Alba & Ricard

noun :a member of a people having no permanent abode, and who travel from place to place to find fresh pasture for their livestock.

There may not be a better definition for Alba Xandri and Ricard Calmet. The globe is their pasture and the bike, their livestock. Together they biked around the world in three years, they've found themselves in mountains and deserts. In communities and in isolation.

Most recently they pastured in Mongolia, subsisting on the local fare of meat and milk across 1,800 kilometers of countryside.

Read about their experience, in their own words, below.

Mongolians are warm souls and hospitable people. They helped when it was very hot and there wasn’t any source of water nearby, when the lightning and thunder wouldn't stop or when they simply offered their hospitality. Despite the language barrier, we were always welcome to their nomadic daily life and their yurt’s door was always open.

Mongolia far exceeded our expectations. It is a backcountry bikepacker’s paradise. You can both ride and camp almost anywhere. Only ten percent of the roads are paved and half the population lives in the capital, Ulaanbaatar. This meant that some days our only company was herds of yaks, horses, sheep, and goats.

"Above all else, Mongolians have stolen our hearts. More than the endless landscapes, swimming in cold rivers, pedaling through remote areas, or camping under the stars."

Clockwise below, beginning on the left:

Khuushuur: A deep-fried pastry filled with meat. Very handy for bikepacking, a bit oily though.

Boortsog: Fried bread.

Orom: Clotted cream. I love it. I used to have it at home when I was a kid. I almost forgot that taste. Number 1 choice for me.