A lot has happened in the past month...

After Vilnius, we made our way north along the Baltic Sea through Latvia and Estonia (with stops in Riga and Tallinn) and ferried across the Gulf of Finland to Helsinki for our first journey above 60 degrees North. After a terrific pizza buffet and a quick visit to the Finnish Olympic Museum, we arrived in Russia as our visas allowed. We then pedaled through six days of hellish torture - 100 mile days, rain, trucks, garbage, etc. - and showed up in Moscow. We then boarded the train for a relaxing four day ride through Siberia. We spent a week along Lake Baikal and suddenly emerged in the steppe in southern Russia. On Tuesday we crossed the sketchiest border in the world and made our way into Mongolia. Let's spend some time chatting about the country...

As we made our way across the arbitrary line dividing Russia from Mongolia, I was feeling beat. We had lowered our mileage significantly, were taking more breaks, and were pretty much hanging around in relaxation mode. Even so, I was over biking. It had been exceedingly frustrating, and I was shutting down mentally, emotionally, and a bit physically. I knew I should have been pumped about Mongolia, but I couldn't muster any excitement. We camped 7km from the border and I laid down, not thinking I could handle the remaining 345km to the capital.

We woke up the next day and, after a short run to within sight of the Russia border guard towers, set off again. We had a leisurely 12 mile ride to Sukhbaatar to fill up on food. It was easy and calm and the food at the supermarket was scrumptious. We then headed south. Almost immediately my appetite for biking returned. The road was arrow straight, we had a mean tailwind, and the surroundings became...stunning. It's almost impossible to put into words. There were some hills, and at the top of every hill we'd be able to see for tens of miles. It was beautiful. We were in the steppe, away from the air pollution, with sparse traffic. I felt like I was almost alone, save for the shepherds with their horses, cows, sheep, goats, and pigs that we encountered crossing the road. Every gradual uphill was complemented by the scenery, and every downhill saw the world open up before us. We were in that Big Sky country, and it was near perfect. We only made it 90km because we needed to stop in another town to fill up on food the next day, but we both could have kept riding indefinitely.

Day two was more of the same, except there were Bactrian camels added to the mix. We navigated desert rally-like construction detours, handled the relentless sun and heat, and marveled once more at the gorgeous views.

Day three we decided to go for it, as the perfect weather broke for a bit and we were in the rain and 40 degree misery for 20 miles. We were only 140km out of the city and pushed...and it was still indescribably brilliant. Hill after hill, yurt after yurt, grazing herd after grazing herd. We drank fermented mare's milk and were stunned by the English of the locals. As we rolled into the city, we were overcome with jubilation...that we had achieved our biking goals, that we were mere hours away from Mongolian Barbeque, and that we had witnessed the majesty of Mongolia.

Quite a capper to an incredible journey.