I've just came up with the idea of riding from Beijing to Ulaan Bataar. Can anyone tell me whether roads exist throughout the route? Know any good web-sites that could give me more information? Thanks a lot.

willie

Believe it or not, I've been to Ulan Bator, in 1990. Unless things have changed drastically, there are only really train routes between the north and south of the country. There aren't even real roads in the north for the most part.

However, if you want to see one of the wildest places in the world, go to Mongolia. There are really people on horseback in flowing robes. I had the opportunity to spend the night in a Yurt by a fire listening to chanting in Buryat and Mongol. Beware of Yak's milk tea, though. Nothing like a little yak butter, milk, blood, tea and salt to turn you green.

There is a road, however, going from UB to Ulan-Ude in the Buryat Republic in Russia, then on to Irkutsk, skirting Lake Baykal. This country side is heartstopping.

Hi. You have come to the right channel for advice. Maybe I can help you here. I came across this link page that will direct you to 50 cycling masters webpage. They should have information for the country you are planning to visit

Roughstuff's World Bicycle Links Page
https://www.cyclingscholar.com/bikelinks.html

if your problem cannot be solved, please let me know. I will try to help you again. Good luck

Hi,
I had cycled in Mongolia for two months back in 1996, and since then we collect all kinds of information about cycling in Mongolia. We also have good quality topographic maps.
There's a "main track" leading from the Chinese border to UB, and it has quite some traffic. The more interesting rides are away from that main track. So if you have enough time, I highly recommend that you spend some time for side tracks.

For information you can check out our website:
Mountainbike Tour Mongolia
happy planning,

Thanks a lot for the helpful and useful information. Your help will be instrumental in bringing my ambition to reality. Thank you again/ Vielen Dank!

Willie

p.s. i'm still checking this thread regularly, so anyone else that can offer their 2 cents, i'd be grateful.

I met a couple of dutch ladies who rode from netherlands to china back in 97

they told me that there are loads of places to stay out there - small, very cheap guest houses line the roads everywhere, for truck drivers to stay in. in any small town they'll cook you food (they pretend not to want money, but you must play along with this and give it to them at the last minute)

I dont know if this wld be the same in the north but would guess you wont have any problem

one thing I heard abt mongolia from someone else was that they could not believe he didnt know how to ride a horse - they were falling over laughing about this

Hi,
you are right, traveling in Mongolia, you will find many possibilities to stay. Along the main tracks, there are "truck stops", and in the more remote regions you will be readily invited by locals. You will be offered food, and they will cook for you.

Although this sounds really great, you should be aware that the Mongolian food is very different from what we are used to, involving a lot of meat and milk products, few carbohydrates, and they drink fermented horse milk as their favorite drink.
It takes a while to get used to (we both were sick a couple of times during our trip), and from my own experience I found too little carbohydrate in their meals to allow my body to recover from a hard day cycling.
If you are invited, the family will be very grateful if you took their pictures with a poaroid camera. We actually carried one only for these occasions, and it was worth the extra weight.