Liaison sections: 437 km
Special stage: 220 k
Total: 657 km
At the competitor’s briefing we were told that the race course was different for the motorcycles, the cars and trucks would use a separate route which meant we would be on a more narrow, technical section perhaps even more difficult than the day prior. I thought to myself, ‘ how am I going to ride on terrain that is more difficult than yesterday’s?’ I was suffering from the heat, I was simply not used to such intense temperatures, Mongolia is one of the coldest places on Earth. I tried to drink the water in my hydration system sparingly, my plan was to ask local spectators for water at every opportunity because of my brush with dehydration the day before.
Before leaving the bivouac the back markers were advised to not race with each other, rather we should conserve energy, ride safely and try and make it to the finish as we were not competing for top positions. The advice was heeded my peers, we all maintained an even pace.
During the day I was rode along a rocky river bed and reached a red mountain cliff, the track to climb the cliff was so narrow I couldn’t imagine riding anything as wide as a quad up it.
After climbing the cliff I rode some distance with #121 Sean van Basel in a flooded river valley that was laced with large rocks. We had difficulty finding the route, I crossed a large ravine and lost sight of Sean, he got stuck in more of the dreaded Fesh Fesh. Once again my eyesight went blurry during the last few kilometers into the bivouac.
The reason I called this day more difficult than riding the Malle Moto class is because once again our support truck didn’t show up at the bivouac. You may not have much in your trunk when you enter the Malle moto class but at least you have something. Boldbaatar and I looked for a half hours for our truck in the bivouac that evening, we had no tent, no shower items, and no clothes to change into. Our Mongolian friends competing in the car class, Jagaa, Batbold and Surendorj offered us a place to lie down so we got a few minutes of sleep before they needed their beds. Another problem was the next day we were headed to Chile and our passports were in our RRUK support truck and we had no idea where it was. Fortunately Clair and Valvarez the ASO staffs were kind enough to help us get through the Chilean border paperwork with a stamped copy our our passport they had on file.
That still left us in a lurch as far as a place to sleep for the night. Clair found us 2 tents and sleeping bags from Malle Moto class riders who had already dropped out of the race. We hit the sack later that night grateful that the ASO people took very good care of us. Now we can sleep at 2 am
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