Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[WJW]

Walter and Terry

I want to thank you both for taking us along on your travels, You have taken a trip most of us can only dream of.

THANK YOU AGAIN

[norexit]

Originally Posted by rdwalker

Now, let me get this straight. You built a wheel just by setting the spokes, without a rig? You are a damn magician! That is something I would never attempt - and I did work on bicycle and motorcycle spoke wheels.

A fork or swing arm with a bit of cardboard taped to it works almost as well has a fancy stand.

[sion]

Originally Posted by EtronX

Bolot, Erik, Terry and Adrian at the Chinese market in Yakutsk

I thought that guy (Bolot) looked familiar...see the first couple mins of this video:

[asilindean]

Hi guys,

Great trip you had and an awesome ride report. I wont start mine until this one is ready

So, I was in Yakutsk now with Sibirsky Extreme ,Trans Sibir eXpedition 2012 and Kudu Expeditions. What better company could I have asked for.

I was on my own solo trip which took me from Romania to Bulgaria - Turkey - Georgia - Armenia - Georgia - Azerbaijan - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan - Tajikistan - Kirghistan - Kazakhstan - Russia - Mongolia - Russia to Vladivostok and then by boat north to Magadan where my trip back would start.

I was getting to Yakutsk after I have finished the Roads of Bones via the new road (Magadan, Susuman, Ust-Nera, Kyubuyme, Khadinga, Yakutsk). Did not manage to do the all of the Old Summer Road since I fried my clutch ..... Great experience and a huge thank to Russian Emergency Services for coming after my and my bike.
Piece of advise: get a Spot Tracker.

There is always a next time, and now I have a serious reason to go back :)

I had a great time with the above mentioned guys. Was good to see Terry again, which I knew for Doug's Motocamp in Bulgaria in the previous year.



I finally meet Walter, since we knew each other only from the online.
It has been said before, but Walter, we were there because of you. Thanks for all the work done to provide adventure motorcyclists with a huge amount of information about the area and for inspiration. Was great meeting you.



And it was great to know the crazy norvegians Geir, Erik and Steve. Great guys and we had a lot a fun in the city. Day and night

Also there were Jeff and Neil from Kudu Expedition which I met 2 weeks ago in Magadan after finishing their London to Magadan Tour. Very nice people, very friendly and we had lots of beers together. Also very helpful a and give me some of their stuff and spares for the way back. Thanks guys!



When they left Magadan 5 days before me we said good bye and hope will not meet again in this trip, because if we did, some of us will be in trouble. We did meet, in Yakutsk and later in Moscow



Back to Yakutsk. We had a long ride by taxi in and around the city to look for spares, oil and other bits we needed. A huge thanks to Bolot for coming with us and help sort things out. Great guy. Check his website: www.askyakutia.com, he has a lot of useful information about the area.



In the evening we had some beers at Lena Hotel


The things in Chicago Bar started well, and continued even better. My memory is also fuzzy... especially after vodka shot number x...







The next day we went to see the ice cave from Planet Yakutia. Great experience, and safe since I was with the Jedi's and Dark Lord Terry (a bit of hangover he got, but so did we).









Packing and preparing to leave




After a few days of fun, repairs and rest it was time to get back on the road again. I will go towards Myrni, Lensk then down the Lena River to Lake Baikal, the TransSiberian and home to Romania. At least that was the plan.....



The norvegians prepare to take to Roads of Bones to Magadan via the Old Summer Road.

Great year, amazing people and a hell of a ride. Thank you all!

[MizzouRider]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

"These trips are maybe a way of stripping life back and shucking off the trappings of adulthood (these things we so wanted)-Homes with attendant mortgages, children, work pressures -all this work stuff that's SO IMPORTANT at the time and you're hurling yourself at the wall to make it happen-but it'll be forgotten in a year, paying the bills........ and allowing yourself to take all your pleasure-and motivation- again from just riding a bike in the wilderness, camping, smelling the flowers, having good people around you.

All you have to worry about is have you gas in the tank, food for tonight and a beer?-you're sorted."

I might be changing my sig line.. With credit to you Rod, of course.. This captures my thoughts very well...

[Gravel Seeker]

Originally Posted by asilindean

Hey.... she's wearing a musician skirt.... or musikant-skjørt (les: mus-i-kant) as it's known in Norwegian.... and only the Norwegians will get that reference

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by elias

Walter could the rim from your XC fit in the F 800? they are both BMW. And then you could take a new one in Moscow. Steve could pay for that if you wanted.

