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each other s direction trotting effortlessly along the shore front and center the yak herd reigned supreme snorting loudly to each other a contingent of yaks plunged past the sludge and into the lake stopping only when their massive bodies were half submerged by its depths while a responsible yak stayed on the shore with a nursery of young calves the atmosphere was what i imagine an african oasis to feel like diverse animal species coming together to enjoy a morning by the water the only part that was missing was the african part then the human visitors showed up two curious herdsmen whose animals i was ogling so closely we showed them where we had come from and where we going and one of them was utterly fascinated by my fold out map of mongolia he even pointed at the different asian countries on the front of the map wanting to know and or confirm each country the other herdsman arrived a bit later and despite the language barrier he made it clear that he was very impressed and congratulatory of our cycling tour bekah shared some food with them before they went on their way it was time to get rolling we slowly gained in elevation as we headed away from the lake and back toward the paved road that would take us to murun an hour or so later i reached the paved road and stopped to refill my water bottle with the lake water that bekah had painstakingly purified as bekah joined me on the road i drank deeply the taste that met my lips sent my brain spinning through one of those flashback montages where the clueless character in the story finally pieces the truth together my great conquest my treasure carefully purified and then filtered was of course salt water salt water the horrible stench the white powder that caked our shoes and dried on the top of our water bottles became very clear signs that we had camped on the edge of a salt lake my morning s ride to get water once bathed in the light of a glorious victory now was revealed to be a fool s errand our once precious water was soon trickling down the road as we emptied our water bottles the utter ridiculousness of the situation kept me amused for miles what a bizzare way to end a bike tour but i was also worried how were we ever going to make it murun alive without any water to calm the fears of my friends and family i promise i that the the above sentence is sarcastic murun was only twenty miles away at that point and it turned out that sixteen of those miles were down hill plus there were gers dotting the hillside if we had really needed water we could have asked at any of the homes and refilled our water bottles and bekah did have a smidge of water left by the time we reached murun we were a bit on the thirsty side but still elated we had completed our cycling tour now all we had to do was crowd onto a bus with our bikes and survive the thirteen hour trip to ulaanbaatar it was time to head to northern new york cause no matter how much i miss my sister or fall in love with a country in asia when i am in lewis county my heart still feels at home share this tweet email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on tumblr like loading posted in mongolia uncategorized tagged adventure biking cycling horses mongolia outdoors 16 replies eleven days and eleven epic mongolian adventures posted on april 30 2018 by bribikes 18 fording sometimes barefooted across barely thawed mountain streams and rivers sipping hot curdled mare s milk on a mountainside with friendly herdsmen finding camels just beyond the sand dunes of the the mongol els cycling up crazily steep intense mountains spotting wild extremely rare przewalski s horses soaking up the beauty of mongolia s tallest waterfall camping in and riding through an unexpected snowstorm riding against forceful howling winds weaving our way through volcanic rocks in orkhon valley s lava field shooing away the giant herd of sheep and goats that invaded our campsite one night making friends with nearly everyone in the tiny town of lun bekah and i certainly did not foresee the adventures mongolia had in store for us we still have fifteen days left to explore this beautiful country and i am so excited to see what magical moments are right around the corner share this tweet email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on tumblr like loading posted in uncategorized 18 replies forty eight hours in ulaanbaatar posted on april 19 2018 by bribikes 23 two mornings ago bekah and i flew in to the chinggis khaan international airport and disembarked breathing in the crisp dry air our visit in mongolia s capital city has been a whirlwind since then involving a staggering amount of jet lag inordinate amounts of sleep to ease the aforementioned jet lag the assembly of the bicycles a trip to several stores to collect the last of our supplies eating the best korean food i ve ever had and planning and downloading the rest of our proposed route these events have all been brightened by friendly and helpful people even when there was a language barrier they were willing to go out of their way to help us out obviously i can t draw any sort of conclusions from the meager amount of time we have spent here but so far my experience in this city of 1 3 million people has been overwhelmingly positive the staff at the hostel cautioned us about the traffic mentioning that mongolian drivers are unused to dealing with bicycles but so far they seem completely fine to me but the time has come to head out of this unique city and into the mongolian countryside and what a countryside it is with the exception of several remote islands mongolia is the least densely populated country in the world this fills me with varying emotions on the one hand i am so thrilled to explore the vast expanse this country has to offer but on the other hand i keep questioning myself do i really have what it takes to be here and have i really planned enough for this crazy adventure i guess it is time to find out you can find a link to our tentative route on the mongolia tour page share this tweet email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on tumblr like loading posted in bike ride mongolia uncategorized tagged bicycle biking cycling food korea mongolia 23 replies cycling adventures in beautiful brazil posted on april 11 2018 by bribikes 31 when i left the united states on january 18th i had a plan a simple plan buy a bike in ji parana buy a turbo trainer so that i could use the bike effectively in a small village take the bike and trainer to the village buying a bike was simple thank you streetbike finding any sort of bike trainer however proved to be impossible my sister and i had visited every bicycle shop in ji parana and they had all told us they had no turbo trainers but the last bike shop palace of bicycles held out a beacon of hope they did not have a turbo trainer but they were sure one of the other shops did so the super helpful lady at palace of bicycles picked up the phone to call the other bicycle shop she had a bit of trouble convincing the folks at the shop that they did indeed have a trainer but with her persuasion they decided to take a look around sure enough they soon found it hanging on the wall in plain sight i was in business at last once we made it out of the city over six hours of bumpy red dirt roads and across a river we made it to the village and to my sister s small thatched roofed home i set up my bike on the hard dirt floor and then it was time