Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Colebatch]

A picture of me, taking the previous shot ...

[Colebatch]

We continued on beyond a small village called Inegen.





Before long the 2 track began to fade:

[Colebatch]

At the end of the two track there was a small picnic area by the river. We stopped to chat to the locals. They told about an Austrian or Australian couple that had come here on motorbikes 2 years ago, and went about 2 km further before turning back.

That was about as far as we were going to be able to go too. Beyond there would be a border zone and we didnt have permits for it ... so there would be a limit as to how far we could head in that direction today.

We continued on - now on single track:





Terry, Beamster and myself have a bit of uneasiness about heights ... and before long we were riding along the edge of cliffs. It sure makes your stomach tingle ...



Till we reached a spot that I reckoned would be about the edge of the border zone. Terry and Beamster were happy to wait here and turn around. Prutser and I decided to go on a little further.







Before turning around and returning to the others. From there we could head back along our track to the M52







Prutser playing around on an old bridge:



As a sidenote ... I sent some Altai pics back to some Moscow off road guys who were coming past here a month or two after us, and they (being less concerned about border zones) rode that track through.

[sion]

simply stunning

[nickgindy]

amazing

[Colebatch]

We arrived in Aktash the evening of Day 48 and settled down to a nice outdoor dinner of shashlik at our M52-side hotel.

The next morning began with a delicious warm breakfast of porridge



But the main plan today was to rest up, see the border guards office and check was was legitimately possible for us between here and the Mongolian border, and to do running maintenance on the bikes.

I had been thru Aktash a number of times in the past, and use it as a base camp before going into or coming out of Mongolia. I had been having problems with my starter clutch, especially since the dead battery episode near Astana a few weeks back. But its actually a known potential wear item on the X-Challenge, and I had bought with me a spare starter clutch. So I popped down to a local mechanic I knew and began opening up the engine to replace it:

[MrKiwi]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

My labrador dog had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in the back of her throat a few weeks before I left and a test had revealed it was a very aggressive type of cancer. I could have chemo and radium treatment for her, but even with that the prognosis was maybe as long as 15-16 months, at worst 2 months. I lost my sister to lung cancer and having seen what the treatment does to people I truly wouldn't put put a dog through it.
She'd been fine until the day before, since when she'd gone downhill very quickly. My wife was going to take her to the vets to be put down but I didn't feel it was fair to ask her to go alone and I'd be there in a few hours.
I got home every late on the Friday night and the dog was asleep and doped, so my first task on the Saturday was to take my faithful pal to her death. It's still hard to think about it.

I know precisely how you feel. We had a back lab who also had to be put down due to cancer. My wife couldn't face the trip to the vet, I did it on my own. It took us a year before we could get another dog (then we got two!). You really are doing this trip hard...

[racki]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

At the end of the two track there was a small picnic area by the river. We stopped to chat to the locals. They told about an Austrian or Australian couple that had come here on motorbikes 2 years ago, and went about 2 km further before turning back.

Not sure if they were talking about me and my buddy John, but if that's the case then Australian is correct. The other issue is that we were there year ago, so they might be talking about someone else. Non the less - that's the locals we talked with:



And that's where we turned around:



Our idea was to use this track to get to Kazakh border faster but it didn't work out.

Nice report, thanks!
Bart

[yamonda1]

Late in for this .. looking like a classic !!

[trailtosakhalin]

Great pictures !!

[Ruan]

Awesome pics and RR. Thanks for feeding my dreams...

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by racki

Not sure if they were talking about me and my buddy John, but if that's the case then Australian is correct. The other issue is that we were there year ago, so they might be talking about someone else. Non the less - that's the locals we talked with:

Yes ... you guys are who they were talking about ... a couple of Australians. The Altai couple were the ones we met at the picnic area end of the two track ... sadly the tall statuesque blonde was not with them this year. Nice bike BTW ! (And enjoyed your RR last year)

Originally Posted by racki

And that's where we turned around:

Exactly the same spot.

[legasea]

Even from here, it looks like a beautifull riding zone.
Ride on.

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by FechFech

Hi Rod,

Did you consider the option to fly to Vienna and get the parts there ? It is about 300 km from Vienna to Mattighofen. Most guys working at KTM are bikers themselves, I'm sure they would have rushed the parts to Vienna for you to pick up. I wouldn't be surprised if one of them had even volunteered to fly out to Moscow with the parts to meet you there, had they known your story.

Sorry to hear about your dog. We have a pet in the family which needs to be put down in the next couple of days, I know how it feels.

All the best,

FechFech




_______________
2012 KTM 350 EXC-F
2010 KTM 990 SMT
2009 KTM 690E
2006 GasGas 250 Trial

Hi Fechfech.
It wasn't something I considered-not for any reason other than it just didn't occur to me that it might be an option. I'm not the brightest at times.
What would I do differently.?....carry a feckin' pump for sure. I had 'most everything else I needed. I'd been told that maybe the rectifiers were iffy, some other parts were suspect but you can't carry everything you might need and have to find your own comfort balance. I thought I had it about right but clearly had it badly wrong. The thing that kept throwing us with the pump was when one switched on the bike, you'd hear the pump motor up and could feel it pressure the pipes up. There was also the heat dynamic and we thought it was maybe the electrics breaking down when there was no cooling airflow. Now of course I'm very wise-now that it's fixed.

Good luck with your own pet and tough though it is for us, it's the last kindness we can do for them.
Thanks to all for your kind comments about my girl.

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by camperdad

Rod- So how many miles/days did you ride your bike with it barely running? How many miles did you have to be towed? Great ride report! Epic adventure!

Hi Camperdad
It was faulty from the first day but would run sometimes for hours and hours without problems.
In Kaz I would say Terry towed me a couple of hundred miles but maybe someone might disagree. Guys? For sure we got pretty good at it and again, here I was dependent on the good nature of another to keep my trip alive.

I've just worked it out...Its ME..... I'm a feckin' jinx!