Ulaanbaatar to Moltsog Els
87km - 1700m climbing + 30km neutral and 230m climbing to the start
Hamish: 3hrs 46min (I think 7th overall and 2nd 43-50yr old category)
Leah: 5hrs and a bit and 3rd women
Strava link: https://strava.app.link/rZxmKbUV3Y
Stage 1 is done and dusted. After a rather nasty 30km neutral ride out of Ulaanbaatar on the main highway, with a police escort, we arrived at the start. Off the road, and out into the grasslands, with hilly grasslands as far as we could see. This year it is a different course to when we were here two years ago, but the first few km were remarkably similar.
From the gun, it was go. I had made sure I was well positioned in the second row, and after a couple of hundred meters was almost on the front. Two Mongolians attacked and disappeared up the road, never to be seen again until the finish line a few hours later. I had no desire to cover or case them and let them go. I was riding with Nico, one of the favourites and he could not close the gap. By this stage the peloton was down to about 10 riders and this was in the first couple of km and even before the first climb. Another Mongolian attacked out of our group, and before we knew it it was three riders off the front. On the first climb the group fragmented more another rider took off, and we down to three. It never ceases to amaze me how fast the peloton is whittled down on the climbs, and yes some of these were steep, but it happened pretty darn fast.
The first 30km were up and down, and some very steep up and downs in there as well. Not my ideal territory, as I am heavy, and the steep climbs are hard for me, but after the first 30km we descended down onto a flat grassland, for about 25km of flat riding into a block headwind. Luckily for me I was with John, and Irish guy who lives in Beijing, and Nico again. John flatted and then it was Nico and I pushing into the wind. By yourself this section would have sucked the energy out of you, so I was super happy to have Nico help here. After the last feed station at 60km, the route went back into the hills, and he disappeared up the road. I was happy to let him go, as he is a climber and I am not!
The last climb was not that hard, until the very top, where I am sure it was 20+%, and that by itself is not so bad, but it was hot. Something that I had not factored into my planning. This made it a lot harder, although knowing that over the top was a 14km descent into the camp, made it more bearable. Over the top, and with a strong tailwind I flew into the camp. Done for the day! I even managed a hot shower.
Leah had a longer day on the bike and suffered on the last climb. I think the heat caught up with her, although she did say she dropped the boys she was riding with on the flat then caught up to some more boys and proceeded to drop them. She is now showered, feed and sound asleep 😴 until dinner time.
Tomorrow what do we have? 101km and 1000m climbing. I suspect it will be fast again from the start based on the profile. There are a couple of climbs, which will be enough to break things up, then between 40-58km two 250m climbs, with the usual super steep pitch at the top. From 58-101km it is down hill and flat in the camp.
Now, time for me to have a snooze.
Here is the official video:
Photos as I cannot add captions
The route for the day and vertical
Bags in camp ready for collection
Sometimes you see some interesting things. Today old Soviet era tanks
Leah in recovery mode
Our GER for the night, the first one.
Waiting on the start line
Some of the 15 Russian Lada support vans.
Leah and I on the start line
Nico parting the sheep
Leah on the podium - 3rd women
Hamish on the podium 2nd Masters 2.
