb and the surface was like cycling up to Lake  Muskerry during a dry spell. They were punishing.

Near the end of the day (after covering 100 km) some of the navigation flagging tape was less than adequate and caused us to take a wrong turn resulting in us to do an extra 7 km but also resulted in us reaching camp an hour later than we could have.

At lunch we had an extra 'rider ' drop in. He had been nearby tending his large herd of goats. Had a good look at his horse ( not shod) and even managed a photo.

Scenery was of secondary interest today, but it was beautiful all around - great valleys, mountains in the distance, remote gers in grassy areas, more cultivation in progress.

And for the first time since we entered Mongolia I spotted some trees. I imagine they will become more plentiful as we move north.

Tonight’s blog is a little shorter than usual. Since we arrived into camp at 6.15, dinner was starting and then to erect a tent and regain some energy, even washed the feet in the nearby river - wouldn’t swim in it! Also we have another off-road day tomorrow (without major climbs) and at this stage all other are gone to bed and camp is silent.

Thank God for the health and thank God for the energy.