Eurasia #6 🇲🇳 Conquering the Steppe Route

All episodes are here. (Viewing in order of newest first is recommended.)

So far:
Started the journey across Eurasia from Vladivostok, Russia. In Ulaanbaatar, a Korean rider named Sunghwan joined as a companion.

Immediate goal:
Enter Europe

Short-term goal:
Traverse the Steppe Route and re-enter Russia from the border in western Mongolia

To head west through Mongolia and cross the border into Russia, there are two options: the 'Steppe Route' and the 'Wilderness Route'.

And for this trip, I chose the Steppe Route, which has long off-road sections.

Together with Sunghwan, a Korean rider on a V-Strom 650XT whom I met at the guesthouse, we depart from Ulaanbaatar after a 5-day stay.

Day 1: Ulaanbaatar to Karakorum, 360km

June 10, 2026. First, we escape the heavy traffic of Ulaanbaatar.

Drivers in Ulaanbaatar have poor manners, zero spirit of cooperation, and will cut you off without a turn signal if there is even the slightest gap.
They also use their horns to intimidate anyone they don't like, truly presenting the appearance of a developing nation.

Being tailgated, threatened, and cut off, it took over an hour to get through just 10km of city streets.

The road conditions after that were not very good, and paved roads similar to forest roads in Japan continued.

The scenery gradually became more Mongolian, and we entered a vast grassland area dotted with gers.

My partner, Song-hwan, seems to get hit by sleepiness at 2:00 PM, and when that happens, he lies down on his bike by the side of the road and takes a 10-minute nap. (He surprisingly doesn't fall off.)

Passersby give him looks that say 'What is this guy doing...' almost every day, but he doesn't notice it at all.

On this day, we stayed in a town called Karakorum (Kharkhorin).

It is a small, quiet country town now, but it was once the capital of the Mongol Empire and the center of the world 700 years ago.

Day 2: Karakorum to Tsetserleg City, 118 km

We departed after a quick sightseeing tour of Karakorum in the morning.

We pushed forward through unstable weather, getting caught in a rain shower.

Since the forecast predicted even worse weather in the afternoon, we decided to end our ride early that day.

Day 3: Tsetserleg City to Ikh-Uul, 314 km

Perhaps due to road construction, a 10 km dirt section appeared right after leaving Tsetserleg City.

After that, we continue to ride along the mountain steppe road.

Since there are few towns in this section, we took a lunch break at a roadside ger.

Once you enter a ger, there is basically only one choice: mutton bone noodle soup.

Along the way, beautiful scenery such as valleys and lakes appears one after another.

This is our first day camping in Mongolia.

In contrast to Russia, you can camp anywhere you like in Mongolia. (However, there is a lot of animal dung and many insects.)

As we were about to set up our tent, a nomad man came over on his motorcycle and guided us to a better spot, saying, "Come this way."
They are professionals at camping, so it is best to follow their advice.

Also, I do not recommend staying near lakes just because the scenery is nice.
Large swarms of mosquitoes appear there in the summer.

Day 4: Ikh-Uul to Songino, 233 km

It is another day of riding through the typical Mongolian steppe.

The temperature has been around 28°C for days now.
It is comfortable while riding, but the sun is very strong, and it feels quite hot during breaks.

Since there are no towns beyond Songino, we are staying here for the night, even though the distance covered today is short.

Day 5: Songino to Ulaangom, 346 km

Up until now, the asphalt has been full of potholes, but west of Songino, the road is relatively new pavement and as comfortable as a Japanese expressway.

The scenery is changing little by little; the steppe is decreasing, and it is becoming more like a wilderness.
Along with that, the number of nomads we see is also decreasing.

The lake just before Ulaangom was slightly salty.

The guesthouse in Ulaangom was a great find.

It has an attached cafe with delicious coffee (Mongolian coffee is usually just bad instant coffee), strong Wi-Fi (it's common to find guesthouses with no Wi-Fi at all), hot showers (it's common to find places where hot water doesn't come out or there's no shower at all), and the staff speaks English (few people speak English here).

Day 6: Staying in Ulaangom

1,370 km from Ulaanbaatar. Since I've been riding for five days straight, I'll make today a rest day.

Since there aren't really any tourist spots in town, I'll spend the day doing strength training.

Day 7 Ulaangom to Khovd 247km

This is the core of the steppe route.

Up until now, except for some construction zones, the roads were paved, but about 170km of the next 247km is unpaved.
I really want to finish this in one day.

At 9:00 AM, I lower the tire pressure by 10% from the standard value and depart from the guesthouse in Ulaangom.

As soon as I leave the urban area, the off-road section begins.

I carefully proceed at 20-25 km/h along a gravel road with washboards (corrugated road surface).

After traveling 20km, a river unexpectedly appeared.
The current is fast, and the water is knee-deep.

I couldn't find a detour, and it's a dead end.

After hesitating, thinking, 'Can I make it if I push through?' or 'No, if my bike dies here, my trip around the world is over,' I decided to turn back.

I have to find another way to get to Khovd.

