Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

Whoa!
There is nothing in this world like Baptism By Fire (or water?)! very nice!

Lovign every minute of this awesome RR

And?

Damnit!

:ddog

hopefully he stopped to go take a shit and hell be back with more ride report and photos and video.... *fingers are crossed thats what is happening right now*

Just found this ride report today. In 5 hrs have read the whole thing. Awesome!!! Its full winter here in Canada so there is lots of time to read your ride report and plan and prep for next year's trip. Your RR of the Russian Stepps has reminded me of growing up on the Great Canadian Plains. Similar terrain and wide open spaces.
I can't wait for the next installment.
Regards....just jeff

Naturally enough, I went first - plunging in as I do ...

And soon heard the familiar burbling sound of the exhaust being underwater



But slowly made my way across. The water had a lot of uneven depths and it turned out the only safe route across was a complicated zigzag route trying to stay on sandbanks that would keep the depth kinda possible.

Halfway across I stopped my bike to return and start showing the others my recommended route.

That was a BIG mistake ... Never shut your bike off when in the water .....

And?

Damnit!

This made me sad for some reason.

Hi Jurassic.I've PM-ed you for a little more detail. ....and they're all ugly, that's why I made mine purty!

"Here Beemster confessed .... she was absolutely petrified of water crossings.!"

Charge on, Beemster, I am as petrified as you are when river crossings show. .

Thanks for the RR

Cheers for the PM Rod. Your bike is truly gorgeous as you say (even if it is a little highly strung ). Mine was really, really ugly though (and still highly strung!)

+1. And a beer.

I had a lot of practice this trip...
And a couple of weeks later they didn't bother me anymore!

Beemster ...Great!!! I wish I could say so

BTW, I noticed you are using the Traverse Jacket. Are the pants Traverse or Dakar? So far that jacket is optimal (almost perfect) for my riding -commuting and ocassional off road here in Central America where humidity is one issue; showers and 30+ temperatures a free offer . How did you like the jacket? Would you recommend the extra money for the pants?

Cheers

Just found the thread and it made my night! Just starting, but I bought the video about 6 months ago, and will buy this one as well, if you make one!

One of these rides is DEFINITELY on my bucket list!

I'm normally a lurker, but this is enough to get me out of the shadows!

For this trip the jacket was a bit too warm, so I think some more vents would have been nice.
The pants is Traverse as well. No complaints...
Except after rivercrossings the water stayed beween the lining and the outher layer.
Which made my pants heavy and pulled down...

I still had to get into adventure mode after being stuck in the hotel for 5 days when Walter drove towards this big shiny lake. He stopped and I thought he wanted to take a picture but all of a suddon he walked right in! What the f#@*??? I asked Walter what he was doing. Well we are gonna cross this river he said. I said this is not a river, this is a lake! I really thought he made a joke but a few minutes later I knew that he wasn’t...

This all looked very challenging to me because I started offroad riding only one year ago. I started playing in sand, riding tight trials and motocross tracks, and I loved it! But river crossings... There are almost no possibilities to practise that in Holland.

While I was watching the guys for a few minutes walking around in the water, I was wondering how I could persuade them that this was insane. But 4 guys, 1 girl, I knew I couldn’t win... So I also walked in, trying to find a route to the other side. Walter was already in the water with his bike. He was halfway and I thought it did not look good seeing his bike sink that deep! How the \*#@* am I gonna do this???

I love this picture! The level headed gal and her bike thinking, "this doesn't seem like a good idea..." and the four brash guys already half way across walking/riding/pushing the bikes. We don't think; we just do. Sometimes it lands us in a bit of hot (cold?) water

Just as long as Walter wasn't behind you, you were probably OK

@Beamster:

There were a lot of places to practice this in Holland. I know quite some of them here in the area.
You just didn't ask me

Hi Quadfret
I'll keep it in mind for the next trip!