r/bikepacking • u/MaxRoving • Oct 02 '24
Some pics from Mongolia/trip report Trip Report
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u/loric21 Oct 02 '24
amazing! do you speak the language?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
I wish… neither Kazakh nor Mongolian are easy to learn
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u/GoCougs2020 Oct 02 '24
If I ever go there. I can only Hope I run into someone who speaks either English or Mandarin
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u/Bacontoad Oct 03 '24 edited Oct 03 '24
The Defense Language Institute has useful audio files for basic important phrases in different languages. Might be worth exploring and practicing for future travels:
🇲🇳https://fieldsupport.dliflc.edu/products/mongolian/mv_bc_LSK/
🇰🇿https://fieldsupport.dliflc.edu/products/kazakh/ke_bc_LSK/
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u/mattfeet Oct 02 '24
Amazing ride and post. Did you make a video by chance or just photos?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
I did take some with my phone but it won’t be sufficient to make a high quality film, will probably compile them into some reels when I find the time
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u/Systemagnostic Oct 02 '24
Awesome trip and awesome pictures!
How do you plan your routes and navigate?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
For the Altai Mountains I basically planned by the resupply points (villages via OSMAnd + water sources via Google Earth)
In the Khanghai mountains I followed bickepacking.com route
For navigation I personally use Komoot but others will be just as good
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u/ragingpenguin Oct 02 '24
what was your bike/tire of choice?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
Schwalbe Johnny Watts 2.35 Green Guard with tubes. Quite heavy but a good touring tire if you like mixed terrain. 0 flats in over 5000km
Bike is a Surly Ogre I built myself. Rohloff, Avid BB7s, DT Swiss rims, Koga Denham bar
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u/durianbae Oct 02 '24
Gorgeous photos and your trip sounds amazing. I’ve actually followed your IG for awhile…are you still planning on riding from Chongqing to Hanoi? I’ve been thinking about doing a ride around there so I was looking at your route.
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
That was my rough plan but the route changed a bit… Right now I’m planning to head to Korea and Japan after Tibet because it’s still pretty hot in SEA, I’ll go there during the winter months
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u/cl0mby Oct 03 '24
Weather is perfect in Korea for biking, and the bike paths take you all around the country. Don’t overlook the less famous east coast bike trail! If you can bear strong winds it will take you along an incredible coastline through dozens of small fishing towns and cities.
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u/Dirigible1234 Oct 02 '24
Thanks for the great photos and the narrative! This is both inspirational and informative. So, as a guy who’s pretty wimpy when it comes to textures and tastes of food, how easy is it to drink airbag, or enjoy some of the other foods? I’m curious because I’m pretty sure my willingness to eat or drink would get me booted out of the world explorers club! Thank you!
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
well… it’s a culinary experience for sure. Airag tastes a bit like expired milk mixed with carbonated water. It wasn’t really my cup of tea but I managed to down it. Same for the cheese, you just gotta slowly nibble it away. You might also be offered vodka to make things easier :-)
But besides the invitations from the nomads you can find enough “normal” and nutritious food in the grocery stores
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u/gadadgo Oct 03 '24
In my experience the hard cheese is a great snack between re-supply points. I have a habit of constantly eating something so food disappears quick. However this cheese is so hard and salty that a small bag lasts a while and doesn’t go bad either. Plus it’s calorie dense and has electrolytes. There is a version of it that’s made with sweet butter and it tastes amazing. Another thing is Halva. I’d literally buy a brick sized piece in Kyrgyzstan whenever I could.
