Road to Ulaanbaatar...

We arrived at the boarder crossing a little past 10 to a line of a few trucks and cars. Strangely they all waved us to the front of the line where we entered the first of many gates and booths. I think there were 5 different stations where we showed our papers, got things stamped and answered questions - all this just to exit the Russian side. The final station was a puddle of muddy water that we had to run the bikes through and pay 30 Rubles for the privilege. It was supposed to be some kind of decontamination thing - but seemed mostly a money collection scheme. The Russian side process was all pretty efficient, but took some time to get through all the different stations.

Once we got to the Mongolian side the efficiency part disappeared. We were sent from station to station - and then back to stations we had already visited to get the various stamps needed to bring the bikes and ourselves into Mongolia. The good part was that it was all free - except the mandatory liability insurance you must buy to drive a vehicle in the country. The insurance was about $12 USD so no big deal - much cheaper than the Russian insurance. Three hours after we arrived at the boarder we were riding into Mongolia.

After a quick lunch in the boarder town (I had the Mongolian Beef - delicious!) we started the 350 km ride to Ulaanbaatar - the capital and largest city (about 3 million) in Mongolia. The ride was pretty sweet with massive sweeping grassy mountain and valley views of the countryside. Mongolia is vast and wide open with very few trees. A couple of the higher passes had a few tree stands, but in most areas there are no trees at all - only endless grassy dessert like prairies called the Steppe. We encountered only a few bad sections of road - the first was a long construction zone where they just diverted the traffic out into the Steppe where tracks crisscrossed everywhere and cars in both directions just picked a track and went for it. You would be riding along in a track and a car or truck would be coming at you from the other direction in the same track. You would just take a different track in the next crossover and keep going. There was no left/right traffic at all. It was actually pretty funny to watch all the chaos - until you suddenly realized you were a part of it and had to pay attention to picking your next line. The second section of bad road was a minefield of potholes about 50 clicks or so outside Ulaanbaatar.  Again watching the cars take any lane from any direction was hilarious - but you were also a part of it so had to be on your toes. Also many of the potholes were huge and hitting the wrong one could result in suspension damage to the bike or a possible crash.

As luck would have it, we once again entered a major city at the rush hour. Traffic was very heavy and the drivers are very aggressive changing lanes constantly to better their position in the endless lines - even if you are already in the lane with nowhere to go they will just force you over until you find yourself in no lane at all but between lanes. Then you just shoot forward and take a slot from someone else. It wasn't much fun and of course the place we were heading was on the farthest end of town from where we entered the city. It took a couple of hours but we finally made it to The Oasis about 8:00pm.

The Oasis is a guest house compound on the edge of the city where many foreign travelers stay when passing through Ulaanbaatar.  When we pulled into the gates there were around 8 motorbikes and several all-terrain vehicles parked in the lot. We were greeted immediately and given the tour. There are 6 gers, a small tented outdoor pavilion, an indoor bar/restaurant, bathrooms, showers, laundry - everything a dirt-bag traveler would need for only $23 USD per night. The Oasis is most definitely a fitting name. The host/owner is very friendly and accommodating so we knew this was going to be a good stay. We went sure if we would stay in Ulaanbaatar one or two nights - but after the tour we decided absolutely it was going to be two!  The three of us are sharing a Ger with 4 beds - so one for each of us and one to pile gear.  We all agreed that the beds were the most comfortable we have experienced so far.  Today we plan to hit the Black Market, explore a bit of the city and pick up some Mongolia SIM cards.

Mongolian welcome committee.

One of the thousands of gers we passed along the route.

A small village we passed.

Huge grassy mountains in every direction.

Our ger at the Oasis - the one on the right.

Talking shop with the other bikers staying at the Oasis.

Illegal pic waiting at the Russian side of the boarder crossing.

Road to the Mongolia Boarder...

We stayed last night in Kyachta on the Russia/Mongolia boarder. Typical guest house style hotel for about $25 each. This place also had its own bathroom and shower, a bed for each of us and secure garage for the bikes. Basically the Four Seasons of motorcycle travel. We had dinner at a pizzeria - somewhat familiar and strange at the same time. No mozzarella cheese or tomato sauce, but a cheese sauce to take the place of both.  Anyway, the beer was cold so we were happy.  The owner of the guest house also drove us to and from the restaurant so we didn't have to ride the bikes and could enjoy a few beers.  If we were riding to the restaurant it would have been sodas only.  She wouldn't take any money for being our personal taxi - again great hospitality here in Russia!

