Now that Dozer had petrol 🙂 I woke up to another gorgeous sunny day and immediate hoped on Dozer and headed out to explore Mongolia. This was the day I was waiting for, getting out in the hills alone on my bike. The worst side effect of Dizzy seizing is the fact that it has damaged my confidence for riding alone. I crave and value the moments I have alone on the bike especially here in Mongolia because it is so sparsely populated. However saying that you do see people just few and far between, so I know in the long run you are ok and someone will come along. However even knowing this I still ride along with that little voice that says “something could go wrong and you are all alone” uugghh I hate this voice, and never had it when I was riding alone before Dizzy seized. So I ignore it and push my fears and concerns aside and head off ALONE.

What a great day. Ever since I started riding Dozer I have been comfortable on this bike on road and off-road, I never thought I would be so comfortable riding a 650 off-road. Bearing in mind Mongolia is easy off road, nothing like trail riding in Spain. Now don’t get me wrong I am no expert but I can off-road as long as I can just go at my own pace, the main thing is I LOVE it. Dozer is also lighter than Dizzy but not as light as the WR250 I ride in Spain. But without the cumbersome panniers or any luggage it was a please to take him on the trails, he is also a very easy bike to ride. So we had a fantastic day riding in the hills around Karakorum, and I loved the alone time I had sitting on the hills and just looking at Mongolia. This countryside has really touched my heart. I cannot explain it, the Swiss Alps are for sure the most beautiful countryside I have ever seen, African bush veld stirs something deep down in soul, but Mongolia has really touched me. Although I like the country and the people what I mean is the landscape when I look at it my heart just feels bigger. As I said before I am the least eloquent person and can never find the words to describe how I feel so this is the best I can do and it does not do this country justice.

After buzzing around the hills I popped back into town to see two little shrines I had not seen before and pick up a few things. Then I headed back to the ger camp. One can cut across a large plain from the town to the camp which I did and just a few hundred meters from the camp Dozer started spitting and spluttering…oh crap what now, he can’t be out of petrol I can do min 350km to a tank and have only done 233 today. I crawl the last few meters and park him outside my ger look down and see fuel pouring out the carburettor. I jumped off and immediately switch the fuel off, probably only saving the last litre. Inspecting the carburettor I see the drain screw is missing double crap. Now what, this very specific part and not one I can find here in this little village and I am 375km form Ulaanbaatar. I realise how fortunate I am that this happened just outside the camp.

So I start walking the 300metres across the plain trying to follow the fuel trail in on the dirt tracks. Trying to follow a trial of fuel that evaporates is not that easy but one can sort of see where the fuel fell as the ground is a little wet and oily. I got back to what I thought was the start of the fuel spilling out right near the start of the plain and walked that 300m four times, but could not find the screw, it really was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. There is nothing I can do but truck Dozer back to Ulaanbaatar and put him on the plane to Bangkok and try order the right part from a Suzuki dealer in the hope that it will be at the hotel in Bangkok when I get there. Since I arrive in Bangkok late at night I booked a hotel right by the airport so that the next day I can fetch Dozer from customs and just get the hell out of the city which I am not interested in staying in. If all goes well the carbonator drain screw, 2 x CR10E spark plugs and a new battery will be waiting for me and Dozer will be a up and running and ready to face SE Asia in no time.

I am in luck, the ger camp have a truck going to Ulanbataar tomorrow taking some gers and they can take my bike and me. So sadly I won’t be riding and it will be a very slow journey on a truck over these pot holed roads compare dot a bike. But then again I haven’t travelled in a Mongolian truck before so a new experience and it’s only 375k