Djingis Khaan Mountainbike Competition

This is not Beijing! Grass as far as you can see. Fresh air, soft breeze. Great for biking (but of course it started to get more windy later the during the competition.
I'm all prepared! Rented bike, helmet, gloves, bike shorts with padding, small waist pack with water and energy bars.
The start was scened by these great female motorcycle police officers with small cute hats instead of cool helmets... (China)
The first day it started off really good. Lost of energy, no idea how hard it would and with some kind of "if I can't do it I quit, but it shouldn't be any problems" feeling. After a while I physicly realised that biking is a gadget sport, but more about that later.
The event company had planned two water stations per race (each race was ca 40-50km) but they decided to have four instead which was needed. The temperature was only 30, degrees so it wasn't terrible, but you sweated a lot.This is typical Inner Mongolia "houses" - yurks!We passed remote grasslands, animals, farmers, villages and more during the race. Very interesting to see how people live out here. The last day we started earlier in the morning to get back in time to our ordinary life. Here some bikers warming up in the morning fog. It was so nice to just sit down and listen to the silence. Something I never get in Beijing, especially now with AC all the time. When we came to finish the third day the whole village was on the streets to cheer us. Nordic Events, the organizers, said it was around 20 000 people there! The winner, a french guy - Martin Breuvart. He's not a pro, but almost. I didn't win but I got a medal!
Back the gadget sport comment... Because I rented my bike for the race I got this hybrid. A 7-geared city bike with rather thin tires and stiff construction. I can logically understand that suspensions are useful gadgets for you bike. After the first hour I understood it very physically... I had such a pain in my hands. The where shaking like hell... The last part of the first day was almost 7km downhill. I couldn't really hold the handlebars because o the pain in my wrists.

The second day I was able to change my bike to one of these. A lot better... I think it was at least 10 people quitting the race after the firs day who used the hybrid bike. I understand them. I don't know if I would have done the whole race with that kind of bike. Painful!
This is a bike that would be nice to ride next time. Totally in corbon fibre, front suspensions etc. etc. They said it costs 30 000RMB (and that wasn't the most expensive one).