Ulaanbaatar: the journey begins before the first track
Before the first motorcycle starts, the tour is already underway. After arriving at the airport, the transfer to the hotel and a first evening in Ulaanbaatar, the next day brings the official briefing: motorcycles, route, luggage, safety, pace. Riders without prior enduro experience in Mongolia get the essentials explained – and those with experience learn what makes this country different.
Then comes the morning of day one. Motorcycles are ready. The group assembles. And the Gobi is still a long way away.
Out of the city: the first kilometres on tarmac
The first riding day starts on asphalt. Leaving Ulaanbaatar takes the group through the southern outskirts of the capital. The road is wide, traffic is normal, speed is low. This is intentional: the group comes together, everyone gets comfortable on the motorcycle, luggage balance is checked.
After roughly an hour on tarmac the first transition comes: the surface deteriorates, the road narrows, the first gravel sections appear. For many this is the moment the Mongolia tour actually begins.
Gravel, sand and the first vastness: the Gobi announces itself
What follows is a gradual shift into the real landscape of the country. The tracks become broader and simultaneously less defined. No road markings, no kerbs, no crash barriers – only gravel traces dissolving into the plain. Steppe grass on both sides, the horizon retreating, the air growing drier.
First sand sections appear – brief but telling about what is to come. The motorcycle behaves differently than on solid ground: the front wheel searches, the rear wheel pushes. Riding more loosely makes it easier.
Baga Gazriin Chuluu: the first camp
The destination of day one is the area around Baga Gazriin Chuluu – a granite rock formation rising out of the southern steppe from seemingly nowhere. Massive, weathered blocks surrounded by dry grassland. The first ger camp of the tour is set up here.
What waits after the first riding day: a warm dinner, tea, a bed in a traditional Mongolian ger. Not luxury, but exactly the right thing after a day in the saddle. The group sits together, sharing first impressions – and most realise the same thing by that evening: Mongolia looks different from the track than it does in photographs.
What the first day teaches
Day one is not a test of endurance. It is an introduction: to the motorcycle, to the surfaces, to the group's pace, to the scale of the landscape. Sitting at Baga Gazriin Chuluu in the silence of the evening, it quickly becomes clear why riders fly in from Europe specifically for this tour.
