Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

I never knew that Dio was so popular in Siberia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronnie_James_Dio

I get heartbeat and cold shower at the back when I see these pictures, thank you guys for this RR

after looking this pictures, i think i must stop my planning to ride alone to sibiria

Got wood?

What's up with the boards I see behind your luggage? Oh, and tell us about your bags. This is really getting good!!!

Is the Russian RR track width (gauge) on BAM the same as US? How fast are the trains moving when they pass by?

It is real scary just walking over a bridge and getting caught on it when a train passes, its hard to imagine how much more terrifying on a motorcycle.

Russian gauge is a bit wider than US standard.

Russian : 1520mm or 4 ft 11 5/6 in
US : 1435mm or 4 ft 8 1/2 in

In the US, instead of right angle steel between the rails, they use smaller weight/height rail for the guard rail.

Regardless, crossing those bridges on a bike take large attachments, not knowing if a train will come upon them at speed. As for speed they run, ask Tony P, he knows that up close and personal. :eek1

John

Damn this RR is good. Gone for 2 days and came back to 5 pages, nirvana.

Great video here

http://vimeo.com/59089156#

occasionally train that comes every five minutes during the whole night

When I hear Occasionally I think of not every five minutes, I love your humor EtronX, must have been a long night .

Walter at the start of this you said you started the planning of this route thinking the was a good chance that you would be doing this trip on your own. Now knowing what you do do you think this is a viable option what with all the water crossing , bikes not starting ect ?

Hey dave ...

I wouldnt recommend it. With 2 people it would be much better. I didnt really plan the route for one person. I planned it as an off road route. Its possible one person could do it. I was prepared to do it alone. Solo just makes fixing issues much more time consuming. Its also harder to keep your motivation and mojo up when you have a crap day or two in a row when solo.

I have never heard them referred to as Devils sands ... always only Chara Sands.

More pics and info here:

http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/chara-sands-the-miniature-desert-of-siberia.html

Yes you have to ford.

see the map at the top of this post ...

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=20671336&postcount=3526

there are two fords marked on the left of the map, a km or two southwest of Staraya Chara (Old Chara). Either of those will get you across the river from where tracks lead to the Chara Sands. The western ford is much more direct.

I have marked them in a satellite image ... Staraya Chara is in the top right of the pic, the dunes begin in the bottom left of the pic.



Yellow line is probably the most common route to the dunes:

I have been enjoying this ride report since the very beginning. I'm nowhere near the kind of riders you all are, but want to add my thanks to the chorus of thank you's for taking time to post this amazing report.

Nothing else to add. Back to the ride!

Thanks Pate ... I have added them to my waypoints file

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/northern-asia/siberia-mongolia-central-asia-waypoints-50860

It will be reflected on there the next time I post the update

First off. Epic RR.

I'm up to page 132 now (in the past 3 days or so). I should be snowboarding today in the Caucasus Mountains but I'm drooling over the pictures in this RR from the Altai Region and Mongolia. I am certainly looking forward to next summer.

On a side note, I'm the one who is now piloting Fishfund's 08 690E. When I took ownership of it, I had to rewire a fair amount of stuff. Wires twisted together with ducttape might get you out of the woods, but its not a permanent fix

This RR is getting me so stoked for next summer. I will take my sweet ass time.. Azerbaijan starting in May and Magadon by the sometime in September.

Thanks again for posting!

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




What we have here is the following:

One Giant Loop Great Basin Saddlebag. This was our primary luggage.

On top of the air intake we all had tank bags. I had the Touratech one, Erik the BMW one and Steve the Giant Loop one. Here we all stored our photo and video equipment.

But we quickly realized we needed more room for the trip.

We then bought three Biltema Pakksekk. They only cost around $ 22 each and are fully waterproof.

In the Biltema bags on the right hand side I had tools, spare inner tube, sprockets, new chain and oil. On the left hand side I had my camping equipment and sleeping bag. On the top one I had my daily clothes and my MacBook. On top of this you see our new tires We drove like this to Krasnoyarsk. No heavy off roading so weight was not an issue. In Krasnoyarsk we changed tires, oil, sprockets etc...

