Monday, December 22, 2008

“Bike 4 a cause 2008”

Traveling from Germany to China by Land - Crossing Mongolia by Bike

BugoyBikers are planning there next trip. Biking through Mongolia for a cause – a Philipino cause. The idea is to bike trough Mongolia and raise money for the Cebu based Bike4U Bike Foundation by selling all the kilometers they are gonna to cycle (estimated 1200 km).

Expedition
The idea is to travel from Germany to Beijing without flying. Highlights of the trip will be:
• TransSiberian Railway from Moskow, Russia to Irkuzk, Russia
• crossing Mongolia by Bike (around 1200 km).

Mongolia – land of the nomads
This expedition will start in Germany, in the hometown of “BugoyBiker” Jens Funk. Jens will travel all the way to the border of Russia/Mongolia without flying. Using the famous TransSiberianExpress and a ferry will bring him via Luebeck (Germany) – St. Pertersburg (Russia) – Moskow (Russia) to Irkusk (Russia).
In Irkusk (Russia) Jens will get off the train and starts his biking journey. Passing Lake Baikal (deepest Lake of the world) will bring him to the Mongolian border (around 200 km).
Jens will cross whole Mongolia by bike. Estimated travel time will be 3-4 weeks for a stretch of 1200 km. Reaching the Chinese border Jens will continue with the TransSiberian Express to Beijing. Jens will take care of all his expenses during the trip.

Bike 4 a cause
Jens will sell all his kilometers he cycles via the internet. The expected amount of money to be raised for the Cebu based bike foundation BIKE4U.org will be around 60000PHP.

Estimated Travel Itinerary:

1. Frankfurt (Germany) – Luebeck (Germany) 1 day Train
2. Luebeck - St. Petersburg (Russia) 8 days Ferry
St Petersburg (Russia) – Moskow (Russia) 8 days local train
3. Moskow (Russia) – Irkusk (Russia) 6 days TransSiberianExpress
4. Irkusk (Russia )– Mongolian border 6 days Bicycle
Crossing Mongolia 24 days Bicycle
5. Border (Mongolia/China) – Bejing 8 days TransSiberianExpress

Description of the journey

The challenge of the trip will be crossing Mongolia. Even though there will be no serious mountains to cross (like in my Pakistan-China Expedition) the remoteness of Mongolia will be the challenge. Besides the capital Ulan Bataar, which lies exactly in the middle of Mongolia there will be no mayor towns for food and accommodation. That means both stretches of 600 km (from the Russian/Mongolian border to UlanBataar and from UlanBataar to the Mongolian/Chinese Border) Jens will have to bring all his food, water, spare parts for the bike and all his belongings on his bike and find his way through Mongolia. The roads are in quite bad condition so that it will be a challenge to do all that by bike. Before all that, Jens will travel via the world famous Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Irkutsk. This 6-7 day train ride through Siberia is expected to be another highlight on the trip. This stretch he might use for relaxing his legs and get ready for his expedition to cross Mongolia, the land of the nomads .