It’s been four years since I left my motorcycle in Mongolia. What did happen, you may wonder? Why took you so long? In July 2019 I entered the country alongside Max, a German rider, and drove offroad for about two thousand kilometers to reach the capital. I had already changed the rear shock in Novosibirsk when I started the second leg of this adventure. However, the factory was producing these shocks wrong, and, as far as I know, some parts weren’t positioned correctly inside.

It worked great for the first seven thousand kilometers, up to Urengoy’s polar circle and back. However, I rode most of it over asphalt and a little over concrete blocks on permafrost. In short, on flat surfaces. As soon as I entered Mongolia there was no more road, just some tiny bits of asphalt now and then. I wasn’t driving fast because my motorcycle wasn’t meant for this terrain, but the rear shock didn’t last long. It broke halfway to the capital, in the middle of the Mongolian steppe.

Max took my luggage and, thanks to him, I made it to the capital. In the end, he also had some problems with his motorcycle. He broke his front shock the second day we were in Mongolia. Anyway, thanks to a friend of his also named Max, I received a replacement in no time. Instead of sending it to Mongolia, the factory sent it to Germany so Max could include it in his luggage before taking a plane to meet Max at the capital.

My happy state of mind lasted less than a day.

When I got the spare part, Koji helped me install it and I was on the road again. I went to visit Genghis Khan’s memorial and continued south to Gobi. There is a national park right after Dalanzadgad and that was the death sentence for the rear shock, just about seven hundred kilometers after being installed.

There was no chance I could get another part in time. My visa was running short. I left the motorcycle at Koji’s hoping to return in early March 2020, but COVID-19 had other plans. When they announced the pandemic, Mongolia went into full shutdown mode until mid-2023, preventing anyone from traveling back to the country.

During the summer of 2023, I learned that Mongolia had opened its borders and that I didn’t require a visa to enter until December 2025.

And that’s how we’ve come to this point.

I woke up at 5:30 AM to catch my flight at 7:10 AM. I live near the airport, so it is quite a short trip. As soon as I looked at my phone, I saw an alert from the airline saying that cabin bags could be checked in for free due to the high occupancy of the flight. Without hesitation, I wrapped the carry-on bag so it could be checked in. It was more convenient to forget about it rather than carry it around the airport.

I arrived at the airport with just enough time. Because I wrapped my carry-on bag so quickly, I forgot to take out the passport and had to restart the packing process. I spent the entire weekend weighing the luggage to ensure it didn’t exceed the limit and incur extra costs. The suitcase weighed 22.5 kg and the carry-on 7 kg. The flight wasn’t direct and had a 4.5-hour layover in Frankfurt. I spent most of that time sitting in the airport’s main lobby with all my luggage.

The connecting flight was better.

I couldn’t sleep during the 3 hours of the first flight. Probably, I must have been the only one. However, the second flight had more spacious seats, headrests with flaps, an in-built seat TV, an electric plug, and a welcome pack. I sat just in front of the bathrooms, and the plane was half empty. As soon as I stretched my legs out and reclined the seat, the first hour and a half flew by. By the time I opened my eyes, they were already serving lunch. I ate it despite having already eaten at Frankfurt’s airport. The next meal offered would be breakfast shortly before landing. Unfortunately, the TVs only displayed flight information and had no movies or series. I managed to sleep for about half of the second flight.

After collecting my bags, I withdrew some money. I had to try several times before succeeding and took a taxi to Koji’s house. I couldn’t help but remember the local trickery when paying the taxi fare because the final price was higher than the one agreed at the airport.

It’s 7:00 AM, and after four long years, I’m back in Mongolia.

Koji greeted me with breakfast after showing me the room I was going to use. It’s the same I shared with Max last time we were here. After breakfast and catching up, instead of going to sleep, Koji and I went to do an overall check on the bike. She had been waiting for me all this time inside the garage and got full of dust.

Before installing the new battery and changing the engine oil, I washed her a little to remove all the thick remains of dirt that she still had since I left her there. After I broke the rear shock near the Gobi desert, I traveled 200 km under the rain. I arrived at night and spent several days in bed because I got sick on the way. In short, I forgot to clean her up after that. In any case, why would I? I was supposed to return the following year.

I removed the rear fender and washed everything with Koji’s water-pressure gun. It was already 11:00 in the morning when I left everything to dry and went for a nap that lasted until 5:00 in the afternoon. I was tired. We got back to work on the bike in the afternoon, putting it back together to test the battery. Out of curiosity, the battery Koji supplied me is Chinese, and the poles’ position is inverted.

For some reason, the bike won’t start.

After checking several things, we thought the problem was the starter relay and left the problem-solving for the next day. Koji woke up with the idea of using the starter relay of a Kawasaki 250 that he has in the garage. Due to jet lag, I fell asleep again and got up at 11:00 in the morning.

Changing the relay did not give any results. After several tests, we saw that the clutch switch was cut. At that moment I remembered that, indeed, it was bypassed years ago. Koji checked the kickstand sensor, being the only other thing that could cut off the signal. We already knew that it wasn’t the clutch or the neutral switch.

Once the kickstand was raised, the motorcycle started.

While having it running, I remembered that the switch was underwater for several hours four years ago when we crossed a flooded area with Max. It’s possible that it got rusted over time. Koji showed me a video in which he started the motorcycle four months ago. It’s funny that she doesn’t now. The magic of rust. We began to prepare the motorcycle to change the oil after leaving it on for a while, and Hagen, a German traveling by motorcycle, arrived.

He is traveling with Julia, a Swiss biker he found at the Kazakh border having trouble entering Russia due to changing requirements. They have been resting in Ulaanbaatar for a few days and Hagen came to repair the chain guard and do an engine oil change. His Teneré 700 takes 1 L of oil while mine takes 5 L. While Koji was at it, we talked a little about our trips. He came through Armenia and I asked him how the situation is around there. As of today, you can’t enter with vehicles and the country is still on hold. We will see in a few months what this adventure offers.

Hagen left and we had lunch before getting back to work. In between, Koji showed me the new facilities and upgrades he had made on his property. Once the bike was ready, I took a test ride to fill up and get more money.

The first ride was hard, even without luggage.

It has been four years since the last time I rode this motorcycle. In addition, she has a car wheel on the back. Due to its special dimensions, it makes it difficult to get one in a short period in this part of the world. I must get used to it. While out on the road, I bought some food to be prepared if I had to spend the night in the wild.