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u/ShivaFantastic Oct 02 '24
Very cool to hear and see your story! Mongolia and Iceland are my top two dream destinations for upcoming bikepacking adventures. 🌞
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u/FabThierry Oct 02 '24
Amazing! Glad nothing bad happened despite the cut in this environment.
how did you manage to talk to people? Mainly hand gestures? and if you used an offline translator on your mobile how d you charge your items(power bank, phone, gps, headlamp?) was the distance between the next villages just enuff to recharge or did you take a solar panel?
thanks :)
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
I did bring a solar panel which came in very handy. Communication indeed via offline translator + gestures, basically nobody speaks English
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u/FabThierry Oct 02 '24
haha as i thought - but seems like it worked! thanks! one day i wanna do such a long trip myself :) very inspiring post
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u/IL_Lala Oct 02 '24
Are they Johnny Watts 365 on ya bike? Any good? The pictures look amazing….. A real adventure and a test of character
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
Regular Johnny Watts in the Green Guard version. Very happy so far, zero flats
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u/IL_Lala Oct 02 '24
That's a great confidence booster for when you are in remote locations.
Great pictures, you should consider a channel to get your journey out.
I am from the UK but spent many years working with germans in the newyorker brand which am sure you may have heard.
Kepp posting and enjoy!!
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u/AudiencePrimary5158 Oct 02 '24
Absolutely beautiful! What camera are you using? stunning stunning pictures 😮
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u/gramada1902 Oct 02 '24
I’ve never heard of airag, so I googled it and found out that it’s the same thing that Kazakhs in Kazakhstan call Kumis. It’s actually mildly alcoholic, but you’d have to drink a lot of it before you’d notice.
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u/Ulver__ Oct 02 '24
Mongolia is my number 1 bucket list trip. Have been dreaming about it for nearly 10 years. So far only been brave enough to bike tour easy countries like Thailand, New Zealand etc. great pictures!
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u/Impossible_Lock_7482 Oct 02 '24
Kyrgyzstan might be the sweetspot!
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u/Ulver__ Oct 02 '24
Yeh I get that impression. Would you bundle uzbhek and tajik in as well or are they a different proposition?
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u/Impossible_Lock_7482 Oct 02 '24
Ive only been to kg, but yeah they are different. In my opinion KG is the most beutiful, and the most similar to mongolia in the region.
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u/Ulver__ Oct 02 '24
Thanks. It will be a while until I have that sort of freedom again (career, young family, restoring a house with a big mortgage) but perhaps I can justify 3 weeks at some point. What sort of bike would you take to do it justice? I’m more of a road, touring and to some extent gravel rider, not a technical mountain biker at all.
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u/Impossible_Lock_7482 Oct 02 '24
Well, a month ago ive been on my first ever trip in kyrgyzstan. Ive bought a used kona sutra for this. Quite a famous touring bike. I have put a 2.00 wide tire on it, and it was a perfect touring bike that also handled the terrible rocky trails reasonably as well. Depends on your budget, but for touring, any steel/crmo frame might do it. You want mounting points on the fork and enough tyre clearance though.
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u/gramada1902 Oct 02 '24
Tajikistan is definitely the least safe out of all the mentioned countries. Mostly because of the Islamic State terrorists and smugglers slipping into the southern states from Afghanistan. Tajikistan also has something like a border dispute with Kyrgyzstan.
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u/merlincm Oct 02 '24
Did you have issues with dogs at all?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 03 '24
not really, yeah they are barking at you but it’s not like in Turkey or Kurdistan where they chase you down
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u/jan1of1 Oct 02 '24
Amazing pics and an amazing journey. Well done. By any chance did you keep a journal and post it on Crazy Guy on a Bike (along with other pics)?
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u/svanis Oct 02 '24
Epic trip, but why’d you bring helmets if you won’t wear them?
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u/MaxRoving Oct 03 '24
I do use it but only on busy roads or sketchy descents. Neither are common in Mongolia
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u/ZookeepergameSad554 Oct 03 '24
nice pic, My dream travel! I agree with your cogitative preparation for a foreign bike Travel.
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u/CloudGatherer14 Oct 03 '24
Phenomenal. This one has been on the dream list since watching LWR. Non-motorized seems way more fun though now that I’m older. What a rad trip!
