Trans Sibir eXpedition 2012

[EtronX]

The road from Tynda to Yakutsk took its toll on everyone. It was raining hard. The road was shait and it was cold. Maybe 6 C. It was slippery as h**l and the bike was all over the place. Fortunately I had brought with me my Klin electric heated vest. That was a winner. At least I wan't freezing my nuts off. The mud got everywhere and the engine got hot.




But Terry, Terry was smiling as always. What was going on inside of him he didn't show. He was just smiling and being a great motivator :clap I admire him for that.




As said before, this is one of those days you question yourself "fhat the wuck am I doing here..."

[EtronX]

It was quite a shock for us that Walter and Terry decided to call it a day in Yakutsk. Walter announced this on the ferry crossing the Lena river. We did understand it though. They had been on the road for a long time and they drive hard. No vacation pace and time to smell the flowers there.

We tried our best to persuade them to join us to Magadan. Walter had been there before and lots of parts to pick up at Boris' place in Moscow He definitively wouldn't go.




Terry really wanted to go, but was pretty knackered from the trip and tired off the handlebars falling off all the time :becca




We did though have a plan to try to turn Terry around. A few days of R&R would just maybe do it How could we motivate the old warrior? We figured that a night on the town would do it :1drink I will get back to this matter later...

The hotel was nice



And on Saturday the 11th of August we met Bolot. Bolot is a local guy from Yakutsk. He is very friendly and really helpful. He took the day of from the wife and kids and helped us get stuff. When he doesn't help foreigners on tour, he runs the Ask Yakutia web page. There you can find lots of info about the area.

We rented a cab and went shopping By the look on Adrian's face I don't think he quite realized what kind of a gang he joined :happay




We got the stuff we'd set out to get. The better part of the day we did this.
Bolot, Erik, Terry and Adrian at the Chinese market in Yakutsk

[Bimma]

Dette var fantastisk spennende lesning Geir :-)å

Helt utrolig at dere kom dere velberget igjennom denne turen . Speseielt jernbanebroene med alle togene som passerte, må til tider ha vært svært nervepirrende.... :-)å I tillegg til alle de andre utfordringene som sto i kø...

Veldig hyggelig å stifte bekjentskap med deg på helgens mc-messe, og tusen takk for at du viste meg noen videosnutter og tipset meg om denne fantastiske turen!
Gleder meg til flere spennende historier fra deg og dine turkamerater!


Mvh.
Wenche Hornbøll

[EtronX]

At the next fuel stop I noticed that my front rim had got some new dents in them. I had now been riding slower and more taken it more easy than on the BAM road and it seemed like it were weaker than before. Maybe the heat treatment in Yakutsk had made it even softer than it was. A borrowed a large hammer from a truck driver at the gas station. I banged it as hard as I could to try to straighten it. (Any footage here Geir?). Not that I care to much about the looks of the RIM or that it is a little bit bent, but it is a good idea to keep the edge of the rim to seal against the tyre to avoid sand, water and dirt to enter. That will only give punctures and troubles.

Pictures

Trying to fix the rim.




I need tools...




I use tools...

[EtronX]

It was a strange day when we left Walter and Terry in Yakutsk. Their bikes had been loaded on a lorry and sent to Moscow. They would leave soon after.




We bid our farewells in the morning and left.




The night before we all had a nice time with a few beers. Walter gave us a lot of tips for the road ahead and Terry was smiling as always.




I will now talk a little about Walter and Terry. I will start with Terry

I think Terry is the ideal riding buddy. Alway smiling He has a ton of experience and his mood is always top ten. Not a foul word did ever come out of his mouth. "I just love to ride my bike", he often said. Nothing more, nothing less I admire him for that.
If there is a tiny itsy bitsy Vodka around, he is always up for it :1drink And Terry moves the dance floor :rilla
In short, Terry is just a great guy to be around and I hope I will have the honor of riding with him again.




Walter is a walking encyclopedia of the region. Most people with his kind of knowledge usually feel they are a bit above the rest. Not so with Walter. He willingly shares all his information and wisdom to those who asks. With great patience :clap When I contacted him a couple of years ago he was there right away dispensing his advise and thoughts. He really wanted to share his love for the region and to encourage other people to go there. I admire him for that and he is a role model for others to follow

Just like Terry, Walter is always positive. When things broke down or we had a bad hair day, "No problem". Walter is also very creative. Always looking for ways to improve his bike and new areas of the world to explore

In short, Walter is a great guy and I hope I will have the honor of riding with him again.




