September 17th
57km (825m vertical)
I only got a few hours of sleep in the Yurt last night –a far cry from the 9 hours that I've been averaging lately. I was cold, I felt cramped, there were barking dogs outside and I had a headache from the bumpy roads.
I had on all of my cold weather gear as we hit the road this morning - it was only 35F! I could see my breath and there was frost on my bike's seat cover. The temperature did rise to 73F by the afternoon, so everyone was stripping off layers on the road.
The road surface today was terrible! By far the worst of the trip. We didn't get an inch of pavement until the last km before camp. Conditions ranged from hard-packed dirt to large rocks to light moon-dust. Truckers had carved their own dirt trails beside the main road, trying to find ways around the worst sections. There were huge potholes all over the place that made downhills just as tough as uphills. Several riders fell off their bikes, and I had a few close calls on steep grades with loose sand. My average speed for the day was 10.2km/h...another record low. However, I did manage to hit 80.2km/h - a personal best - on the one piece of paved road before camp. If the entire road had been paved, today's ride would have been perfect because the scenery was wonderful.
The hills and dust took their tole on our big blue tour van, which died just before lunch today. We cycled passed it on a hill as Miles unloaded all of our stuff into an empty truck that he had flagged down. (This is hitchhiking taken to the extreme!) The timing isn't too bad though, since we get a new van starting in China tomorrow anyways.
The snow-capped mountains were a lovely backdrop to a tough day:
A lone yurt in the middle of the plains:
What a rugged road:
Me riding the hampster trail:
Nicole struggling up a rocky path. Look at that road surface!:
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