Mongolia is a country of a people as much as it seems a country of horses and sheep and camels. And sand. Lots and lots of sand. Team USA and Team AusAmerica set out ahead of the pack on the first day of GS Trophy, riding into what would become a 13-hour sand fest with two extremely challenging special tests along the way. After cranking through three hours of sandy desert the teams rolled up on the first test, a difficult trials-style ribbons course with elevation and lots of sand. The USA Men’s team cleaned this test, placing first overall, while the girls from AusAmerica weren’t as well-practiced.

After many more hours of animal sightings and sand the participants ended their incredibly long day with a GPS challenge on foot, which might sound easy until you hear they had to wear their enduro boots and moto pants as they ran around the hot, hilly desertscape. The girls did very well at the competition, and our guys, not so much, but at the end of the day the USA men’s team had earned enough points to place very high in the overall standings. We are still awaiting final calculations at 11 p.m. here at the nights camp. Where is the camp? The journalists at my table just had a conversation about that subject and we decided we have no idea, only that we’re somewhere in Mongolia… and that’s just fine!

GS Trophy 2018 Day 1 Overall Standings:

1 USA 33 points
2 Argentina 32
2 Korea 32
4 China 26
4 Latin America 26
4 South Africa 26
4 Germany 26
8 Russia 24
9 France 21
10 Japan 20
11 UK 17
12 India 16
13 Australia 13
13 Canada 13
13 Mexico 13
16 Ausamerica (female team) 12
17 Southeast Asia 11
18 Euafrica (female team) 3

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.