Again, thank you both, from the bottom of my heart, for being the wonderful human beings you are :clap

[EtronX]

We rode out of Yakutsk after saying goodbye to the guys. Along the way there were some nice monuments honoring "The Great Patriotic War". Always great photo opportunities




The stretch today was about 420 km's with two major river crossings. First was the Lena River in Yakutsk. As always a lot of locals came to talk.




We made sure to get our sticker up on the barge. If you ever come across one of these, please take a picture with you in it and send it along




The roads were good, but a bit dusty. We could keep a good pace. I'll take dust any day of the week compared to mud and rain :huh I figure it is Genghis Khan standing here.




Not much exciting happened that day with regards to the riding. This was basically a transport stretch for us to do in order to start on the Old Summer Road. We got to the Aldan River where we jumped on a new barge. This trip is upstream and it takes almost two hours, but it is a beautiful voyage

Preparing for departure.




Steve is enjoying the scenery




It was a nice day.




We all caught some Zzzz's :bubba




Just as we got of the barge I saw a guy on a bicycle. That was Christian, the Swiss guy we had met in Yakutsk, on his way to Magadan. We waved and set course for Khandyga, about 35 click's away. Just as we left the settlement of Keskil there were road works going on. They had filled up the road with loose gravel and it was pretty horrendous to drive there. The bikes were all over the place :eek1 This went on for about 25 km's.

Finally we got into Khandyga at around 2230. Among Walter's GPS points there is a B&B marked in Khandyga. After a little while we found the place. It was in the middle of a housing estate. We looked around if there was a secure place to park the bikes when this lovely young lady came along in a pimped Land Cruiser. She and her boyfriend had a container outside which they used as a garage for stuff. She opened up and told us to put the bikes inside :clap




We got installed in our rooms and then went out for some chow. Stocking up for the next days. Tomorrow the plan for us was to reach Kyubyume. There we would leave the M56 and got to Tomtor. The start of the Old Summer Road

[EtronX]

We left Khandygan in the morning. The roads were nice, but the scenery a bit dull. This was for us another transport stretch. We got our heads down and twisted the throttles as good as we could. Then we literarily came around a bend and we had the most magnificent mountains ahead of us.




We were now following the river Vostochnaya and the scenery was beautiful.




There were quite a bit of road work in the area. This is the main road to Magadan, via Ust Nera, and there are a lot big trucks using the road.




Since the M56 is gravel you also have the dust when it is dry. That said, I'll take the dust any given day compared to the mud :huh




We had a really great time riding now. Everyone set their own pace and just enjoyed the moment.




The goal of the day was Kyubyueme, 330 kilometer's from Khandyga. There is a gas station there, a place to eat (I think the word restaurant is a bit over the top when describing the establishment) and Kyubyueme is also where you will leave the M56 in order to go to Tomtor and the Ols Summer Road.

The first thing we did when we got there was to get some gas.




Then we payed the girl in the "office". One note here. It is the same girl who is part of the "diner" crew. We had to walk over and get her. Between the gas station and the "diner" there are a lot of dogs. They looked ominously at us and circled around us. Not very aggressive, but on a high alert. I think you have to look very confident when you pass dogs like that. They will smell fear. While we were eating the dogs attacked a truck driver and he had to fight the dogs off with his Vodka bottle...

We got the girl and got the gas (no pun intended . New note. She is really friendly and she collects coins from all over the world. If you happen to pass buy, remember to bring some change from home

After we got the gas we had to put up our sticker. Adrian and Walter had also requested us to put up their stickers, which we did :deal




After the feeding frenzy we got ready to cross the Kyubyueme river. This is the first major obstacle you meet when you want to ride the Old Summer Road

[EtronX]

Yes Walter, we followed your advise. After gas and food we crossed the river. We wanted to start the next day dry. The first little bit was OK, but a bit rocky below the surface.




It was a good thing that Steve had water proof Metal Mule panniers :clap




The river proper was a different ballgame. It was wide and the current was strong. We did spend the better part of an hour reccing the river and finding the best route. Then we carried all our stuff over before taking the bikes.




As always when you cross a large river it is good when it is all done and the bikes are on dry surface




There is a deserted village just after the crossing. The gas station there was closed so there was no Snickers that night




After looking around a bit, we found a nice place to stay. There was only one guy living in the village so we could choose the pièce de résistance freely.