Today we will cross the boarder to Mongolia. All the info says it will take some time to get through - anywhere from several hours to half a day to all day, depending on the report. We plan to get in the que by about 9:00am. From the boarder we will have about 350 km to Ulaan-baatar where we plan to stay at least a night or more at The Oasis - a travelers camp just outside the city. There we hope to get beta on which roads (or lack there of) to use to cross Mongolia. We have received mixed reports from travelers we have encountered so far - according to everyone all the roads are difficult and shity over any route we choose. Hopefully we will get some useful info from travelers that have just come across from the west.

Yesterday was a fairly easy ride - except the last 200 km was pretty bumpy and potholed.  There were actually signs warning you about the dangerous roads ahead - in English which has been rare up to this point.  If there is a road sign saying danger in Russia - you pay attention!  Usually there is just this small sign with a bumpy road graphic - and then you get to the section and find no road and gravel the size of golf balls a foot deep.  At least in Mongolia we we'll be expecting the roads to be tough, so no surprises - maybe...

Ken and Mark's hammocks yesterday morning at the lake.

Ken practicing safe riding technique snapping photos on the fly.

Passing by Ulan-Ude one more time.

Morning pic of the lake.  It looks very different today with no waves.

Danger Will Robinson!

Lake Baikal...

Today we made it to Lake Baikal after spending Saturday laying over in Ulan-Ude. I really needed the day off the bike after the long tough day on Friday. We took advantage of the day off and did bathtub laundry. You really get to see how dirty the clothes get doing laundry by hand. It was pretty disgusting actually. The laundry water turned to mud instantly. We strung up cam straps and turned the secure parking area of the guest house into a gypsy camp. Not sure if the owner cared - he didn't say anything but we got some interesting looks from the staff. We also went to a cash and carry superstore just down the street to load up on supplies for Mongolia. It was kind of a cross between a Costco and a Walmart - with much less variety. We all got our usual mix of freeze dried items to boil up at camp.

The ride to the lake was excellent - beautiful sunny cool day and a perfect mountain road with little traffic. We chose to go to a more remote area of the lake - most travelers we read about hit the more mainstream spot further west. I'm glad we chose the eastern part. The beach area is quite nice and the lake is beautiful. We all went for a swim in the cool clear water. The surf was pretty big and the lake bottom was very rocky so getting out there was a bit of a challenge. Once out there a ways you could relax and enjoy the rolling waves. There were still quite a few locals around as it was Sunday afternoon - but many were already packing up and heading out so we grabbed a great camp right at the beach line. We even had a campfire while enjoying the stunning sunset.

It is a full moon tonight - Ken and Mark have gone to bed but I am still by the glowing embers listening to Steely Dan waiting for the moon to come up over the hillside. It's a bit after 11pm and I really want to sleep so hopefully it will come up soon. It is a clear night and the stars are just starting to come out - it didn't really get dark until about 10:45pm.

Tomorrow we will ride the 400 km to the Mongolia boarder and spend the night. We want get to the boarder crossing on Tuesday morning - it could take half a day or more to go through the process. I'm looking forward to seeing Mongolia but am a bit nervous about the riding. It will be the most challenging section of the trip as most of the riding will be off-road. My body and back was pretty beat up from the Russian paved roads on Friday - if you can even call them that.  Tonight will be cold and I have all the gear out - including my ski cap to sleep in.  The full moon is out and it is a magnificent sight lighting up the lake and beach.

Beautiful sunset.

Just arrived at the lake - It's a beautiful day!

First campfire of the trip.  It got cool in a hurry at sunset.

Clothes get very dirty when you spend 90% of your time outside.

NOT a vacation.  Ok, maybe today feels like vacation...

Ulan-Ude

We finally made it to Ulan-Ude Friday evening around 9:30pm.  Not the best time to enter a large city as it was dusk and getting dark fast.  We had traveled through a time zone earlier in the day so sunsets are now a hour earlier.  We luckily found a fairly cheap hotel near the outskirts so didn't have to venture too far into the city in the dark.  By most adventure motorcycling standards, you just don't ride at night for many of the obvious reasons.

The ride this day was the toughest yet of the journey.  The roads were absolute shit and the rain was relentless.  After the 2 hour rain delay at the cafe it was about 6:30pm when it looked like there would be a break in the weather.  Ulan-Ude was about 150k away so we decided to go for it.  To start things off I dumped the bike again in the cafe parking lot.  I must have mistakenly started in second gear when I took off because the bike stalled just as I got rolling.  I was hard turning right so a stalled bike with the wheel turned means a tip over.  I put my foot down to try to save it but the lot was muddy, my foot slipped and down I went.  Again no damage to the bike and I was fine - but this was the second time in two days dumping and falling off the bike.  I need to be more focused, even when tired from riding all day.