Any 21 inch rim would fit. The main question is one of practicality.

We could not change wheels as Terry and I were both running KTM spec wheels despite the fact they were on BMWs. The wheels would not have fitted Steve's bike. The only solution was to pull the wheel apart to get a rim.

We had planned to get in touch with off road bikers in Yakutsk and see if they had any rims they could sell Steve. Then we saw kudu with spare wheels. The simplest solution was to use one of those. Terry and I had to ride our bikes back from Moscow to western Europe in 4 weeks, just 1 week after the bikes were due to arrive. So there would be very little time to effect a solution. Terry and I were not waiting around in Moscow for the bikes - we were going to fly in and ride them out the next day. Also we both had top quality excel rims. There is no stock of those in Moscow to replace our rims with. It would potentially have been very expensive for Steve to arrange for an A60 rim to be imported to Moscow, pay import duty and then get it laced to my hub.

The solution with kudu was the most logical on every count.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by rdwalker

On another note: I thought you guys were riding in the middle of nowhere. Far away. Yet, anywhere you go, you meet fellow travelers. What's the matter. is the place totally overrun by moto adventurers? Is it like New York City, where the only pedestrians on a weekend are tourists?

If you start on the BAM road and plan to end up in Magadan, there is only one road. And everyone passing thru is in touch with Bolot - our man in Yakutsk. When you email him and tell him you will be in town in 3 days time he tells you who else will be around - cyclists, motorcyclists, 4wd expeditioners - Bolot knows all.

There is only a 6 week season up there anyway - almost everyone to go up there goes betweenm mid july and end august. Probably 20-30 a season and most stay in Yakutsk a few days to prepare for road of bones. So you always have a chance to meet people there.

[GiorgioXT]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

No cafe here ... just grabbed what we could from the village store. A couple of pirozhki.

Sorry for arriving late, but I had the feeling to have already seen these places (even if still never been there) ,so I fetched an old family album : some 1942 photos taken by my father when was soldier in WWII are strangely similar.

[DyrWolf]

I have noticed that along this trip a lot of buildings have the trim painted blue. This is not common in the U.S and was wondering if there is any significance to the color. Maybe a welcome?

[mario33]

Originally Posted by DyrWolf

I have noticed that along this trip a lot of buildings have the trim painted blue. This is not common in the U.S and was wondering if there is any significance to the color. Maybe a welcome?

Possibly our Russian friends can give more explanation, but on general note. Blue is generally a colour of human life. And its got much more meaning in Eastern Orthodox icon painting: blue is human, while red is God.

If you look at icons of Jesus and Mary: Jesus wears red undergarment with a blue outer garment (God become Human) and Mary wears a blue undergarment with a red overgarment (human was granted gifts by God),

Lots of buildings showing blue trim in Ukraine, Russsia, rural Greece etc. Everywhere where Orthodox religion remains strong.

[DyrWolf]

I love this interactive book!

[VFR]

Still following along here. I notice in the pictures that Terry, like me, only wears his glasses when he needs to see something....

Fantastic report, Guys!!!

[revmaaatin]

Originally Posted by mario33

Possibly our Russian friends can give more explanation, but on general note. Blue is generally a colour of human life. And its got much more meaning in Eastern Orthodox icon painting: blue is human, while red is God.



Lots of buildings showing blue trim in Ukraine, Russsia, rural Greece etc. Everywhere where Orthodox religion remains strong.

A good read is Mario Puzo's book, "The Sicilian" as it explains a 'lot' about the cultural colors of peoples homes in Sicily...and many don't even know why they choose certain colors. It might not explain the family-colors where the ride takes place, but there is enough carry over that you will get the drift.

[stemic01]

Originally Posted by rdwalker

Now, let me get this straight. You built a wheel just by setting the spokes, without a rig? You are a damn magician! That is something I would never attempt - and I did work on bicycle and motorcycle spoke wheels.

rdwalker: compared to the old one - how bad could it possibly go haha. There were a couple of moments I felt like this did not go very well, but it actually became quite good. Guess I am putting on a Excel rim on the bike this summer - still not sure if I should try to do it myself again or give it in the hand of a professional :) Guess it might be an idea to get it done!