Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[oothef]

youre right mate

Its very Lomax ...
I'd had a similar thought......

[Prutser]

Our goal was to get to Irkustk in two days so we had enough time to arrange transport for our bikes. In the morning of day 64 we met the guys for breakfast before we loaded our bikes so Beamster and I could hit the road.
It was about 9:30 when we left UB heading towards the Altanbulag border crossing.
That days ride was not real special, we didn't even bother to take pictures. So we just put on some music and drove on towards the border.
The part of Mongolia before the border is still beautiful but looks a lot like places we had been to before in western Europe.
The surroundings slowly turned into green hills with more and more trees.
In the last town before the border we stopped to fill-up the bikes and do some shopping.
We reached the border at 14:30 and it took us till 17:30 to get across. Just before we got there 3 big touring cars full of tourists drove to the customs. And I think waiting in line is not in their dictionary
All the time we have been in the customs building they were pushing, pulling, arguing and trying to get to the front of the queue. They were all traveling in the same bus...
But we made it across without a hassle.

On the other side of the border the landscape became even more greenish .
We drove on towards Ulan Ude following the A165 for a few hours. Near lake Gusinoye we decided to look for a place to pitch our tent and drove onto some forest tracks looking for a spot.
When we found one with a great view we could see big black clouds started rolling in over the lake.
That's why we decided to get back on our bikes to find a different spot and were hoping the rain would leave us alone.

We passed the town of Gusinoozyorsk before tried some other forest tracks in search of a good place to sleep.
Which we did eventually.

It was not the most beautiful spot but we were sure nobody would wake us that night.

[ROD CURRIE]

To have been brought up in a Christian Scotland was to be taught that about the Mongol conquests with a shudder, and it was never mentioned without the usual strapline "murdering heathen hordes".

My own opinion (and it is only that) is that hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if the church and city elders had not been looking to their own salvation in this life and beyond. Each city was offered a choice to become an ally state of the Mongols and fall under their protection. Those that chose to do this were subsumed into the Mongol nation. I'm sure they'd be taxed ( but not as much as we're feckin' taxed now..now these ARE thieving bastards!!) but the poor man would still carry on much as he had before.
For the rich and powerful however, the party would be over, and as for the the Church, they would rather see their "flock" dying with God's name on their lips that as they perceived it rather than having their souls burn in hell as heathens for eternity....so they refused the Mongols offer.
The Mongols had a simple view............if you're not my friend, you must be my enemy, and when the cities fell as they invariably did, every male over the height of a dog-cart's wheel that'd be over maybe 6 years old-was put to the sword, the women enslaved and the city sacked.

To view the Mongols simply through this prism is to ignore what had happened almost within a generation. A set of disparate warlords and tribes had been welded from a standing start into a single mighty entity answerable to one man, with common values, laws, currency. Education and philosophy, trade and exchange all soon followed. It was an astounding achievement.

Genghis sure got a bad press when I was a boy...but then again, he wasn't exactly Mr Nice Guy.

This is I think Ogedai, son of GK mentioned by Water earlier. He'll tell me if'n it aint.

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by Prutser

It was not the most beautiful spot but we were sure nobody would wake us that night.

How TF did you do that Bas?

LMFAO.

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

How TF did you do that Bas?

LMFAO.

It was Linda who added adventure to our last dull picture....

[ROD CURRIE]

We left the square and went for a stroll about the city.
Walter had warned us about the pickpockets so we were on our guard with everything of value either in zipped pockets or covered by your hand.

I wanted to buy a T-shirt for my brother as I usually bring him one back from wherever I am, so we went into various touristy shops to see if I could find a good quality example. Alas all the shops I tries had the same tat you get in nine out of ten shops in any city and I couldn't find one I was happy to give as a wee presmo.

We'd just left a shop and were strolling along chatting when Terry barked "gerrof yer bastard" and spun round and flattened a guy who'd been down on his hunkers (bent double) trying to unzip terry's cargo pocket in his strides to steal his iPhone . Unbelievable!
Unlucky thief as "Sugar Ray" Brown caught him with a haymaker and sent him sprawling on the pavement.

It fair put a spring in Terry's walk all that day. Tourists 1, scallywags 0..

Don't mess with Mrs Brown's lad.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

This is I think Ogedai, son of GK mentioned by Water earlier. He'll tell me if'n it aint.

I think its Sukhbaatar ...

