Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[hardwaregrrl]

Originally Posted by EtronX

This is what our bikes looked like on the start of the trip.

Thanks Geir! This is such a great story, thanks for your time.!

[Ze Red Baron]

[/QUOTE]

This picture is worth a million words. He just looks so delighted to have had your company that morning. Well done Geir.

[elias]

Originally Posted by EtronX

He was very talkative and wanted us to stay. He spend four weeks here in his little cabin and then a few days at home. We had some tea and biscuits with him and he also offered us Cognac to celebrate. This was the first one along the BAM that we saw drinking something else than Vodka. He had style We politely said No and took the tea.

We spent maybe 30 minutes with him. It was a good 30 minutes. It is very nice when you meet a man like him. Friendly to his heart. I start to believe in the human race again We took our farewell pictures and drove the short distance into Yuktali.

Hey Geir, why did you give him the money before he was asking for some? He looks so kind that makes you think that he dosnt want money to let you pass, only some company for an hour.

[Dubl-A]

Originally Posted by EtronX

After Chara there are a lot of rail road bridges going East We crossed one after another. Some small and some big. We soon decided that we couldn't stop and walk every bridge. It would take ages. In the beginning we stopped and looked very carefully. Then rode over.




Then after a while we just checked our mirrors and went for it. Here Steve and I have crossed and we hear the train coming. Erik didn't




Erik after the crossing He just got off...




Then things went pear shaped For the record; there is room between a bike and a train in these small booths. We know...




Then the spring that holds up the side stand of Steve's bike fell off. On the middle of a bridge Erik rushes in and ties the side stand up with a TT strap




Then it got dark

Ya'll are CRAZY!!!

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by elias

Hey Geir, why did you give him the money before he was asking for some? He looks so kind that makes you think that he dosnt want money to let you pass, only some company for an hour.

When we tried to cross the Kuanda bridge we had big troubles. With this fresh in mind I didn't wan't any trouble when I came across this bridge. And I would rather give some money to this nice fellow than to a greedy bastard demanding money.

[XC Rider]

Originally Posted by EtronX

Then things went pear shaped For the record; there is room between a bike and a train in these small booths. We know...

I see you're wearing a GoPro camera; did you have it running when you had to lay the bike down in the turnout and the train went by!?!?!?


PS. Thank you for being my continued lunchtime entertainment!

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by XC Rider

I see you're wearing a GoPro camera; did you have it running when you had to lay the bike down in the turnout and the train went by!?!?!?


PS. Thank you for being my continued lunchtime entertainment!

No train on this one ;-)

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by Bli55

Now that your team is leaving Chara, I believe it's an appropriate time to ask whether you considered, or have done, seeing the sand dunes. (Чарские пески).

Not what comes to mind when you think of Siberia, thus what makes it that extra-special:

That picture is fucken awsome ! Big up to the photographer, whoever he or she is

[EtronX]

So here we are. In the middle of Siberia. Miles from the civilization. Then I can go into a store and buy bananas. Maybe from Ecuador. Probably they were shipped by boat initially. Then by truck to the train station. Reloaded to a train and off they went to Yuktali. Where I could buy them. Isn't that pretty amazing? I mean, we are in the middle of Siberia

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by EtronX

....... I take this of my sometimes meandering mind, but to make sure I just cut them all

Note to self: Don't hire this guy for the bomb squad...

[mrbreeze]

Originally Posted by EtronX

Is that blood around his eyes?

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by sion

I never knew that Dio was so popular in Siberia

Holy Rider is universal

[miguelitro]

Originally Posted by EtronX

So here we are. In the middle of Siberia. Miles from the civilization. Then I can go into a store and buy bananas. Maybe from Ecuador. Probably they were shipped by boat initially. Then by truck to the train station. Reloaded to a train and off they went to Yuktali. Where I could buy them. Isn't that pretty amazing? I mean, we are in the middle of Siberia

Thanks for the report and you are welcome for the bananas
Mike

[EtronX]

After the refill of food, socks and gas we were now ready to twist the throttles again. For a long time we followed the Nyukzha river. The road was nice and we could keep a good pace.




We hit the occasional iffy bridge, but nothing to serious




Some we checked a bit




Then we rode it




We had some lunch




After a while we traveled a bit North East of the rail road tracks. Going up and down over the mountain ranges. It was especially fun going up the steep hills. You could really crank it open going up. Letting the bike dance below you. The only issue was if you pressed the engine to hard it started knocking. Probably due to the low octane gas we got in Yuktali


Suddenly we came to this bridge in the middle of nowhere i guess that someone had a great idea at one time, or at least the guy in charge of the road was from the district




The road got better and better. After the settlement of Loptsa we could steadily do 100 to 110 without problems sitting down. We made good distance and Tynda was within easy reach that day.

As we rode I felt my luggage was a bit loose. I stopped and retightened it. Letting the guys ride ahead. I got back in the saddle again, but rode a bit slower. No rush catching up with the guys. On a fairly straight stretch of the road I saw a Lada 4X4 coming against me. It was an elderly couple in the car and they flagged me down. I stopped and both got out pretty excited. Then they explained that they had sen the flag on my bike and that last year two Swedes had stopped by their house while they needed some help with their bikes. I asked if that was Staffan and Victor. Their jaws dropped and they said yes. It's a small world

Before I left, in addition to Walter, I also made contact with Staffan who rode from Sweden to Magadan and back in 2011.

Vitim River 2011 from Staffan Johansson on Vimeo.

After this little meeting I revved it and caught up with the guys. We stopped and had a little discussion. Should we go all the way to Tynda or should we camp one last time along the BAM. The decision was unanimously. We would camp We found a great camp place by the river Larbi.




Got the fire going and made some food. Here Erik is enjoying himself




And Steve




Me, I felt happy and a bit sad. Two years ago I had gotten the idea of riding the BAM. Now it was done. It was an anticlimax. I had waited so much for this moment. Planned for so long and now I had done it. The trip had been an adventure and I had loved every second of it. But now the BAM was over.

We ate the food. Had a few beers and just enjoyed the beautiful night. It was a great ending of the BAM

[Bli55]

Originally Posted by Pamirski

@Bli55, how do you get there? From old town Chara? In any case you have to ford? And at which time of the year have you been there, with the snow the mountains look more like Tien Shan or so.

That picture is from the net, and is also seen in link Walter gave, and there's the photographers name in vertical writing - I have not been there myself.
However, when I do end up in Chara, to go there would be my upmost priority, it is just so beautiful and surreal.

That's why I was hoping the guys went, even if by a local truck if need be due to river sweeling too much for the bikes...

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Fuel pump yes. I replaced the fuel pump assembly about 45,000 km ... but there was no problem with the pump. Just really wanted to change fuel filter and the only way to do that was to change the whole assembly. Now that Terry has found a great way to change filter for less than 20 pounds, I will not be doing that again.

Terry and Walter, is there somewhere we could read on that?

Originally Posted by EtronX

Me, I felt happy and a bit sad. Two years ago I had gotten the idea of riding the BAM. Now it was done. It was an anticlimax. I had waited so much for this moment. Planned for so long and now I had done it. The trip had been an adventure and I had loved every second of it. But now the BAM was over.

We ate the food. Had a few beers and just enjoyed the beautiful night. It was a great ending of the BAM

There's still BAM left for you to Vanino!