Mongolia Bike Challenge 2017

This is a mountain bike race like no other; you will experience tough stages day after day. In 2017, it was 6 stages for 600km and 10,000m climbing. Striking landscapes, vast grasslands, wandering yaks, cows, goats and sheep, and nomadic herders are the feature of the week. You cannot capture the vastness of the landscape in a picture. You will sleep inside Gers, cabins, and in the "tents". You will challenge yourself, you will hurt and you will finish each day smiling, as Mongolia has this effect on people. MBC is an adventure. Yes you are there for a mountain bike race, but it is the element of adventure, and joint suffering that gets people hooked.

For Leah, this was her her first mountain bike stage race, and she enjoyed it. She out rode a lot of the boys on the climbs and flats, but has some work to do on her descending.

Hamish had a very good week finishing 5th overall, and 1st 40+. A top week of hard racing and I spent most of the time in the front or chasing group.

Here is the official site, and below are our daily blogs.

Stage 1

105km - 1930m climbing

Fast from the gun, fast climbs and fast across the flats. It was fast today, and I had a good day. Finding myself 5th wheel out of the start, down a rough dirt track, over a nasty gap, and we were away. I guess cyclocross has given me some useful skills. Punched the first climb, and then there 8 of us. The break happened literally...

Stage 2

The queen stage - 120km and 2750m climbing

Hamish cannot remember a lot of the stage. Leah can remember all of it because it was damn long with a ton of steep climbing (which to her surprise, on a mountain bike, apparently means “walking” – she was not a

Stage 3

117km - 2110m climbing

Highlight stage of the trip, 57Ks through a national park. Absolutely gorgeous riding, lots of wildlife, horsemen, even some (very surprised) French hikers. Up a river valley, then across the river (on a bridge, the only one we would see) into a pump track type of trail. Then around into......

Stage 4

128km and 1150m climbing

Longest day, only 3 climbs but some really rough roads. Scabs – literally scabs – on multiple butts after today. Early mud bogs claimed some victims, including Leah, who was trying to hang on to a group as the peloton fragmented. No dice, try again....

Stage 5

88km and 1481m climbing

Shorter stage but lots of climbing, rainy start and then straight uphill. (And then sadly for Leah, straight downhill). Clouds cleared and then actually turned out to be a pretty nice ride, with a long flat in the middle....

stage 6

TT - 25km and 489m climbing

So remember how cocky Leah was? Uh huh. Bad day. At this stage, estimate that 50% of the field had some sort of tummy trouble, going through the spectrum of early, middle, or late stage. Fortunately it was......