Exceeded all expectations!
My mountain bike trip to Khangai Mountains with Mongolian Expeditions in July 2017 was an outstanding experience from start to finish. Batsuren responded quickly to all my questions by email leading up to the trip, helped with my visa and extra accommodation needs. Once in Ulaanbataar, N.K., our guide, showed us around town and then led our cycling trip. He is a highly motivated and professional guide, very knowledgeable about his land and cultural, and also has an excellent sense of humour. The rest of the team were equally fantastic. Mende, our driver, got the van through some pretty rough passes and always found excellent camping locations along the way. Lkhagva, our chef, managed to create a feast out of nowhere every time we stopped to eat and despite the heavy outlay of calories on this trip, we ate plenty!! Chuka, our mechanic, encouraged me over some rough and steep climbs, kept our bikes clean oiled and in tip top shape, and is a man of few words. He was an excellent person to cycle along beside, and is always able to pick a path through the roughest terrain. At each nightly camp spot, they worked like a well oiled machine, setting up camp and getting food in our stomachs with practiced efficiency. In the morning, they equally efficiently got everything back in the van. The trip itself was beautiful beyond words. We spent several days see little human habitation except local nomads, every valley was different and there was a constant abundance of animals - horses, yaks, goats, sheep, ground squirrels being the most prominent. I found the first few days very challenging- I'm not used to cycling at that sort of altitude, the trails were very rough and we had a day of freezing, driving rain. As I rode into the week and acclimatised, every day was amazing, the cycling a pleasure and by the last days, I didn't want it to end. I cannot recommend this trip highly enough for anyone with some solid mountain bike skills and a sense of adventure. HINT - pack a range of layering clothes for on and off the bike and a REALLY warm sleeping bag. Overnights in the mountains were very cold and on rainy days, it was also colder than I expected. But, on sunny days it was beautiful and warm.
