Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Northstar Beemer]

Utterly fantastic - thanks so much for sharing!

[lukeman]

Amazing photos. Insanely jealous. I'm thinking a loop of Mongolia needs to be in my future!

My first thought is always that you're drinking red-bull in the blue and red cans.

I always like to google map where these great landscapes are:

Tsakhir, Arkhangai, Mongolia

[vintagespeed]

wow! just when you think the pics can't possibly get any better.......they just keep coming!

that green color in the valley sure is pretty.

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by Prutser

Our wet feet started to get pretty cold by now. And I think all of us had done enough river crossings for that day.
(more than 30)

A few km's later we drove into Tsakhir.

In the town we stopped to look around and see if we could find a place to spend the night.

Everywhere you stop locals will come over to check you out.
These local hang arounds came to show their rides while they checked out ours.

Whilst we were queueing in the shop with the grumpy shopkeeper to buy anything edible she might have( FFS..we're buying anything you've got!!) these guys came galloping -no exaggeration-through the main street, proving beyond doubt that this has been elevated to a 2 horse town.

They saw us and scooted back to greet us. As I've said before...on a moto in Mong, you are cooler than Ice-T, cooler than Paul Newman (playing Cool Hand Luke), cooler than Shems Bondt, cooler than.....Frank Sinatra with Ava Gardner on his....arm, and we were treated accordingly.

As P has said. we'd crossed many rivers that day, and although we'd all been wet ( OK..some wetter than others) we'd all dried out now apart from the feet and all we wanted was a hotel..cheap/expensive-it wouldn't matter as long as we could get a shower, have somewhere to dry our gear and get almost anything to eat and a beer.
Alas we still had to feckin' camp with soaking boots. :0(


Just occasionally in The Life of an Adventurer, one needs a magic wand that you can wave and take you out of it for a night...alas Walter had taken it with him and was waving his own wand. So camping it was.

The first sign we had of the yak-migration was when a solitary yak appeared on the skyline bellowing, and we thought he was separated and thus wolf-dinner , but then a few of his pals arrived,,,then a few more..then a host.
When the yaks all started bellowing and moving down to the low ground I was a little concerned that they might just trample through the site and flatten our tents, but we were all quite relieved when they passed by and carried on down towards the town

[moto rrad]

Amazing photos.

The scenery looks truly beautiful in Mongolia. Thank you knarly adventure team for sharing, immensely enjoying it!

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by Prutser

I still have to work a few hours, than I can post some more.

Only 1800km left before our trip is is over

But from than everything wil be new for me too

Go EtronX

Thank you Prutser I am sharpening the pencil as we speak.

[GSlite]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

Walter had taken it with him and was waving his own wand.

I thought we hadn’t gotten to that part of the story yet

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by Stashek

Hi Prutser.

This question is not bike related but directed at both you and Beamster as you both shared the tent. Is it an Fjallraven Abisko lightweight 2 and what if any feedback could you offer on it's performance. Did you ever find that the length made pitching and camp locations more difficult to find.

This comment though is bike related, allowing that lad to ride the bike bought a tear to my eye. I know that's not a cool or macho sentiment but as a visiter to his land you crossed the geographical and cultural divide in the most endearing and enduring way possible.


Stashek.

Hi Stashek,

The tent we used was a Helsport Rondane 3 light. Which is a great tent if you only need a place to sleep.
But with the bad weather it would have been nice to have a bit more height inside.
Normally I would use a smaller tent together with a wing that I only pitch when the weather sucks.
For this trip I didn't take the wing because it would be extra weight and space in the panniers.

Finding a place big enough to put up this tent was no problem. Its a bit shorter than the Fjallraven Abisko.
The helsport is just a few cm's wider at the end compared to the fjallraven which gives more space for two mattresses.
I used a Fjallraven akka RS2 for a few years. But the inside was a tiny bit to small for our mattresses and we would wake up with a damp mattress and sleeping bag.

Originally Posted by Mehaniotis

I too have a question regarding the stove used and if the stove was worthy .
Thanks.
M.
.

The stove we used was a MSR Whisperlite which I used a lot in the 15 years that I own it.
It has some disadvantages. Reducing the flame enough to stop your food from burning is a bit hard.
But using the right pans helps a lot. Stainless ones are the worst imo as it doesn't conduct the heat fast enough.
Titanium ones are much much better IMO.

Its reliability, simple design and easy cleaning makes it a great stove. A local outdoor shop showed me some examples of broken stoves due to vibrations. But this had never happened with the Wisperlite so they told me.
After 15 years still (you do need to clean them once in awhile)

[Mehaniotis]

I'll look for one .Thanks.

[mrbreeze]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

It wuz the voices made me do it.
More specifically Terry's voice..".OOOH! Come on Wod...we've got a lift acwoth the waging towwent with the nithe foweign man and I won't need to get my thiny Klimy thuit wet,... Bath and Winda can wun alongside.....come on...thing along! Wow, Wow, wow the boat, gently down the stweam"

I was against it from the start of course

We are after all Team Extreme.

[StepOnIt]

I also have a MSR Wisperlite International for about 15 years and it is a great small stove. Taken a beating on many trips and the best thing it burns almost any fuel. Would highly recommend it for RTW trips

Originally Posted by Prutser

The stove we used was a MSR Whisperlite which I used a lot in the 15 years that I own it.
It has some disadvantages. Reducing the flame enough to stop your food from burning is a bit hard.
But using the right pans helps a lot. Stainless it the worst imo as it doesn't conduct the heat fast enough.
Titanium ones are much much better IMO.

Its reliability, simple design and easy cleaning makes it a great stove. A local outdoor shop showed me some examples of broken stoves due to vibrations. But this had never happened with the Wisperlite so they told me.
After 15 years still (you do need to clean them once in awhile)

[sion]

Originally Posted by Beam(st)er

another great update and photos...thanks

I'm curious about that square of rocks behind and to the left of the bikes...did you guys do that or was it there when you arrived (and if so, got any idea what its purpose is)?

[Rango]

Originally Posted by sion

another great update and photos...thanks

I'm curious about that square of rocks behind and to the left of the bikes...did you guys do that or was it there when you arrived (and if so, got any idea what its purpose is)?

Exactly what I was going to ask. Mighty queer for Mongolia.
It looks like Archimedes has returned and is brushing up on his Euklides.

[2WheelieADV]

Walter, is there a mapping software which indicates unpaved roads vs paved ones? I know it was said here before about google earth, but I don't see this on google. Mapsource has brocken lines if it's unpaved but not always 100% accurate, and mapsource is not a convenient software to use.

[roscoau]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

I think Terry is asking you here ... "Rod, pass me my picnic hamper with the Foie Gras would you mate. This Adventure Riding really makes a man hungry"

'Shaken, not stirred'