to ride i had never ridden a bike on a trainer before i had certainly never ridden a bike in such humid heat before let me tell you that this distinct combo of bike trainer and humid heat produces an amount of sweat that is extremely overwhelming and absolutely disgusting i had rivers of sweat running down my arms and dripping merrily onto the dry dirt floor dabbing the sweat away with a towel helped temporarily but once a few seconds passed my arms became the rio de sweat once more as i kept riding the trainer every day i soon grew accustomed to my new cycling aka sweating regimen i was quite pleased with my bike trainer setup but the children in the village were not only pleased by my shiny red and black bicycle they were enthralled all of them took at least one turn pushing the pedals two of the girls however made it part of their daily routine to gleefully ride my little bikey and once they discovered that three girls could ride on the bike all at the same time they realized my bike was way cooler then i was is there anything more joyful then three little friends giggling on a bike i had to leave the jungle and my newfound friends far too soon but my brazilian bicycle adventures were far from over there were many more memories to make in the last ten days while i was in ji parana in ji parana i rode my bike for real without the turbo trainer for the first time in ten weeks i felt so giddy to be riding down a road with beautiful fields on both sides and with the wind the glorious wind in my face the traffic on the road was light and the cars gave me a respectful berth but at the very end of my ride something happened that shook me to my core i saw a dog i thought the dog hadn t seen me so i kept riding past unperturbed somehow that single dog multiplied suddenly into a pack of three dogs all lean and fast i sprinted with all my might with my vulnerable legs only inches away from a dog s leering teeth foolishly i had provided myself with no protection for such a scenario even my water bottle was tucked into the bag on my back i screamed no at the top of my voice but the dogs didn t even flinch there was no way out but through i went for it accelerating like my life depended on it my life didn t depend on it of course but my left leg sure did the triumph of leaving a pack of athletic dogs in the dust was soon mine and once i could breathe again i looked up to see three guys leaning on their motorcycles laughing at me what to me had been a narrow escape and glorious victory had been to them the unexpected sight of a screaming girl weaving her way amongst three canines feeling that my version of the event was more justified i plastered on a huge smile that hopefully said i was totally in control of the situation and bested those fierce beasts as i passed them by on the rest of the ride i berated myself free roaming dogs in brazil aren t aggressive they just like to chase things if i had slowed down to a boring pace when i first saw that dog my legs would not have been put in such peril lesson learned i decided to continue riding the same route in the days to come to make sure i got over my fear and could put my new plan into action and it was on that very same road that i met a group of cyclists out for a ride i couldn t help myself i had to go talk to them they were very friendly and although i could barely communicate with them camaraderie among cyclists crosses language barriers and we had a great ride together i even tried to tell my dog story to one of them in very very broken portuguese one of the cyclists did speak english and he told me of his travels which have taken him all over even to new york city it was a wonderful experience and i even got invited to come back and ride again sometime two of the group cyclist s photos are courtesy of salles who shared them with me what made my time cycling in brazil really special were all the rides my sister and i went on together most of them were shorter rides running errands all over ji parana but on two occasions we left the city behind and enjoyed a quieter more rural road i might have even been lulled into thinking we were back in lewis county together if it weren t for the tropical trees and pairs of macaws flying overhead as i leave brazil i bid a sorrowful goodbye to this beautiful country and it s wonderful friendly people but most of all to my dear sister it is hard to be excited about returning to the united states even though a bike adventure more thrilling then i ever dreamed is right around the corner it s time for me and a friend to go on a bike tour it s time for mongolia share this tweet email a link to a friend opens in new window email share on tumblr like loading posted in bike ride uncategorized tagged bicycling biking brazil cows cycling fitness 31 replies why i quit winter cycling posted on april 6 2018 by bribikes 24 anyone who knows me well has reached the conclusion that when it comes to winter in general and winter cycling specifically i am a bit crazy i love winter i couldn t imagine not enjoying the sparkling jewels littering the sun lit snowy fields the pure achingly frigid air that fills the lungs or the delightful snowflakes that fall so gently i couldn t dream of spending the winter months anywhere other than lewis county plowing my mountain bike though snow drifts to my heart s content i couldn t fathom anything that could draw me away from the all encompassing season of winter away from the cold the ice the wind and the snow but a single phone call turned out to be so significant that i happily abandoned my glistening snowy fields on january 18th with scarcely a second thought you see last summer during a skype call my sister invited me to spend a few months living with her due to certain circumstances in her life it would be beneficial to have another person come and stay with her for awhile and she knew that i wanted to experience the world she lives in my sister born and raised in the frigid northeastern united states is now a missionary in the amazon rainforest of brazil i knew that by accepting her invitation i was making a trade giving up the final months of white winter snow in exchange for the hot humid rainy and green jungle of brazil but to be honest i had no concept of how brilliantly and aggressively green a rainforest truly is plants grow in the rainforest with astounding speed the fertile soil of the amazon rainforest the hot humid climate and endless supply of rain combine forces to ensure rapid growth giant corn stalks in the jungle gardens sugar cane stalks that tower over my head they were planted only a handful of months ago during my jungle visit i ve been keeping my eye on a banana plant with two tiny offshoots emerging from its base banana plants grow to astonishing heights which makes my mind classify them as trees although technically they are giant perennial herbs offshoots continue the lifecycle of the banana tree as the main stalk dies the new shoots take over every so often while i was washing dishes under the mango tree i would happen to glance past a few hens scratching in the dirt and maybe a roaming dog or two to see those two little tendrils stretch their paper thin fronds toward the warm sun over the course of the past ten weeks i have see this pair of banana shoots grow and grow and grow some more by the time i left the village this tuesday those two offshoots that once were barely peeking out the soil have grown strong and tall with leaves reaching past my head jun...