Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Phrog]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Walter, in this photo you look like you could be long lost brothers.

Great report mate.

[blkhrt81]

Seems unlikely to me that wolves were responsible for the deaths, with them all so close together, I'd be much more inclined to think some type of poisoning or even a lightning strike. Some plants can induce a form of bloat that kills pretty fast.

[DyrWolf]

Walter
Just wondering why no center stand on the XChallenge? Mine works great and not having any friends to help lift the bike its a must have for me.

[MTrider16]

Originally Posted by Prutser

When the "cowboy" came, one of the first things he did was check the cows for bite marks. I was standing next to him while he checked the calf. He was pointing to some marks on the throat..... So poisoning....unlikely.

For us this find was proof of what Zhan (the farmer) told us. A lot of his livestock was killed by wolves.
They even take down some of his horses from time to time.

Dehydration would be unlikely too, because his staff keeps an eye out for them during the day. With the people living and herding livestock on the steppes for generations and the animals being of great value to them, they will make sure they have something to drink in times of drought.

Zhan also told us that most wolf packs out there consist of 3 wolfs. They could have chased the cattle until they were exhausted and died of stress and exhaustion.

Just like what I've seen on discovery channel (to many times)

Don't worry Pruster, its an ongoing debate here in the US. Lots of people like to think of Wolves as harmless puppy dogs. If the chatter gets too obnoxious ask the Moderators to trim the thread. -David

[gsd4me]

Originally Posted by Phrog

Walter, in this photo you look like you could be long lost brothers.

Time to 'fess up Walter, are you these peoples long lost relation from the Antipodes?

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by MTrider16

Don't worry Pruster, its an ongoing debate here in the US. Lots of people like to think of Wolves as harmless puppy dogs. If the chatter gets too obnoxious ask the Moderators to trim the thread. -David

I'm not worried MT.For us it was another thing to talk about. How the cows where killed wil always be a gues.
( it sounds exiting to say that wolfs killed them to the folks at home )
But later this trip we were told again they are not the harmless puppy dogs.......! And there are plenty of them out there.

Walter has told me about the wolves up north. Things locals told him

Mods please no trimming the thread.

Now lets ride on

[ciedema]

Originally Posted by MuddySump

Is the montana the same thing? can be used as a gps too but doesn't tell you proper directions just shows a direct line to the destination you put in?


Thanks

There is a big thread on Montana's in the GPS section. Depending on what sort of map you have loaded in the unit (routable or not) it will either follow the roads or draw a straight line.

It is also possible just to freehand a track on the unit using the relevant software (Garmin, Google Earth, Oziexplorer just to name a few) or use some else's recorded track.

This just a brief answer, if you want lots of info please let me know and I can help out.

[PhillipsMetal]

I think someone asked earlier, but I never saw an answer - do you use some kind of water purification system?

Thanks for taking us along for the ride. I will be ordering my DVD.

[Cutsit]

Originally Posted by blkhrt81

Seems unlikely to me that wolves were responsible for the deaths, with them all so close together, I'd be much more inclined to think some type of poisoning or even a lightning strike. Some plants can induce a form of bloat that kills pretty fast.

+ 1 on the lightning strike. When they are that close together is seems most plausible. I would think the wolves would leave more blood.

[mrpincher]

Cattle are stupid but they're not completely helpless. Hard to believe what I'm seeing.

Cattle are not all going to stand around while killed one at a time by wolves, there's no defensive wounds, no sign of thrashing or struggle.

Poison would kill at different rates and I think dehydration would as well. I've watched cattle die from eating poison plants - in this case it was a long laborious thrashing death.

Lightning seems the most probable cause given the story of rain showers the evening before and that they all died seemingly standing together in a group.

Sad - terrific story though guys and gal.

[Colebatch]

We left the cowboy with his dead cows and continued down fading double track:



Until we began seeing strange shapes on the landscape. We had reached the polygon ... the area where the Soviets tested their atmospheric nuclear weapons.

Bunkers in the distance:





Naturally, we checked them out.





We saw other strange constructions:





So we checked them out too:

Apparently they were concrete pillars built to see what atomic bombs nearby do to them. All part of the testing process



The horizon was littered was concrete towers full of measuring equipment, fake buildings, fake railway bridges, fake railway tunnels even. All part of seeing what damage can be done to them when you drop an A or H bomb nearby.



It was great fun:

[Colebatch]

[Klay]

I find the plains so alluring. More so with a smattering of cold war history.

[Erik500]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Great footage, and the "Onedin Line" theme made me smile

[Packer]

Originally Posted by Erik500

Great footage, and the "Onedin Line" theme made me smile

The way they had the bikes dancing across the steppe the choice of music may have been a result of it being from a ballet, Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian, an Armenian Soviet era composer. Good choice whatever the reason.