De merveilleux souvenirs de Mongolie.

As the name suggests, the "Trial Challenge" included a tricky trail. The ground changed between rock, loose sand and gravel. Each team member rode individually through the course, it was about riding as error-free as possible in the shortest time.

This tricky exercise tested the condition of the teams, because they had to venture into the deep canyon on foot and without their motorcycles, only with the help of a BMW Motorrad Navigator GPS device. The goal was to find a waypoint on which the coordinates for the next point were written. In total, four coordinates needed to be found to lead the team back to the starting point, as well as a series of letters, which would form a sentence (Make Life a Ride).

Camel Head — a trials challenge which took place among impressive rock formations. There, the teams rode and walked their R 1200 GS Rallye bikes across various sections of a tight, twisting course — all against the clock of course.

This special stage took place in the middle of a dry lake bed under the burning Mongolian sun. This ‘start and stop exercise‘ was a lot more challenging than you might think: All three team members had to drift their GS over the narrow slalom track for a while before they came to a halt in a marked field on the dry ground.

This was a tyre changing exercise that involved the removal and reinstallation of a Metzeler Karoo 3 tyre on a rear wheel of a R 1200 GS Rallye. The outcome was a lot of tired participants, a lot of cheering and a few well-worn tyre levers.

This was a towing exercise – one of the favourites at every Int. GS Trophy event – where one of the team members uses his R 1200 GS Rallye to tow his team-mate’s bike (with the engine off) over a winding and hilly trail, with the third team member rides alongside.

Working in teams, the participants had to set up a packed Marmot tent on time - unlike every evening in the camp but this time against the clock. Before the clock stopped, two of the team members had to go in and close it before they could jump out and take it down as quickly as possible.

A certain degree of wetness: This special stage was a slalom course that involved all team members crossing the river four times on their R 1200 GS Rallye bikes, while negotiating a tight course through deep gravel — against the clock of course.

"Orhon View" took place in picture-postcard surroundings but the participants didn’t have too much time to look around, as this Special involved all three team members negotiating a course that twisted and wound its way in-between big boulders, over small rocks and by-passing lots of natural vegetation. The scrape of metal against rock-face was heard all too frequently.

A course through alluvial forests as an exercise in uniformity: This Special required the team riders to complete a tight, twisty course — one after the other — that wound its way through the woodland. The idea was for each rider to pass the finish line as close in total time to that of his or her team-mates.

A challenge that wasn't about power and riding skills: Each team had bows and arrows in hand and the chance to literally shoot their way up the points table. Eight shots were allowed by each team and the individual scores were added up.

The last will be the first: Over a marked course, with a right-angled turn, the teams took it in turns to ride as slowly over the course as possible, without putting a foot down. The clock started when the third rider crossed the start line — and finished when the first rider crossed the finish line.

Special stage on a rocky outcrop: two fuel canisters had to be carried on the back of the R 1200 GS Rallye by a pillion while its rider negotiated a tight, rocky course against the clock. Each team member had to ride the bike and also be a pillion once.

The final stage was another tough one: The timed trial’s three ‘mini-specials’ included each participant having to walk their R 1200 GS Rallye backwards downhill and through a slalom course. This was followed by a ‘ride the garage’ special where the bike had to be ridden through a narrow labyrinth. Then, the third challenge was called the ‘wild horse turn’, where the bike had to be ridden inside a marked square, turned sharply and then returned to the starting point.