MIDDLEBURG – When Abbi Bell’s riding day was done, she approached a tent-like home in the middle of Mongolia and asked if she and her horse could spend the night.

She used a translation device on her cellphone for the favor. The door opened and she was quickly surrounded by seven children and an eager couple who welcomed her into their home.

Less than a minute later, dinner was served. Goat heads.

“I lived on 200-to-300 calories a day,” Abbi said. “I couldn’t eat goats or mutton, and that’s all they eat.”

Bell was one of 48 riders who participated in the grueling Mongol Derby last month. She wound up being just one of 28 who made it to the finish line.

The Derby was a 1,000-kilometer (621.4 miles) ride across Mongolia. Riders were aboard native semi-feral horses. Some of them were fast. Others were slow. All, however, were spirited. Fresh horses were provided every 3,000-4,000 kilometers, and the choices often were the luck of the draw.

Abbi crossed the finish line on the ninth morning of the competition. There were no hotels or shuttles to safe houses along the ride. She either camped in the wild or bunked down at horse stations, but most of the time she relied on the generosity of strangers who shared their crude homes.

“They’re called Gers,” Abbi said. “Nobody spoke English; I don’t speak Mongolian. We had prepared cards that asked if my horse and I could spend the night. I also used my cellphone. Although nobody talked, we found a way to communicate.”

Which included meals.

“Beef is very rare over there,” she said. “They boil goats and mutton in goat fat. I couldn’t eat that. I made eight ounces of beef jerky last nine days and I had a one-ounce Gu (Energy) Gel every day. Sometimes they had candy or a piece of bread at the horse stations. Once they had watermelon and it was so good.”

She was limited to 11 pounds of supplies. Clothing, water and bedding made up most of that weight, which left little room for snacks.

Unlike her attempt in 2019, she pushed on. The ride included rocky mountains, sand, flood plains and bogs – all on horses that seemed spring-loaded to be wild.

She suffered a herniated disk and pinched nerve in 2019 and was forced to drop out. Despite contracting the Norovirus during the event, she was determined to finish her final Derby. Other riders either chose or were forced to retire with the virus. Abbi didn’t tell anyone she was just as sick.

“I didn’t let anyone know it,” she said. “The Derby is 80% mindset; 20% skill.”

She still had 45 minutes remaining on Day 7 when she approached a mountain range. Instead of making a run through it, she decided to wait until the next morning.

“I remember being there in 2019 and I got lost in the mountains,” she said. “This time I knew where I was, so I waited. Also, I don’t think my horse would have made it.”

Abbi finished the race in seventh place. She said if she had a faster horse for the stretch drive, she would have finished by the eighth night.

Bell’s family owns Cedar River Seafood. She ran the Middleburg store, but it closed in March. Abbi said a combination of factors – COVID-19, lack of workers, increasing rent and ongoing construction on U.S. Highway 17 –led to the family closing the doors after 27 years.

Abbi said the just-completed Mongol Derby will be her last. It cost $15,000 to participate and she estimated travel and lodging for the trip halfway around the world to be another $5,000.

She said it was worth every penny.

“I got to go on an adventure,” she said. “Money comes and goes. The Derby was amazing. It wasn’t easy, but I loved every minute of it.”

Goat heads notwithstanding.