We got our tents up inside and went for a walk about.




There were lots of photo opportunities around.




And of course we had to take the obligatory group photo




As we cranked up a fire the one and only inhabitant of the settlement joined us. He had been living there by his lonesome for a long long time. Hunting and catching fish. He invited us to stay in his house, and told us it might get cold during the night. Typical Russian hospitality :clap We thankfully declined the nice offer and told him we had good sleeping bags. We also explained that we already had put up our tents inside one of the houses. He did spend the evening with us sharing food and drink He told us about his life out there in the wilderness and we asked about bears. It was a good evening.

[EtronX]

We stayed two nights in Tomtor. Rain was pouring down and rivers were raising fast. Things could have looked better :huh

In the house we lived there were a few other guys. Polish guys. After we got installed we had a chat and a beer with the guys on the porch. These guys were very experienced expeditioners. They traveled between 250 and 300 days every year. All over the world. The boss was Jerzy Romejko. A Polish finance guy who spent his money traveling. With him he had two guys. One of them was a pretty famous Polish video/photographer, whom I can't remember the name of. Their plan was to trek 160 kilometers from Tomtor to a mountain range to the south. Using horses to carry equipment. Then raft some 300 km's down to Okhotsk :clap Just the three of them. Obviously this has never been done before.




Now, why would you do anything like this? I have taken the liberty of copying some stuff from Jerzy's web page. The story is quite fascinating, just like the people you meet traveling :clap



In 2005 when I was planning an expedition to Kamchatka I read the book titled “Hot Waterfalls” written by Lennart Meri which were describing expedition of young Estonians to the valley of geysers located on Kamchatka. This valley is a unique and only place on earth with such a great number of geysers gushing from mountain slops overgrown with evergreen grass and moss. In one of commentaries to this book, the history of Maurycy August Beniowski was described, after his fight for Polish freedom in Bar Confederation was sent to Kamchatka to Ust Bolshereck at Okhotsk Sea. There he stirred rebellion and hijacked tsarist ship, pride of Russian fleet “Saint Peter and Paul”.

I got so intrigued and interested in this character since I have been personally on Kamchatka I’ve reached Ust Bolshereck looking for traces after Beniowski but in vain.

The Russians busily conceal traces of incidents that in the eyes of the world could ridicule or discredit them in any way. Beniowski had those Russians for his companions – exiles, seaman’s and “free mans” – long inhabitants of Kamchatka. He manage to convince them to rebellion and escaped on tsarist ship to distant waters of Bering Sea. I should add here that among others on of the victims of the rebellion was Nilov – governor of Bolshereck, who – being under influence –wanted to arrest Beniowski. However, he didn’t succeed as he was hit a bit too hard on the head by Khrushchev accompanying Maurycy.

The Russians looked for Beniowski in the south water but our hero was cruising for over dozen months and he was discovering new lands on North Pacific. After many efforts he reached Portuguese enclave Macao and further he has reach Europe. This history resonated loudly in the whole World of that time among others because of August Friedrich von Kotzuebe, who wrote drama titled “Count Beniowski, conspiracy on Kamchatka”. As a result of that he was sent to Siberia by Catherine II . Beniowski on behalf of French king Louis XV made colonizing expedition to Madagascar. Later on the second expedition without help of France, Great Britain, Austria or the United States, which were not interested in bold plans of Beniowski. Only personal acquaintance with Benjamin Franklin and John H. De Magellan let him organize and make the second expedition to “the red island”. Frenchman formed and sent to Madagascar special expeditionary force to do “order” with inconvenient rebel and usurper. Proclaimed Ampansacabe by the Malagasy people, which is the king, he died defending his fort Mauritania hit by French bullet.

Not so long ago was 200th anniversary since death of Maurycy Beniowski. Unfortunately there are very few traces left after him, a lot of people came into considerable capital on his name, but Beniowski himself was forgotten. In the capital city of Madagascar Antanarivo there is a street called with his name, in town Maroantsetra (Antongil Bay) the Hungarians built an obelisk with plaque near his place of death (peninsula Masoala – Cap Est near the village Ambodirafia) in January 2010 Slovaks founded and placed plaque on completely forgotten and devastated monument.

