GS Trophy

Miles Davis goes global with a behind-the-scenes look at BMW’s international GS event.

In May I headed to Mongolia for the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy as one of 15 marshals assigned to escort teams during the eight-day competition. It was my first gig on the GS Trophy and I was really excited to be part of such a large-scale international event.

Practice Loop

We arrived in UB (that’s locals’ talk for Ulaan Baatar), about two weeks before the actual competition, to do a 12-day, 3000km ride of the course to make sure we understood the route, locations and special tests. We were also shooting promotional video and pics.

On the scouting tour there were marshals from Germany, France, Turkey, England, Thailand, Malaysia, South Africa, Canada and Australia, so it was a truly international affair. The support team included video, photography, event management, tech support and Doc Tom on a GS. That made for an entourage of about 22 bikes and a few support cars.

The main man behind the GS Trophy is Tom Wolf, an ex-racer who’s been riding GSs all over the world for decades. Tom spent almost six months in Mongolia working on this event so he got to know it pretty well, and Trophy marshals reported to Tom to ensure participants got through each day safely and with big grins.

Scenery overload

After setting up our brand-spankin’-new bikes we cruised out of UB to see what the real Mongolia was all about.

The next 12 days took us through some incredible terrain that changed drastically from day to day, from lunar-like barren plains to the awesome dunes of the Gobi Desert and outback mountain ranges. One range had ‘The Ice Canyon’. It was 500 metres long and had thick ice walls with creeks flowing below. We had to take another pass to get around it, but luckily it melted enough so riders could get through 10 days later.