Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

subscribed, with gusto!
Your reports have kindled my interest in Russia as riding destination. Absolutely fascinated by the trails.
Kudos to your rides and reports. They belong to the very top and the effort put into compiling them is really appreciated.

I reckon the bikes put on some weight due to the mods (as in larger fuel tank, sturdier parts, etc). Could you give an estimate of the difference versus OEM and wether it affected riding substantially?

Awesome!
I Fallowed your Husaberg elevation world record... albeit with a little disappointment that I wasn't on board. You have all the fun!!!
I never even thought of that place (Chernobyl) as a ride destination and now its near the top of the list. This is great stuff!!! Can you give me a heads up next time you have another amazing idea?

Sadly no Dave. It was late afternoon. As you saw from early day 3 pics we got a lot of go pro footage in the morning - the battery was dead by then.

I agree. My considerations were based around the fact that guards were stationed there and tv crews occasionally ventured in there so any short term exposure can not carry a high risk.

I figured the risk was not crazy. We were planning on spending a very limited time in the zone. The Ukrainian government sells permission for tour groups to enter the exclusion zone and visit the actual reactor site. I had hoped to approach the reactor from the west, away from the roads (and tour group access) ...but I guess I was a bit optimistic. I certainly didnt look into it in great detail. There were so many interesting potential aspects of this ride and I didnt have time to look into them all in great detail. Stuff like this brush with Chernobyl, we just made up on the hoof, based around a track I had drawn approaching the reactor from the west. It didnt work out the way I hoped, but we did get have some really interesting riding and experiences around it anyway. Last I heard, the Ukrainians are talking about stopping all access to the site except for scientists - closing off the tour group access entirely.

I discussed it with Terry at the concrete barricade on the bridge ... my best guess was that the worst case was they would deport us. We werent doing anything to threaten their national security, and we werent hurting anyone else. It was not worth the expense to them to jail us or have a court case that would only bring bad publicity.

In reality the guy who caught us would probably bring us to his boss, who would threaten to lock us up, but would then let it slip for a "present". Reality is no-one on the ground wants to get involved with locking up EU or US citizens in the Ukraine ... The Ukraine does a fair bit of sucking up to both at a national level. So if someone on the ground made that call by himself, there is a career risk that he would get badly scolded or fired by someone higher up the food chain in Kiev.

Russia is a totally different kettle of fish, Russians would have much less compunction about locking up foreigners doing semi-dodgy shit. But this wasnt Russia - this was Ukraine.

Despite much pleading from the locals for us to stay with the wedding party the entire evening, Terry and I dragged ourselves away as the daylight was fading. We rode to the outskirts of Kiev, where we found a cheap hotel, grabbed a few beers and crashed out for the night.

Day 3 had been a whopper. Action packed from start to finish with good riding and good people. We were exhausted but had huge smiles on our faces. We were going to take a day or so to rest in Kiev and sort a few things out with the bikes.

Here we are outside the hotel the following morning, doing routine checks and maintenance on the bikes.

While Terry is normally a super handy self fix it guy, one problem was beyond him. On one of the morning trails on Day 3, a branch across the track had caught on his GPS power cable and stretched it. The cable appeared intact but the wire inside had broken somewhere and his Zumo was powerless. We needed to find and fix the break.

While washing the bikes at a local car wash, one of the other patrons asked about our problem. Then he told us to follow him. It turned out his father ran a factory nearby, and our new friend, commandered the plants electrician to solve Terry's wiring problem.

Which he did

Terry had one other problem ... His shock absorber was leaking oil. Terry had a quality Hyperpro shock in his bike, but all his adventures over the last few years had taken him WELL over the recommended service interval - for replacing the seals on the shock. I called the Hyperpro guys in Holland to get some new seals sent out. They said rather than risk having them put in incorrectly, they would send Terry a replacement shock, if Terry promised to get his current leaky one back to them.

We decided in order to keep on schedule, that Terry should get the replacement shock sent to Sumy, the last town we would pass through in Ukraine. That way we could keep moving while the shock was being sent out and going thru customs etc. That meant he had about 2-3 days of off road riding to contend with, on just a rear spring. I offered Terry the easy option of just taking the asphalt road, but he wasn't having any of it.

With the shock sorted, we went for lunch in downtown Kiev in a traditional Ukrainian restaurant.

Here's Terry tucking into a bowl of mushroom soup, the bowl is a hollowed out loaf of bread.



We moved on to find a nice hotel in downtown Kiev to spend an evening in the city. That night was beer and pizzas till midnight.

AD-fucking-Venture! You has it. Rock on.

That's a shame. Didn't think you'd pass up the chance to upload a couple if you did have them though.

Great wedding pictures, but where was Borat?

We decided to stay in Kiev an extra 24 hours. We were in no rush as we had to wait for Terry's replacement shock to be built and sent to Sumy. And there was something that needed to be welded. I cant remember what it was, but we had time in Kiev, so we might as well sort every niggle,

A biker rode passed us in front of our hotel and we waved him down. We were counting on the bikers help bikers mentality that prevails in the former Soviet Union. Sure enough, the guy that stopped not only offered to help us by taking us to an alloy welder, but then offered to help Terry with his paperwork for the shock import and invited us back to his tattoo parlour for a drink and a chat.

I planned to leave Kiev in the late afternoon, just cover about 100 km ... so we had time to kill.

We went to the beach in the middle of the Dnipro river ... at a place called Hydropark ... to relax and take a nap.



But for some reason we couldnt sleep soundly:









Eventually we got going and cruised on some forest trails to a small fuel station / hotel / restaurant about 100 km from Kiev.

Awesome! Especially the last post.

I remember RTWDoug's trip, what, two years ago(?) where he took the tour, noticed an abandoned sidecar in an old cycle shop and was trying to figure out how to get it home!

Great RR Walter!

Great stuff so far

Darn guy, I didn't know you were into astrology. Lots of heavenly bodies about the area.

I think my RR would have stopped right here. All of my next posts would have been from my new home wherever they grow women like this.