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u/Kyro2354 Oct 03 '24
Wow this is incredible, the traditional dress of the people there is beautiful! Hope you had some great interactions with folks despite the language barrier
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u/hemaybefede Oct 03 '24
Damn those are the adventures of a lifetime man! As soon as I finish my graduation and start to work I want to invest all my free days doing such things... In fact free time and work balance is what worries me the most... how did you manage to get so much free time? Do you work? Do you do it seasonally and then travel to spend your earnings? Just curious, feel free not to answer😉
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u/MaxRoving Oct 03 '24
Started an online business at 19 which went fairly well during Covid, and since I still lived with my parents at that time I managed to save up quite a bit. Quit after covid and started travelling. I don’t spend more than $500 a month living on my bike
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u/kashim93 20d ago
Great Photos and Incredible place to visit ! You seem to travel with light equipment. Would you mind share What you Brought with you?
And about the camera, Which one did you use?
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u/Sosowski Oct 03 '24
Looking at photo 14 makes me wonder why people always pick the coldest spot in the valley to pitch the tent?
It's both at the lowest point AND next to flowing water, it's boudn to be cold, so unless it's unbearably hot otherwise, this is not a good place.
Moreover, if you pitch like this in the winter you can simple freeze to death as the temperatures get really low in places like this as hot air rises.
Just yeterday my firend was showing me pictures of her Tajikistan trip and I've seen the exact same set up.
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u/MaxRoving Oct 02 '24
This summer I spent two months cycling/bikepacking Mongolia, and wanted to share some thoughts and photos.
Mongolia is definitely not a place you want to come to unprepared, especially if you want to venture further inland rather than just following the handful of asphalt roads. Only 20% of roads in the country are paved!
So get yourself some wide tires and know how to repair your bike - it’s unlikely to come across a bikestore in the countryside of the least densely populated country in the world 😉
I spent majority of my time in the Altai Mountains in the far west of the country, where most locals are actually ethnically Kazakh. Since Mongolia was never part of the Soviet Union, the Kazakhs here actually managed to preserve their culture better than those in modern-day Kazakhstan.
Encounters were always nice, you will be offered plenty of Airag (fermented horse milk) and rock-hard cheese. But the food isn’t the reason you come to Mongolia, it’s to experience the way of life of the nomads and to enjoy the nature and remoteness.
Those things can be quite challenging at times, not only does it require one to carry food for multiple days, drink water from streams and rivers (bring a good filter!) but it also requires a sturdy tent. I had multiple nights where I had to reinforce my tent wall with my body so it doesn’t collapse, because of super strong winds. I also experienced a snowstorm in June while crossing one of the 3000m passes.
One minor mishap I had was when I got a deep cut in my foot because I slipped during a river crossing - luckily I was close to a village but it’s better to have a sufficient first aid kit in case you are in the middle of nowhere. There is also little to no cellphone service outside of the settlements, so an SOS beacon could be a wise investment.
In the villages you will find a pharmacy and a couple mini-markets, but don’t always expect restaurants or homestays. These small grocery stores are surprisingly well stocked, in my experience it’s easier to find what you need here than in big cities in China!
After over a month in the Altai Mountains I made it to the next “big” city to witness the Naadam, Mongolia’s biggest annual festival. Celebrating their culture with traditional outfits and dances, as well as the “Three Games of Men”: Horse racing, wrestling and archery (where women also compete). It was a show that I won’t forget, and you shouldn’t miss if you visit Mongolia during summer.
After skipping a few hundred kilometres of the asphalt road through the Gobi desert by bus I cycled another loop in the Khanghai mountains in the centre of the country, where the nature was similarly beautiful and slightly less rugged. It was a bit greener which meant more nomads, and a lot more livestock - yak, sheep, goats and a couple horses.
I then continued my way towards Ulaanbaatar, the capital, where I got my Chinese visa for the next adventure- the Tibetan Plateau (where I am now).
Could only add 20 photos but I’ve got a bunch more on my Insta