The piece of wood on the left hand side we had to put on due to the heat from the exhaust pipe. We melted two Biltema bags and one sleeping mat pre wood installation :eek1

Due to occupational hazard and me being an old military man I brought a pretty extensive medical kit. This included a Kendrick Traction Splint, a Sam Splint, a full suture kit and a dental kit. I had medication that made me able to put you to sleep, wake you up etc. etc... I also had a dry kit of wool underwear stuffed in the GL.

Was all this necessary you might ask Well in retrospect I would change a few things:

Firstly I would take less equipment. I think this whole trip could have been made without changing tires. Our Mefo Super Explorer saw no significant wear when we arrived in Krasnoyarsk. That was after 9.000 km's. Same with the chain and sprockets. We could have used the same for the whole trip. Next time the medical equipment stays at home, Oh you gotta have a little faith

As a tank bag I would use the Giant Loop Fandango It is small and don't get in the way when you stand up. It is also easy to take off using a zipper. One thing to remember with the Giant Loop stuff is that it is not waterproof from the factory. You get the sealing with the bag. Use great caution when you seal the bags. That makes life a lot more easy. I didn't :huh But fortunately I had packed all my gear in small waterproof bags.

The Giant Loop Great Basin is a great saddlebag if you have a bike with no rear baggage frame. On our bikes we had a very light and solid frame built by Hotrod Erik. This protected the Xtank and supported the rear fender. The frame was a bit to wide for the GL Great Basin. We didn't get it to fit properly over the saddle. On a bike with a wide frame in the back you are better off with the new Giant Loop Siskiyou Panniers or Adventure Specs Magadan Panniers

And one more thing, bring lots of rear brake pads. When it rains you can go through a set in a day or two :huh

That's the one. I'll never forget it !

What an amazing coincidence.

The day began cheerfully ... with a surprise after breakfast.

Back in 2009, I had ridden into Khani also with a broken (touratech) front alloy subframe. A local guy and his son had helped me out, and patched it back together with steel plate. The local Khani guy who took us in and repaird my bike, fed us and housed us was called Rim.

(see post at http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=11764910&postcount=479)

Well as I stepped outside the Hotel in Chara, who should appear, but Rim. He had met the Norwegians in Khani yesterday afternoon. And now here he was in Chara for the day on a business trip.

What happens when the train comes unexpectantly. My Kruger Park Rence Ride

We got up in the morning after an interesting nights sleep. Just by the station where we slept there was a side track that the trains used to wait at in order to pass each other. Especially one of the trains made a very special noise. The engine must have been a big turbine engine. I know the sound of one, and this one did not have a diesel engine. I thought about checking, but I was to tired.




We got our kit together and fortunately everything had dried during the night This was a good start of the day. We saddled up and headed for the Olyokma bridge a few hundred meters away. The bridge was long and it was guarded on the far side. We had a quick Council of War about how we should do the crossing. Should we walk over and ask permission first, or should we just go and ask forgiveness after? We decided on the last option. I got ready, and to make sure we had no problems, I had 3.000 Rubles ready in my hand. I would give this to the guard when on the other side.

We had a quick lookout for trains and off I went. Due to a turn of the rail road immediately after the bridge the trains go very slow here. That's a good thing Due to the turn immediately after the bridge you can't see the trains before they are on the bridge. That's a bad thing :huh



It took me a very long two minutes and fifteen seconds to cross the bridge :eek1 When I got over a man came smiling towards me. I got of my bike, took of my helmet and greeted him with a 3.000 Rubles handshake. If it weren't for his ears his smile would have gone all around his head I told him two others were coming and asked if that was OK. "Nje prablema". I waved at the guys and they set course across the bridge.




Now I can't remember the name of this fine man , but he was really friendly and invited us in for something to eat and drink. Note, this was around 0800 in the morning




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.