20th century guy who won Mongolian independence from China

[ROD CURRIE]

That evening we left the hotel to look for a restaurant.
It had been pretty poor pickings the night before on the resto front, there'd been a few but most were "too something", or "not something enough" if you know what I mean and eventually we'd gone into one that was so good...... none of us has mentioned it. There was nothing the matter with it really and maybe we just weren't in the right frame of mind...it was just a bit too quiet and polite and white dinner jacketed service and maybe something a bit more earthy might have been better? I dunno.

Anyway, tonight we turned left leaving the hotel and within a few yards were awash with restos, girlie bars and even one of those places (Love Hotels)where young couples that still live at home with Ma and Pa can book a room to jump each other.

Now, damned attractive though I'm sure Mr Brown is (and it'd been a while!), both he and I have our own properties, so we eschewed the opportunity for any jumpin' action. No, no. No other reason.

We carried on down past Mongolian, Tex-Mex, Thai, burger joints ( we snagged a good burger and beer there after Terry "The Enforcers" tussled with the Forces of Darkness) but in the end found a...... wait for it..Indian-TexMex restaurant! WTF? We have to try this.


It was bang on and I had my first Indian meal for weeks-whilst it had a slightly different spin it was undoubtedly and authentically Indian.

"Another Chingis Mr C?" " How kind...don't mind if I do Mr B...cheers!" :

[Dahveed]

Its interesting to see the evolution of Walter's adventure touring rig. I just started reading the Toyko-London write up and saw how much stuff he was carrying. Contrast that with his current rig - much lighter and faster. Better suited for traveling quickly.

Then:


Now:


Oops, I meant this one:


Seems most of his bike's photos are covered with attractive females.

[davidbrundage]

Excuse my ignorance, but is the 450rr a KTM? I've seen a Honda CRF 450R that has been "rallied", is that what Lyndon is riding or is it a KTM chassis?

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by davidbrundage

Excuse my ignorance, but is the 450rr a KTM? I've seen a Honda CRF 450R that has been "rallied", is that what Lyndon is riding or is it a KTM chassis?

A 450 RR is not an enduro bike or MX bike thats been rallified. Its rally ready out of the box - In principle - everyone who has one seems to change the forks tho. A unique bike designed exclusively for long distance high speed off road riding. So it has a long swingarm and stable steering offset compared to normal off road bikes, big fuel tanks, high spec suspension, an effective fairing .... basically apart from the worked motor, its exactly what I look for in an adventure bike. Yes KTM make it. Its a separate and unique bike from everything else they make, and they sell a few hundred a year, but they arent on the KTM webpage. Supply is limited tho and so KTM prefer to sell them to people on the rally scene.

Yes Lyndon owns a 450 RR, and thats what he is rallying.

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mod...ly%20%2011.htm

[BELSTAFF]

It is a factory special Dakar bike,KTM through & through.

You & I will probably never see one for real, however they are as thick as fleas on a dog in SA right now,so much so that some

fellows are giving their motors away to needy Frenchmen

[mirificus]

i just spend 1.5 h reading youer rr and it looks just awesome, great pics and details.

thanks for saring

[dashmoto]

Originally Posted by BELSTAFF

You & I will probably never see one for real,

I've seen a few in the wild. They're as lovely as you'd expect for what they cost. There is really nothing else on the market like it. Beautifully put together.

Since Walter's been less than complementary about the XT660Z in past ride reports, here's a video of me overtaking a £30k dirtbike on my 2009 Tenere* - http://vimeo.com/46708987 (at 3m45).

I've also tow-started Pyndon's 450RR**. Some things about KTMs never change














* in a non-timed/liaison section of a rally. I did actually beat him over the timed stages as well though.

** he then proceeded to complete all the timed stages that weekend in approximately half the time it took me. The talented bastard. Should have asked him to return the favour and tow me round the rest of the course

[duibhceK]

Originally Posted by dashmoto

I've seen a few in the wild. They're as lovely as you'd expect for what they cost. There is really nothing else on the market like it. Beautifully put together.

And for the 30k they are delivered with a replacement engine. As mentioned elsewhere, these are built with 1 thing in mind: racing.

Honda's CRF450R are a totally new bike and seem to be doing quite well, definitely a contender for the coming years if they're further improved and tuned. Except for the name there is little it shares with the regular CRF450. Besides the gearbox most everything is different.