Very soon after we got started we hit more rain - no lightening so we pressed on.  Just as they were earlier in the day, the "good" sections of road were bumpy, potholed and narrow.  Since leaving Chita I have noticed that the roads have gotten much more narrow.  They are all two lane, two way traffic with no shoulder in most spots so the choices for dodging potholes and the room for error has shrunk considerably.  It was hard to see as the helmet mask was rain and mud splattered from trucks and many sections in the hills were a bit foggy.  Mix in the construction zones where the roads were the shittiest we had encountered and you get some very tough conditions. The construction sections that weren't littered with unavoidable potholes had gravel the size of baseballs that had been spread but not rolled.  Going over these sections the rear tire was weaving all over the place.  One section of supposedly "good" road was actually like driving on a sheet of ice - the road looked glassy but you just didn't believe it could be as slippery as it looked.  I've never been so tense on a bike in my life.  It felt like one blip of the throttle or lean of the bike to change direction would result in a crash.  The rear tire was just walking all over the road.  Scary shit!

It was through one of the construction zones that I thought I was going to crash for sure.  The potholes were bone crushing and unavoidable.  I was slugging along getting punished and saw a few cars and Mark had moved on to the right shoulder.  It looked like the shoulder was actually packed dirt and not the usual deep sand which is basically not rideable.  I moved right to get to the shoulder and saw there was a 3 or 4 inch lip dividing the torn up road and shoulder.  I know a 45 degree angle is necessary when hitting any lip on a bike, but the potholes bounced me off course and I ended up hitting the lip at a shallow angle.  For anyone that rides you know this is usually a bad thing - my tires caught on the lip and by the time the bike was up on the shoulder I was in a death wobble.  Just when I thought a crash was most definitely going to happen my right foot went down and I bounced my boot off the ground just enough to correct the wobble and continue in a straight line.  I don't even remember telling my foot to do this so it must have just been an instinctive survival reaction.  All I remember thinking was bail out and jump off the bike because you are going to crash.  Another close call avoided.  Next time in that situation I will just pound the potholes and not try to make risky moves with potentially harsh consequences.  Although I wasn't going very fast, a crash there would have certainly done damage to the bike and possibly me as well.  I ride in a lot of protective gear, but you don't want to have to test it in a crash.

We are not sure if we are going to stay in Ulan-Ude for a carryover day or press on to Lake Baikal. The forecast was originally 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms! but this morning it now says 20%. Our plan was for Saturdays to be a day off the bikes - this week I need it.  My body is pretty beat up from riding yesterday in crappy weather and harsh road conditions.

Coming into one of the shit sections - this one was actually not too bad.

We passed lots of cool little towns today.  This section of Russia has a lot of farming going on.

Riding into the storm.

The Rainy Road to Ulan-Ude...

The road from Chita to Ulan-Ude deteriorated considerably from the previous two days.  The good spots were patched and bumpy and the bad spots were no road at all - only dirt and rocky construction zones full of holes.  To as to the fun it decided to rain a good portion of the afternoon. We are currently holed up in a cafe about 250 km outside Ulan-Ude - which was our goal for the day. As it is 6pm now and pouring rain with thunder and lighting, I doubt we will make it there today.  We normally ride through the rain, but this storm was just ridiculous - with thunder and lightening which we don't ride in.  We have gained elevation and topped out at 3600 ft on a couple of passes.  There are more mountains in the distance so the terrain will get interesting as we head west.

Yesterday afternoon I dumped the bike for the first time on the trip.  We were riding through a construction area on a closed road and as I approached the lip intersecting the real road, I had to hit the brakes as traffic was coming and skidded to a stop with the back half of the bike on the dirt and the front wheel on the roadway which was elevated 5 inches.  I went to put my foot down and stabbed air - down went the bike and I hit the dirt.  Once 650 lbs. of loaded bike starts to lean you are basically done.  Luckily no damage to the bike and only a tweeted wrist for me.  I now have done the two things I try the most NOT to do while riding - run into something and fall off the bike.  Luckily both were minor and hopefully I have them out of the way so can run clean moving forward.

It's been pouring for an hour now at this cafe.  I hope we can roll out soon...