Beniowski was a citizen of the world, he fought for freedom of several nations. He was traveler and adventurer or a pirate but also a man, who opposed slavery on Madagascar. Because of his rebellion, hijacking the ship and ridiculing Russia in Poland Beniowski was presented as a negative figure. Only few Polish researches had the courage to tell the truth about him. Similar actions discrediting the character of Beniowski were taken by Frenchman. As precursor of abolishing slavery and as the “King of Madagascar” he clearly disturbed them. His activity was inconvenient for them and seriously harmful to “business” run on Madagascar.

Maurycy Beniowski left memories behind. They were translated into various languages. The most objective ones are in English from 1790 edited by William Nicholson. Reading this translation and also monograph of researches based mainly on this source seems to be most reasonable and reliable. In 1995 we have witnessed a full and fair translation into Polish language his “Memories”. This tough and hard work has prosecuted polish writer, journalist and diplomat – Edward Kajdański

In 2009 we made decision about looking for traces of Beniowski on Madagascar and his true story. A Polish symbol of remembrance after Beniowski on Madagascar will be a plaque on his monument near the village Ambodirafia. We will bring it from Poland and place it next to Slovak one. Short content – Maurycy August Bieniowski – King of Madagascar – in 6 languages in his honor and memory. Our expedition begins on 17 april 2010. We hope that will add more supporters to Beniowski – a citizen of the free world.


Now his search had led Jerzy and crew to Tomtor :clap

[EtronX]

As Steve wrote, we'd gotten many warnings about doing the Old Summer Road. Due to the rain the rivers were high and the road was impossible to ride.

"No Kamaz, no Ural, no machine can drive now", one truck driver who stopped us said. Bad news :boid

I did some sms'ing with Walter and finally we all decided to drive back to Kyubyueme and then do the Federal Road via Ust Nera to Magadan. I asked if we could drive to the first river and check. Just to confirm that is was impossible. That was some 60 click's to the first major river. The majority voted no due to the fact that this would add another 120 km's to the already long way around.

We saddled up and set course for Kyubyueme. I felt sick to my stomach. It felt so wrong to turn around now. After god knows how many kilometers and just give in :huh

We drive for three kilometers and then I stopped. I said to the guys that I could not just turn around like that. That I had to see the rivers with my own blue eyes. If it looked to bad then I would turn. If they didn't want come I would meet up with them later. I just had to go and check.

There is a saying that goes something like this: "Similar minds think the same", or "if you think the same, you don't think much". Whatever, the guys had the same gut feeling and both Erik and Steve were keen to give it a look when I stopped and asked. We turned around

We passed a nice bridge and all was "A OK"




Then we passed some old houses of some kind. Still "A OK"




So far, so good. The weather was nice and it was basically a great day for riding motorcycles :clap Then came the first major hurdle. After about 60 k's. The bridge was gone. The sides were steep and it looked like we might run into some problems. Maybe what the locals said was right :ear




The river wasn't that deep, but getting down to the river was the problem. Steve checks the "road". As you can see on his face he looks a bit skeptical



It was muddy and the mud was deep. The XC's might be OK, but Steve's heavy 800 would be hard to get through. We decided to try his bike first. We were all fresh and rested. If push came to shove, we could always drag his bike back on the road again. It would just take some time

Here Steve sets of with great contempt of death :hair




Steve got his bike down to the river OK and Erik and I followed. The crossing was easy, and it was just a little off road in deep mud tracks and we where all back on the road again. 1-0 to the home team :clap

[EtronX]

We continued further into the depths of no mans land. The scenery was absolutely stunning :clap




Some places the road was great




Some places the road was gone




Some places the bridges were gone




Some places there were even road signs, on the Old Summer Road :rofl




We kept on trucking and crossed a river or two.




After some time we had ridden maybe 120 kilometers. When we crossed the river below we had come to the point of no return. It wasn't as bad as everyone had said, but turning back would not be an option. A lot of the rivers we had crossed had very steep banks on the western side and more shallow on the eastern side. That meant that going back would be pretty tough




We were now committed. We would have to finish the Old Summer Road. If worse came to the worst we had food for at least a week each. Now we all hoped for no rain in the next days

[EtronX]

On the Old Summer Road there are two major road signs. One is the sign showing the border between Yakutia Oblast and Magadan Oblast. When entering Magadan Oblast the road turns worse




The next is the one below. I will now make a promise :deal I you take a picture of yourself in front of this sign I will personally buy you a beer when we meet 3

[EtronX]

When you ride on a long trip like this, and several people riding together, you will notice differences among the group. Some drive fast, some drive slow, some stay up late, some get up early, some don't need to eat during the day and some needs food at regular times. All this gets very clear after a while. Nothing wrong with that, we are all just different.




