Orkhorn River to Kharkhorin
75km and 1600m climbing
Hamish: 3hrs 26mins. Not sure where I came in, but a ways back:)
Leah: 4hrs 15mins - 2nd women and 2nd women overall.
Stava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/2626236935
The last stage today and it is a tough one. This is not a walk in the park as the organizer said at last nights briefing. 75km and 1600m climbing is a more serious day and were looking forward to getting back into the mountains again.
Today, it was fast, very fast from the start! We went out through the lave field at lightning speed this time. The Mongolians were trying to drop everyone again, and everyone was trying to hang on and not lose the wheel in front! It was harsh wake up call that was for sure. I was were positioned in about 4-5 wheel but it was really tough, and I got dropped for a bit over a small climb, before working my way slowly back into the group. We did the first 7.5km of twisting and turning in the lava field at 33km/hr with a lot of stop starts in there as well. It only settled down when we hit a stretch of monster holes and bumps. I think everyone got a fright, as I know I did, and the pace slowed for a bit then, only for it to increase again on a short climb. At this point Mongolians disappeared up the road again. I stayed in the group until the first king of the mountain climb again and this time I was out.
Going into today, I was 2nd in the Masters 2 category and 7th overall. Ryan, in 3rd was 12 mins back, and he was very motivated to get 2nd. I would say much more motivated than I was to keep 2nd, having won the category a couple of years ago. With this in mind, and I had bad legs, as Ryan disappeared up the road with some strong climbers, I sat up, and enjoyed the day. I had two choices. One, bury myself and try to hold onto 2nd, and most likely still lose it, as Ryan was with some strong riders, or two, sit up and enjoy the ride. I chose two!
After Ryan disappeared up the road, I had a very enjoyable ride. After the first 2 high points we dropped down into a river valley for a bit before going high again and following different ridges for miles. The views were spectacular and although it was hard climbing, this may have been the best 25km of the race. We were once again up in scattered trees and winding our way along over vehicle tracks past yaks, sheep and goats. I was vultures soaring over head and locals waved at us. This is what Mongolia is to me.
All this had to come to an end and before we knew it the 5km to go sign popped up and it was pretty much all downhill to the finish line that overlooked the old Mongolian capital of Kharkhorin. The last 5km were a blast as it was mostly downhill, and I let the full suspension mountain bike go, and rode with a smile as I crossed the finish line, 22mins down on Ryan.
Leah came in 40 mins later and finished 2nd on the day, and 2nd women overall. A very solid performance from her!
Our final ger camp was very large 2 couple ger with an attached shower and toilet! You have to love the attached hot shower. After a couple of beers and prizing giving it was time to call it quits and all we had was “stage 7” left. “Stage 7” was a 7 hour bus trip back to Ulaanbaatar, and it took 7 hours!
