CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
It goes by way of Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag, Gol Mod I and back through Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,900 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Gol Mod II lies in the open valleys of central Mongolia, and the first thing to know is that there is no road to it in the sense most riders mean. You reach it on tracks across the steppe, past herders' gers and grazing horses, and then the tombs appear: a field of low mounds and earthworks, and at its heart a huge square structure with a long ramp, the grave of a member of the Xiongnu elite.
Read the complete Gol Mod II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Gol Mod II is where the day begins. Next is Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag.
On the open grassland of north-central Mongolia, tall grey slabs of granite stand in lines, tilted slightly towards the sky, with strange carvings on their sides. These are deer stones, and the name comes from the flying deer with long antlers that are carved on them, stylised as streams of curving lines. They were raised by Bronze Age herders about three thousand years ago, probably as memorials to important men, and some stand three or four metres tall. Mongolia has well over a thousand, more than anywhere else in the world, and the best-known groups lie around the Khangai and the northern mountains, within the broader region of the Gol Mod sites that make up this part of the map.
Read the complete Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gol Mod I.
Gol Mod sits in the open grass country of central Mongolia, where the land rolls away in long folds beneath an enormous sky and the only landmarks are herders' white felt tents, gers, and the occasional lonely mountain. The place is known to archaeologists for its cemeteries of the Xiongnu, the nomadic confederation that dominated the steppe two thousand years ago and rivalled Han China, and the graves of their elite are found in valleys like this.
Read the complete Gol Mod I write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 152 km into the recorded legs you reach Gol Mod I. Next is back through Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag, late in the day. Next is Gol Mod II.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gol Mod II write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Gol Mod II. That is the ride.
Gol Mod II → Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag → Gol Mod I is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Gol Mod I → back through Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag is 112 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Deer Stone Monuments and Related Bronze Ag → Gol Mod II is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.