When we rode together with Walter and Terry, Steve and Erik mostly rode together. I rode some with Walter (if i could keep up) and some with Terry. When it was just the three vikings I kept a bit higher speed than the rest, but waited at regular intervals in order to make sure that everyone where there. This is all OK when the roads are OK. When the roads get worse you need to do it differently. You need to work more as a team.




What I think was nice with the Old Summer Road is that the team spirit was very high and the three of us worked very well together. The tougher it got, the better the team worked.




Steve, Erik and I are all very individualistic persons. We like to do it our way and all like to be in charge. The Old Summer Road made us all a team. A very strong team where the sum of all were not three, but tenfold that. It was a very nice experience :clap

[EtronX]

When you ride the Old Summer Road you will inevitably cross some rivers Depending on the recent weather that can be easy or that can be impossible. We had our challenges with the rivers, but all turned out OK. Some were hard, but we managed to come through without drowning our bikes or ourself :rofl Luck is a key element here. Not riding wise, but weather wise. We got lucky with the weather :clap

Now, you may all think that the rivers were the hard and scary parts, and to some extent you might be right. In the beginning the rivers were pretty frightening, but in the end we had done quite a few and got the routine down pretty good. Just like crossing the rail road bridges

On the Old Summer Road the scary part were not the rivers, but the puddles in the road. The ones you just feel like flying over, not even bothering taking the time to check properly. You just want to crank it open and whisk by...

Well don't. Do indeed check the puddles. They might look like something a toddler would love to play in, but if he did he would be gone for good :eek1

This was one of the warm up puddles Don't look to bad, does it?




This was the qualifying one. I passed on the XC first. That bike has a pretty high air intake. The GS 800 has a slightly lower one :rofl




The bike had some asthma when it got ashore on the other side :knary

[EtronX]

There are a lot of theories when it comes to river crossings. Cross on the quiet part. Cross on the rough part. Choose a line and cross just before the water starts to break. Don't cross. All these are just rough guidances. Depending on the river, one way of doing it work here, another way there :norton

In this river the current was pretty strong. We could hardly ford the damn thing. After some reccing we decided on the rules of engagement. We would have to follow the shoreline upwards first in order to gain height. Then, at the approximate angle, based on:

X=the speed of the current,
Y=the depth of the current,
Z=the condition of the riverbed,

we could figure out the:

A=exit point.
B=entry point.

The PDCA Wheel is a good tool to use here, but if you get to the P once more in the actual process of crossing you have lost :rofl

Just before the end of the crossing it got slightly deeper. Just suck it in and keep going :eek1




When you hit the shore you have to open up, sometimes to the dismay of your comrades That said, neither of them had had a shower in days...

[EtronX]

You might expect that when you travel through the wilderness of the Sakha Republic you would meet lots of wild animals. The area is vast. Yakutia is the largest subnational governing body, by area, in the world. Just slightly smaller than India. If Yakutia was a country it would be the eight largest in the world :huh The area is huge. So is the wilderness. When you leave Tomtor you have almost 400 kilometers of nothing before you arrive at Susuman. Nothing except some of the most beautiful areas that I have ever ridden on a bike :clap

Before we left the mother land we were extensively briefed on what to do if we encountered bears. The morale of the story was to turn around and go back the same way you came. Never to pass the bear. This sounded good to us, and we told our anxious briefer that we would keep this in mind if those matters were to arise

What struck me on the trip, when we were in the middle of nothing, was the absence of wild life. We saw basically no wild animals. Only a few eagles maybe. No mammals of any kind. This surprised me a bit since we had heard lots about, and seen on TV, the extensive wild life of the region. I guess when you, as an animal, have the choice you tend to stay away from the roads and the noise from them. You have such a large area to roam and staying close to humans just don't make sense. Even though the roads are very sparsely frequented by mankind.

The first serious encounter we had was not long before the border between Yakutia and Magadan. It was standing tall in the middle of the road. Showing us who was the boss




Our second encounter was of a more interesting kind. Erik and I were driving up front. Erik in front of me. We had just crossed a small stream and heading up a small hill. Just as we came over the top I saw it. Erik didn't at first. He saw a big rock in the middle of the road. Then the rock moved and started to run out to the right and up a small hill. We stopped about three to four meters from a bear :eek1 It was a small cub.