It didn't show up on Google Maps, but fortunately, map apps like Geographica and Maps.me showed what looked like a road connecting to the main route from Ulaangom to Khovd, so I decided to bet on that.

I returned to Ulaangom and then headed back about 50km along the road I had come from toward Ulaanbaatar.

From there, I left the asphalt at a spot with a tattered, suspicious-looking sign and got onto the ruts formed in the grassland.

The road surface is mostly washboard, but I kept moving while aiming for the flat lines on the sides or in the gaps, making sure not to stray from the path indicated by the navigation.

When all is said and done,the easiest place to ride is on the grassI can maintain an average speed of about 40 km/h.
I can ride at an average speed of about 40 km/h.

However, I need to be careful not to run over large rocks or animal droppings hidden in the grass.

After about 15km, I encounteredanother river.Bad memories come flooding back.

If I can't cross here, I'll have to head back over 1,000km toward Ulaanbaatar and start over via the wilderness route. That is something I really want to avoid.

The water depth is about 30cm.
Resigned to the fact that "there's no choice but to go," I remove all the panniers.

Then, aiming for the shallowest line, I push through in first gear all at once.

It might look easy in the video, but the start was a sandy downhill slope, and the riverbed was hidden with loose, rolling stones, making it a difficult crossing to control the handlebars.

Note that this river is not on the map.
Apparently,on Mongolian off-road trails, rivers appear randomly after heavy rain,so whether or not you have to cross one seems to be a matter of luck.

After that, while struggling with the washboard road, I aim for Olgii, the only town at the midpoint of this section.

Just as I felt relieved to see the town, the road surface gradually became sandy.

I fell just 3km before the town of Olgii.
I got stuck in deep sand and lost control.

Because the footing was poor, I couldn't lift the bike up by myself.
If I hadn't been with Sun-hwan, I might have been finished.

It is 3:00 PM at this point.
I cannot afford to stay long if I want to finish the remaining 90km of off-road riding before sunset.

I give up on lunch (I have no appetite anyway since I'm in combat mode) and wash down an energy drink I bought at a shop before continuing.

25km out from the town of Olgii, I finally veered off the path indicated by the navigation system.

Following the tire tracks naturally leads me off the route.

Conversely, trying to follow the navigation leads me into areas where there are no signs of anyone having passed through.

Once it comes to this, it's just like a snowy mountain; I can only use others' tracks as a reference and must trust my compass and push forward.

The plains stretch out before me as far as the eye can see, but as long as I don't get the direction wrong, I will eventually merge back onto some kind of road.

That said, being left all alone in a world where there is nothing as far as the eye can see, to an outsider, I look like a castaway.

I ended up having to force the one or two cars that passed by every hour to stop, asking, 'Is Khovd this way?' just to keep moving forward.

20km left to the paved road. What awaited me was a furious sand road. It wouldn't let up its attack until the very end.

My concentration was at its limit due to the heat and fatigue.
I lost count of how many times I nearly fell.

It was a very grueling ordeal, but at 8:00 PM, I finally saw asphalt.

There was a police box at the end of the off-road section.
I slipped past the gate and finally set foot on the long-awaited paved road.

For some reason, they made me write down my name and phone number, but there were no particular repercussions.

170km of off-road in 8 hours.
Including the section I first turned back from, that makes 10 hours of riding 210km of dirt. I am battered and bruised.

Looking back, this core section consisted of

• unpleasant washboard roads: 50%

• slippery sand: 20%

• easy-to-ride grass: 30%

which means it was hardly an 'adventure road that is fun to ride'.

However, it was an adrenaline-pumping experience from start to finish, enough to be named a brain-juice-flowing route.

After that, while savoring the relief of asphalt, I headed toward the town of Khovd, 40km away.

9:00 PM. Arrived at the guesthouse just before sunset.
Since it was full, I ended up pitching my tent in the garden. (450 yen)

Day 8 Khovd to Olgii 225km

Although the fatigue from the previous day remains, this day is essentially just a formality.

In contrast to yesterday's adrenaline-fueled road, beautiful paved roads continue.

Kazakh people live in this area, making one feel that Mongolia is coming to an end.

On the final day of the steppe route, I arrived in Olgii without any difficulty.
(Although it shares the same name as the Olgii mentioned earlier, it is a different town.)

Beyond the completed steppe route lies a new frontier.

The town has mosques and Central Asian restaurants, giving a sense that the curtain is rising on a new stage.

Steppe Route Summary

• The road is paved from Ulaanbaatar to Ulaangom

• Do not take the route west of Ulaangom suggested by Google Maps or similar apps

• The section between Ulaangom and Khovd is 170km of off-road. Be careful when joining the main road. The surface is basically a washboard. There is a chance you will encounter rivers

• On a V-Strom 650XT (tires are more for on-road), I fell once in the sand. I had countless near-falls

• Unless you are an advanced off-road rider, I do not recommend traveling alone

Distance traveled: 1814km

Photos that couldn't be featured on note are posted on Instagram.
Please take a look.