Now I have arrived
in Ulaanbaatar the realisation of racing 867km through Mongolia’s most
challenging terrain is setting in and I’m almost giddy with excitement. So many other cyclists have arrived and
we’ve all the same look; nervous, excited and in slight disbelief that we are
doing something so unique and tough across a country that is so unknown to
most. I lost around 7 hours of my
life yesterday as we traveled straight across the time zones; it was 3pm on the
flight when the lights went out yesterday and 5am this morning when I could
have slept all day! However, I’ve resisted all temptation to sleep and have
instead built up my bike and done the tourist bit down to see Genghis outside
the tourist building. It has been
hard to resist a ride especially having seen some of the trails the guys have
been out on but I’ll feel a lot better with two days off and hopefully will be
fresh and ready by tomorrow to have a spin out and will be ready to race by
Saturday.
The Genco Mongolia
Bike Challenge is set across seven different stages spanning 7 different
landscapes in Mongolia. The
longest stage is 175km and it takes place on day four – the pinnacle of four
consecutively longer stages.
The race organiser has quoted;
“It is a stage of incomparable beauty and will be a
huge challenge for even the strongest of riders, over the seven days of the
event competitors must ascend a total of 12,410 vertical meters.”
“It will be a very strenuous physical trial and a
test of psychological endurance which will try every racer,” claim the
organisers. “We have designed a course that every passionate biker may desire:
extreme deserts, mountain passes, unspoiled rivers and scenery of rare beauty.”
With this in mind there is bound to be some
intrepidation going into the race.
I know I have good enough endurance to race for 6 or 7 hours and have
done enough stage races to know how important fuelling up before, during and
after the race is. I am also not
worried about the climbing, I would much rather be going up a mountain than
riding along flat windy plains and having done the Epic the meters climbing
each day are pretty similar. I am
however very worried about the conditions. The last two days were really wet and cold, today has been
bright blue skies but still only around 9 degrees at 10am this morning so
judging what to wear will be critical.
The temperatures here can vary from 3 degrees to 30 degrees and last
year there was snow and floods. I
am useless in the cold even though I should be tougher coming from
Yorkshire! I have experienced near
hyperthermia one time too many and in these extreme conditions it is so
important not to get caught out.
Mechanical issues are also a worry of mine which is why racing in pairs
is so much less stressful, if you have a big mechanical problem you aren’t
stranded alone and if I race mixed its always been the bloke that has fixed the
problem!!
Other than those worries I’m fit and healthy
(touching wood that I don’t eat anything obscure the next two days!!), training
has been going well and my aim is to finish knowing I’ve gone as well as I
could having enjoyed the whole experience. Competition is tough with World 24 hour champion Jessica Douglas
and many others but I will try to learn from these girls who excel in the
longer events. I see the main
competition been the elements and the Mongolian landscape.
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