Ulaanbaatar to Dalangazad (Gobi Desert)
Depending on which road map you have the distance varies between 300 and 400kms. It took us three part days to travel into the heart of the Gobi Desert. It was hard leaving the Oasis Guesthouse in UB because it was so relaxing and the food and hospitality so good. About 30 kms south of UB the road turns to gravel and the real Mongolia just unfolds in front of you. Rolling treeless hills for as far as the eye can see. Every few kilometers, a Ger could be seen off in the distance with their characteristic smooth round tent like structure rather like a large tub of cheese. Sometimes they had a small set of temporary timber yards and some had a vehicle or a small motorcycle. All were simple and designed to be moved when the time came to move the herd.
The road was poor quality gravel sand and anything else that naturally occurred en route. It was by no means a formed road and by the end of day one, the choice of which track to take expanded out to sometimes 15 or more. Sometimes I would follow a track that would detour off over a hill with the main tracks not even visible. But one always knew that somewhere further on it would come back and join the others. Riding a road bike on these tracks was hard work despite the fact that I had fitted Continental TKC knobby tyres. It drifted wildly when parts of the track turned sandy. Corrugations, sand, deep ruts, washouts and an undefined route made for a very challenging ride. The lunch stop presented more than the average challenge too. Bananas had been pulped into a soup, the tea and coffee containers emptied themselves. Dried bananas, nuts, potato chips, and sachets of jam mixed merrilly in the bottom of my camp kitchen top box whilst I bounced my way towards Dalanzagad. I decided that it wasn't worth trying to clean out the box until I stopped that evening. It was a disgusting mess. But I did manage to find a piece of one week old cheese and a slab of very dry rye bread that remained intact.
The inevitable finally happened when I tried to negotiate a long stretch of loose sand that had accumulated in the wheel path. I fell heaviliy with my leg trapped and twisted under the Mule. It was very painfull and I had no way of moving until two of my travellinjg companions luckily spotted me trapped and came to the rescue and lifted the bike off me. It was a very frighening experience for me and I was in shock for more than 10 minutes. Luckily my twisted ankle was not broken. If I had been travelling alone the whole scenario could have turned out to be very serious. This did not help my confidence for the rest of the days riding. But we all arrived tired and very dusty at Malangovy with a room for the night. There were no showers but I was happy not to have to cook and camp.
I realised by now that despite all my efforts to set up a BMW R100R road bike for these road conditions the trip was going to be periously dangerous unless I was prepared to slow down and take care. My riding buddies were all on R1150 and R1200 Adventures and despite the fact that too were big heavy bikes they were making lighter work of the road than I. We travelled within viewing distance of each other for most of the time to ensure that if anyone had a fall that they would get assistance ASAP. Riding into Dalanzagad was relief but I was feeling tired stiff and and sore. Three of the five BMW's had now been dropped so it was just a matter of time before everyone had experienced a fall.
Dalanzagad was a real surprise being so remote and with only one very poor access road. Gold and copper mining was likely to bring wealth to this area but for now it was a very pleasant rest place for a night.

Dalanzagad to Bayangohor
The hotel was sheer luxury at Dalangazad and I was loath to get out of bed as I was facing a hard days ride NW on a track that did not even appear on my map One of my friends had a GPS track log for the route so we could navigate from from it. The track took us through some stunning country consisting of sand hills low rugged foothills and extensive sandplains. We had all become bogged several times by lunch time and the temperature was steadily rising. I made conscious decision not to try and keep up wityh the other BMW's as they were modern faster and better equiped to handle the off road conditions. In addition they had a Landrover backup and were carrying slightly less weight than I. My road bike was strong enough but lacked the suspension travel and balamce inherant in the newer models. Essentially I was in self preservation mode for the Mule had to get me home. The tracks did not suit any bike carrying as much weight as we had. By 3pm the sandplains opened out into this enormous flat desert that looked like it extended to the other side of the world. We were riding at 60 kph for 2 hours cross country with not a single land mark in sight. Storms were brewing in all directions and we could see rain trying to fall out of clouds everywhere. The winds were fiece and it was often difficult to keep the Mule upright. The track log indicated that were heading for some rocky foothills. On arriving we were confronted by extreme dust storms, rain and a poorly defined track that led to a small village. It was a welcoming sight to ride into this place and be greeted by a hord of inquisitive friendly faces at the centre. After inquiring about accommodation a lady took us to her parents place where we had a meal cooked for us (boiled lamb and pasta). It was their living quarters but for a small fee they were happy to move into their storage room and provide us with a delicious soup followed by a pasta meat dish.
The following days ride was easier and therefore faster and we managed to arrive at Avikanheer by lunch time.. This was the first bit of tarmac we had seen for 5 days and nearly a thousand kilometers. That lasted for 20 kms when the track turned into a multitude of rough potholed tracks again. By 4pm we had all had enough and set up camp amongst some low granite hills with small outcrops of granite boulders overlooking the magnificient panorama stretching for 50kms. It was simply inspiring to sit and enjoy the piece, sunshine and a well earned rest.

I had hoped that the track would improve as we had seen some construction machinery further east forging a new road through to Bayangohor. Instead it just developed into a series rough gravel wheel tracks. I suspect that within 2 years tho there will be a fully constructed road all the way. I arrived first as I has left early and kept going for 5 hours. Tim had hit a large rock causing a slash in his front tyre. The team stopped while he patched the trye and put a tube in. Our camp site required negotiating our first river crossing. It was not deep but s fast flowing and full of slippery stones. Two bikes went over and I was lucky to escape with wet feet.

The route over the mountains to Tzetsleg was looking pretty miserable with high winds and sleeting showers. We all voted to return to our camp for a day and hope the weather improves