The Simple Life

It's day 9! I didn’t sleep much that night, partly due to the snoring in the ger, partly because I knew this adventure was soon going to be over. During the race, all I had to worry about was getting water, food, a good horse and making it to the next station. There is something to say for ‘going back to basics’ like that. Nothing else matters and your other problems fade to the background. It’s simple but exhilirating and hard to explain to people who haven’t experienced something similar. You also get weirdly close to people if you live off-grid together for a little while. I had experienced this before in Wyoming, but the Derby was next level. I was going to miss seeing this group of riders and crew around every day. After so many people dropped out on day 7, we were back to being the ‘backpack’ of the race. After we’d leave a station, the crew would pack up and some would meet us again at the next station. We had our own medic meeting us at every station, which was very much needed. I swear Toby’s ‘buttcream’ is the only reason I made it through the race. My rash is still not fully gone.

The morning of Day 9 was cloudy and grey and I was half expecting we would finish this race the way we started: in the rain. It was also super windy so we bundled up and I got on my Vasti look-a-like. Unfortunately, he wasn’t as fast as Vasti but he did well. We crossed the floodplain towards the hills. The route led us to a village. Just before we got there, our horses had slowed down and seemed to get tired. Suddenly a herd of mares and foals ran out of the bushes and towards the town. I spurred my horse on and he was more than happy to follow them. With renewed energy, we cantered after the herd. It felt like such a special moment, running through those beautiful green hills, early in the morning, with a 'wild' herd.

We passed some of the crew vehicles in the village, they were trying to get gas but unfortunately this town had run out.. They pointed us towards a trail which led us through a stream, over the hills and to the next station. One of the things I was worried about before the race, was the dogs. Every family had one or multiple dogs that protected their livestock. If you rode too close to the gers, the dogs would run out after you. I was picturing crazy rabid dogs, foaming at the mouth, ready to tear you apart. In reality, they would just bark, trot up to us, follow for a few metres and then go back to their gers.

The herders at HS25 were passing the time with some mounted games when we got there. They would run their horses down a track, hang of the side of their mount, grab a rope from the ground and swing themselves back in the saddle, all at full speed. It was really impressive to watch and I was in awe of their riding skills. It truly seems like they were born on a horse. Esther and I got our horses vetted, grabbed something to eat and chose our rides for the next leg. We had left the clouds and rain behind in the valley and crossed the mountains through a beautiful pass. Esther got a grey and I rode a bay horse, both were tall, long legged horses that seemed eager to go. This was one of the smoothest stretches of the race. The valley we rode through was dotted with little blue flowers. We rode down the hills with a beautiful view of the plain in front of us, the sky was clear and we were making good time.

Once at the station, we were both eager to get another set of horses like this. We might even make it four stations today! Unfortunately it didn’t work out the way we had planned/hoped (does it ever?). I got a herder's horse, Esther got a bolter. As soon as she got on, her horse just took off. My little dark chestnut was fast but he couldn’t keep up. I saw Esther disappear into the distance and was preparing myself to ride this leg by myself. Thankfully she managed to bring him back to a trot after about 5 kilometres and I could catch up. Our horses weren’t very well matched, I rode a couple hundred metres behind her for the rest of this leg but at least she was still in sight. This was another really pretty stretch though. At one point I saw a large herd of what I assumed where cows on a hill right in front of us. Once we got closer, we realised they were actually camels, about fifty of them just stood there, watching us pass. We went through a mountain pass where, for the first time in over a week, we saw trees! The trail down the mountain was surrounded by wild flowers and I deliberately slowed down to take in the beautiful scenery. I was going to miss Mongolia!

Again, the last 7 kilometres were the hardest. We had to take a detour to get to the station so we wouldn’t have to cross so many hills. Both our horses had slowed down considerably at this point and we didn’t want to make it harder on them than we had to. My chafing was killing me and Esther had spent most of her energy trying to control her bolter. Thankfully, the medic vehicle drove up at that moment so we knew where to go. That gave us the last push we needed to make it. We were tired and once we got to the station, it took a while for Esther’s horse’s heartrate to go down. We had another 2,5 hours of riding time left but we decided we’d rather rest and ride the last two legs tomorrow, rather than rushing now. Mike rode into the station about half an hour later but he decided to go on to HS28. We spent the night at HS27 with Catherine, Katie, Francis and Tag. The family seemed happy to have us. They had two little girls who came up with all sorts of excuses to be in our ger. Tag and I ended up singing Bruno Mars’ songs with them (their version was in Mongolian). There was a beautiful full moon and we talked politics, a good night in Mongolia. After some problems with the woodstove and the whole ger getting filled with smoke we were finally ready for our last night on the steppe. Tomorrow we would reach the finish line!