I will now describe the scenery around us. Straight ahead was the road, where the bear had just seconds ago been enjoying his quiet little moment. To the right, where the bear went, there were some marsh. Maybe 20 meters wide before it was a fairly steep hill with sparse vegetation. To the left of the road there were dense small trees. About three meters high. I think it was birch. You could see for about 30 centimeters to the left. It was a bad place to be at the moment :huh

The bear ran up the hill for a few meters and then stopped. I noticed it was looking over us and slightly behind us. I suspected it was looking for mama bear. All 400 kilos of her. Erik went into default mode and did as he was told. He started to turn the bike around on the narrow road. By the direction the bear looked I had no intention of going back. I screamed to Erik to continue straight ahead. He had now turned the bike about 90 degrees, with his nose facing the dense vegetation. I passed behind him and went straight for about 50 meters, then I stopped. I had to get this bear on video

Since Erik had done the turn in quite some hurry he had managed to rip of an electrical wire of some kind on his handlebars. As he got the bike straight again it wouldn't start :kboom

He got his hands into warp speed, and after what seemed like an eternity, got the wire connected, the bike fired up and then he screamed passed me. I was now filming the cub. As I did this thoughts went through my mind on what to do if mama bear decided to show up for the party. I figured I had to lay down with the bike on top of me and hope that she would go for the bike and not me. When I look at the video afterwards the filming was pretty steady for about 12 seconds. Then I started to wiggle. I was now seriously looking for mama. I filmed for 18 seconds before I decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge. I packed up the camera and drove for a few hundred meters where I met up with Erik. We were both pretty stoked and high on adrenaline from just having almost ran over a bear :rofl The picture below is a frame from the video. Hence the quality

[EtronX]

That day we rode for 12 hours. Due to a late start we were in our tents just after midnight. We wanted to reach the Hunters Camp marked on Walters waypoints, but it got dark and we decided to call it a day. It had been the most magnificent day. The scenery was stunning. We crossed lots of rivers and the Trans Sibir eXpedition members worked great together. I was pretty shot so I jumped straight into the tent. Downloading all the pictures and video onto my Mac. Erik and Steve got a small campfire going and sat chatting for a while. Before I went to bed we agreed on that if we got rain we would break camp and press on, no matter what time it was. We had two major rivers to cross before the end of the road. We wanted to do that the next day. If it started to rain the rivers would go up fast and they would stay tall for many days. This is due to the permafrost. The water will not be absorbed by the ground, but rather just stay on the surface. We couldn't risk that.




At around five in the morning the next day I heard drumming on the tent. "Fhat the Wuck". It took a few moments before I realized what the sound was; Rain :dog I screamed: "Incoming" and we broke camp in ten minutes. After about 10 to 15 clicks we came to the first river of the day, and the second last on the Old Summer Road. The water level was fairly high and we used about an hour to get the bikes across.

When you get a combat awakening in the morning and jump into cold wet riding gear, you don't get the best start of the day. You immediately get cold and it takes some time to get the system up and running. When we jumped into the river to recce it, it was bloody cold. The water felt like glacier water. It could not have been a degree over 3 degree Celsius. It took about ten seconds and the felling in the legs was gone. First it felt like needles, then nothing.

When on the other side we got on the bikes and pressed on. All of us with mild hypothermia. I was sitting in my own little world debating with myself if I could go on or if I had to get the tent up, undress and get into my sleeping bag. I was shivering badly and my teeth were rattling so bad I was afraid they might leave their sockets. I made a mental note to self that if we had to cross one more river it was a "no go" for me. That would be dangerous. I zoomed out on the Garmin and there was one more river to cross before Hunters Camp, W97. My heart dropped :uhoh Where was the sun of yesterday??? Where was the cuddly little bear. He looked warm...

When we got to the river there was a bridge over it. My heart got back on its feet again. I could not have been more happy. I decided I would make it to Hunters Camp :clap

We got to the camp pretty early in the morning. No one was awake. We drove back and forth for a while and finally one of the locals put his head out of his living quarters. He came out in his undies, looking a bit confused. He saw that we were pretty cold and invited us inside.




