Mission accomplished
Tenth and final stage. It’s nearly over: only 100 kilometres separate us from the last finish line of the Mongolia Bike Challenge 2010. The truth is that, besides the obvious joy, I feel a certain relief knowing the stages are coming to an end. We’re pretty battered by now…
The tenth stage starts out just as cold as the ninth; there’s been a ferocious frost. I pluck up my courage and set off in summer kit; after all, it’s bound to warm up soon… blimey, what won’t warm up for love nor money is my legs, I’ve been too clever by half. Up to kilometre 10 I have a pretty hard time. We cross a bridge that wasn’t on the original route and hurtle down the valley, right along the riverbank. The descent is very, very fast, rocky but wide and straight. I hit a top speed of 76km/h, which isn’t bad at all for a stony track.
We’ve had to change the route on the fly: the river is carrying more water than expected and we have to avoid the planned ford. The truth is that this first part of the route is stunning.
Although I’ve always said my only goal was to finish the race, last night I checked the standings and I’m less than 30 seconds behind an Italian. And I’ve started behind him, damn it…
Around kilometre 20 I join Stephan, a really nice German who had broken his bike the day before. One of his chainstays had snapped, but the new German MacGyver rigged up a fix with spare spokes and some cable ties and made it to the finish. What a star. Luckily for him, for the last stage the organisation lent him the Nevi that Heras had used, fully rigid and with 29-inch wheels. The guy was flying…
Further on we catch the Italian who was 30 seconds ahead of me overall. He didn’t last long at our pace (heh). We keep picking people up, an Austrian and a Mongolian. There’s not much to the stage, and we keep up a strong pace to the first feed station. I take off some clothes, get something down me and push on with my companions. The Mongolian drops back…
A few kilometres from the end Stephan gets a puncture. The Austrian doesn’t even look and carries on, a bit of a poor show after so many kilometres together. I stop with Stephan and, with great difficulty, manage to understand him. I don’t think I mentioned he speaks very nasally…
Long story short, he tells me he has no tube, no pump, no tyre levers… a total disaster. And of course I carry a 26-inch tube and he runs 29-inch. Oh well, I leave him all my kit and carry on, thinking that good old Stephan is going to have to finish the last stage in the broom wagon.
Kilometre 98, 2 to go. In the distance, up on a rise, I see the last finish line of the Mongolia Bike Challenge 2010. I can’t believe that what was a crazy idea in November 2009 and became a dream in March 2010 is turning into reality at this very moment. My legs no longer hurt, quite the opposite. I ride with ease, full of energy. The hand of Genghis Khan pushes me towards the finish line. On the short rise before the end, the friendly Sky journalist, camera in hand, asks me how I feel. I don’t remember what I said, but I do remember I answered in Spanish; it didn’t occur to me to speak to him in English. The whole Progetto Avventura staff, with the great Willy Mulonia at their head, are waiting for us beyond the finish arch, big and bright, announcing the end of such a long journey. I can’t describe the feeling of riding under the finish arch after so many days of racing.
I feel joy and sadness. Joy, because I’d fulfilled my dream. Sadness, because I had found happiness in chasing my dream. The end was nothing more than that, an end. A happy one, yes, but an end all the same.
After hugging loads of people I see Stephan in the distance. He reaches the finish and gives me a big hug, thanking me again and again for leaving him my tools. He tells me how, by pulling like a madman, he managed to get the 26-inch tube into the 29-inch wheel.
And that’s all. All that’s left is to cruise down to Karakorum for a ceremonial entry, outside the race, and visit Erdene Zuu, the oldest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia.
And nothing more. The next day we go back to Ulaanbaatar for the prize-giving and the finisher’s T-shirts, and 25th overall. It’s been 865km, 2,715 minutes on the bike, 195,480 pedal strokes, 407,250 heartbeats, 8,939 metres of climbing… an adventure and a whole bunch of friends.
It’s the end of the adventure, I’ve earned a rest.
I’ll leave you with this video that sums up this great adventure. You can see me, briefly, at 3:40!!