Fatbiking across Mongolia

A 2000 kilometre bikepacking adventure

By: Tom Bruce

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

This is the story of a 2,000 kilometre cycle ride across Mongolia. The use of fatbikes allowed Tom and Phil to ride across extreme terrain to incredibly remote areas of the country. On their adventure, they met nomads, rode through deserts, crossed mountain ranges, swam in glistening blue lakes and passed through the endless grasslands of the Mongolian Steppe. This adventure of a lifetime took them through one of the greatest wildernesses on Planet Earth. They wild-camped in some of the most beautiful places imaginable and discovered world-class mountain biking trails. Mongolia provided many surprises, some almost insurmountable challenges but is without doubt, the best country that Tom and Phil have ever cycled in.

A Standout Cycling Saga

This is a travelogue at its purest, mixing action, observation, and historical context. If you love bikepacking, you’re likely to enjoy Bruce’s hour-by-hour account of his two-man journey across the steppes. He’s sensitive to the ways of Mongolian people, while also acknowledging habits and challenges that are novel to him. His mode of transport—a fat tire bike—is also an original addition to the bike-tour archive, and cyclists daydreaming about adventure travel will learn a good deal from his experiences. My only disappointment is that Bruce had to publish this himself, resorting to AI to narrate the book. An indie author’s gotta do what he’s gotta do, and I’m just grateful this audiobook exists, but such a well composed narrative deserved a proper press and flesh-and-blood narrator. It’s yet another casualty of a cutthroat publishing world, and I can only hope one of the Big Five discovers it one day. Looking forward to Bruce’s next ride.