Uncategorized

Ellen is right at the Russian/inner Mongolian border right now. She’s been there for 2 nights already due to a bout with food poisoning. She ate some bad cold noodles for lunch yesterday and is only now starting to feel better. So she’s going to stay one more night and is going to leave in the morning.

The Inner Mongolian town where is is (I forget the name, sorry) is where Russians come to buy products to sell in Russia. So, if you aren’t Han looking, then you’ll get greeted in Russian, which has happened to Ellen numerous times. There are a tremendous amount of bugs up there and she says that the sun is humongous at that latitude. Yesterday she told me she saw the most beautiful sunset of her life. After sunset, there’s still light for an hour, due to the sun still radiating. Oh yeah, Ellen passed the 4,000 km mark a few days ago. Go Ellen!

Ellen is very near the Russian border being attacked by horse flies the size of her pinky toe and being stun by bees. Don’t worry though, she’s a trooper even though she has 20 bee stings. Even while going 25 kmh, there were 10 bees hanging onto the panniers. She says that she’s persevering right now, but hates everything with wings at this moment.

Ellen sent me a text with the below

300 kms from the Russian border at 扎兰屯。 I saw a baby goat walking along a mud fence. Got a Photo. It was weird that it was up 5 feet climbing on the fence.

Climbing a mountain all day, a very slow 80 km – but I expected this as China uses mountains to separate Mongolia from the rest of the folks. It’s a pity because in Inner Mongolia it’s cleaner and the people are helpful yet mind their own business – if you’ve lived in China you know what I mean by not bothering you. Also, I enjoy going up the mountains because there are less people, communities, and there is always a beautiful view – and the ride down is pretty awesome.

Beginning to sleep more than 5 hours. Got roughly 9 last night minus the waking up confused “where am I?” and sweating.

So tired of the food selection. Everything is either loaded with sugar, swimming in oil, or deep fried. God, all I want is a salad with blue cheese, cranberries, and walnuts – and a Dr. Pepper Big Gulp with extra ice. Lots of ice. Ice for days.

The sun rises very early in the north of China. Ellen says that sunrise starts at 3 am and has been setting lately at around 8. She usually starts riding around 4-5 am, stops when she can no longer see her shadow and takes a break for lunch and a nap under a tree or somewhere else suitable. Then continues on to her destination, often not arriving until just after sunset. This does not leave a lot of time for sleeping at night, after you budget in the time it takes to look for a place to sleep and finding something to eat. But last night she successfully got 7.5 hours of sleep, which is was really excited about. She’s taking it easy in Chichihar until Sunday, got a hotel room with only a small window (little light to come into the room, which is a plus for Ellen), and is eating some junk food. Ed is right, Ellen does deserve some downtime.

Prior to getting to Chichihar, Ellen says that just before the sun started to set, there were dragon flys everywhere. It was the most she’s ever seen. But the at dusk, the dragon flys were replaced by mosquitoes. Ellen stopped for a second to drink some water and the next thing she knew, there were 20 mosquitoes on her shirt. She proceeded to ride fast the rest of the way to Chichihar to keep the bugs off.

For those who don’t know, Ellen just had a birthday. When I asked her if she was going to take it easy that day, she said “No, I’m riding. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” That’s Ellen for you.

She rode about 90 kms today in the blazing hot heat of Inner Mongolia. She said the heat was brutal, but thankfully the road was flat as a pancake and there was a bit of a tailwind. She is now in Song Yuan.

Ellen says that the people of ChiFeng are wonderful. Everyone has been more than willing to help her from telling her where get the best things to eat, to helping her adjust her derailleur. Everyone should stop by the Giant store in ChiFeng.

After logging in a grueling day of 225 kms through the mountains and the rain, Ellen is taking 2 days rest in Chi Feng, Inner Mongolia.

Big thank you to all the sponsors for help making this happen! Soma, Mountain Hardware, Nikon, Swerve, Roll:, Chian’s Sprocket, SimpleMap, Wren, and to all the individuals as well. You guys are all awesome.

Ellen Says:
“I’ve conquered China’s natural line of defense. Been riding with Lao Jiang who is from Inner Mongolia for the past 2 days – through the rain and northwestern mountains. Lao Zhang doesn’t speak a word of English and has a very thick Beijing accent. Now in Chengde.”

Ellen met Lao Zhang while climbing up a torturous climb. What made it worse was that she felt her chain “slipping.” So she started walking her bike because something was wrong. all of a sudden, a man on a mountain bike with plastic bags bungeed to the rear rack is riding besides her. He motions for her to ride with him and Ellen does. But 5 minutes later, Ellen’s chain snaps! Ellen and Lao Zhang spends the next 15 minutes fixing her bike in the rain and getting it in working condition. Ellen forgot to bring a chain breaker, so it was very serendipitous that Lao Zhang came when he did.

“Lao Zhang was my little Buddha for 3-4 days.  We were also riding in the rain for 2 of those days.”