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 (so didn’t want to get dropped by your group. Luckily by this stage, Leah had been adopted by a group of Spanish guys, who waited for her because she pulled them across the flats.).

In Hamish’s part of the peloton, a really nervous race. Two crashes early on, including one bike with broken handlebar (Guy (his actual name) managed to ride 50ks to the next aid station where one of the marvelous mechanics was waiting with a replacement). Another racer broke a seat stay, but this was basically entirely his fault (hitting a depression too hard will do that. Or it could have been the bunny hop. Jury out.).

Many, many bad tummies in the peloton, including Hamish. Leah still quite happy and feeling a bit cocky (which is always the prelude a downfall). Perhaps funniest anecdote of the day – at least in Leah’s group – on the last climb (which was a bit of a stony grovel), there were a group of Mongolians at the top cheering on the riders. Leah must have been a surprise for them, because after a brief moment of shock, one ran up to give her a flower at the top. (Which was sweet, also because she was climbing past guys who were walking…but unfortunately the descent was equally steep and stony, so the same guys were riding past her as she quickly dismounted to walk the first piece. Doh.)

Meanwhile in Hamish’s race, Hamish got dropped on the first climb out of the front group, then formed up with a second group for most of the climbs and flat sections, which was a saving grace for the sore tummy. He only got well and truly dropped on the last major climb with 9ks to go (and gave up 5 minutes. Even the magic gels couldn’t help. And he looked like a sheet crossing the finish line). Finished into another quite stunning ger camp, “ 13th Century something something” – the schtick being that everything was like the 13th century. Which is awesome, until your ger floods in the middle of the night due to a (not entirely atypical) Mongolian monsoon cum thunderstorm, and the lack of a decent tarp on the top or a ditch around the back hillside. Also, with 6 people in it, it smelled like some sort of a mixture between sheep and feet. But otherwise, quite an experience (and we did to see the fire lit in the morning when they came to sop up the standing water on the “floor”. Mongolian sauna!)

Hamish: 3:37:07

Leah: 4:50:24

Fastest: 3:22:57

Slowest: 7:01:03

6 person ger (that flooded) and a very cold shower

The finishing straight and our view for the night

Inside the master ger that could seat 100 people. Very impressive