Thank to the fantastic media team of the Mongolia Bike Challenge, we’re able to follow the race progress through pictures and race reports and results – very interesting to be on the “other side” of the fence for a change. 🙂
Stage 1: Downtown Ulaanbaatar to Geo Mandal Ger Camp
“The riders set off from outside the Bayangol Hotel in downtown Ulaan Bataar at 9am under brilliant blue skies and majestic clouds for the 16km the 120km opening stage of the Mongolia Bike Challenge 2016. Although there were no KOM points on today’s route, our participants had to surmount over 1900m of climbing.”
Our boys did well, with Martin reporting a slight stomach bug overnight. But Stage 1 went well he assured us, “The three of us rode together almost all day and at the 100km mark suddenly my legs kicked up another gear and Clayton and I thundered towards the finish. The scenery out here is breath-taking, just amazing and the cultural experience really special.” The team slept in the ger tent village last night, recovering, eating and hydrating for day two. In total there are 55 riders at the start and today’s second stage will bring 113km and a whopping 2,750m of elevation.
In the overall team standings, the Rocky Trail Racing team sits in fourth position out of eight participating teams in this classification. The gap to the leading team is 1:13:55 with five stages to go.
Individually, the boys had a good start as well:
- #71 Martin Wisata: 7th Master 1 category, 18th overall in 5:25:55 (+49:55min) >> average speed: 21.72km/h
- #47 Clayton Locke: 5th Master 2 cat, 19th overall in 5:25:58 (+49:58min) >> average speed: 21.72km/h
- #14 Michael Klemens: 6th Master 2 cat, 23rd overall in 5:31:38 (+55:38min)>> average speed: 21.35km/h
In the Elite, “Khan”, category, US racer Payson McElveen heads up the pack ahead of Crocodile Trophy podium getters Nicholas Pettina from Italy (+1 sec) and our Canadian mate, Cory Wallace (+1:02min).
Full stage 1 coverage can be found on the event website.
Elevation profile Stage 1
Photos courtesy of Mongolia Bike Challenge
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