There were only two rooms in the garage he stayed in. One bigger room that served as storage room and one smaller room that was the bedroom. In the latter there was a monster oven and a bed raised about one meter off the floor.The hunter cranked up the oven for us and brought us some warm tea. Just what the doctor ordered :clap We got our boots of and soon the feeling started to come back in the feet and the rest of the body. Again we got the best of Russian hospitality :clap




We had a little chat with our host. He lived out here for most of the year. Including the winter. Hunting and fishing. Take a closer look at the pictures above. This is his house. This is where he lives and functions when the temperature drops to minus 60 C. RESPECT!!!

We told him that our plan was to cross the last hurdle of the OSR, the Arkagala River. He had bad news when he heard our plans. There had been no trucks crossing the river for four days and he expected none for at least two days. The Arkagala was high and there was no way we would get across with our bikes. Somehow we felt we had heard this story before We thanked him for his tea and hospitality and said we would drive to the river and have a look. We shook hands and his look was one of: "I will see you guys again later today". He might not have meet Vikings before 3

[EtronX]

We left our host after a short hour. Warm and feeling good. It was about 60 k's to the river and we were following another river it most of the way. The roads were good and the rain had stopped.

We came to the river and there was a pretty long bridge there. From our side it looked OK. Maybe not good enough for big Kamaz and Ural's, but certainly good enough for some light bikes. I had also lost some weight on the trip so I should be OK to




We got of our bikes and started to recce the bridge. As normal on the OSR and BAM the bridge ended in thin air. There was a gap of maybe 80 meters in it. No joy. We had to ford the damn thing. As we were standing on the bridge we heard some noises. There was definitively a vehicle coming. By the sound of it it from the other side of the river. Maybe a big Kamaz and maybe we could hitch a ride over The Kamaz truned out to be an old Lada Niva. It was spitting and coughing when it came across, and the driver had to stop in order to empty the air intake. This was good news for us. Could he pass, could we pass :rofl

We drove down to have a chat with the guy. He told us that the water came just over his bonnet, but he doubted we would get across on the bikes. The current was to strong. He had been a passenger at the front wheel in his car when crossing. Drifting quite a bit down stream. This sounded like modus operandi for us. We get told it is impossible, then we go 3 In my former life someone told me:

"Never give up!
Go over, go under, go around or go through.
But never give up!"




It was time to get wet again :huh We drove down to the river, and into the river we dived




Steve did a very good job reccing the river. We were the support crew on the shore while he went back and forth. Sometimes I was sure we had to start running downstream in order to fish him up :eek1 The current was strong. The local Niva guy had got that part right.




After about an hour Steve was done and said: "Guys, it is not so much worse than some of the others we have crossed. I think it is possible."


As said, as done. We first got Steve's bike over. Then the rest :clap










You get wet crossing rivers. GoreTex or not, your feet will get wet. I used my old army boots when crossing. They are comfortable to wear and they dry out fast.




When we had gotten all our stuff over the river we changed clothes and sat down for a bit. Then it dawned on us. We had done it :clap The two major challenges on the trip was conquered. We had done the BAM and we had done the Old Summer Road :deal Not to get to spiritual here, but I felt welcome on the OSR. I had a very good feeling riding it

[EtronX]

After the Arkagala River we were now cruising First stop was the vacated town of Kadykchan. An old coal mining town. Kadykchan, in translation from the Even language, means “The Valley of Death”. The reason for this name are the underground lakes in the valley. Sometimes they erupt to the surface pretty unexpected and at random places. The natives thought the place to be bewitched.




About 7.000 people used to live in Kadykchan. Most of the inhabitants used to work in two coal mines close to the town. That was the only work available in the region. One day there was an accident in one of the coal mines and 6 workers died. After that the mine was closed. Not long after the second mine was closed as well. The people of the town were offered from 80.000 to 120.000 rubles to move out of town and relocated to other areas. Some did and some didn't. Then in the midst of the winter the officials cut off the electricity supply and disconnected all the buildings from the central heating system. No everyone moved :eek1 The private houses were then burnt down in order to prevent people from returning. These days there is only one man living in Kadykchan. An old man with his two dogs. We never met him.




It was strange driving round in this town. All the abandoned houses gave the place an eery feel. At the same time I felt watched :huh






We drove around for an hour looking at all the places and taking photos. Steve suggested that we should spend the night there, but both Erik and I felt that a nice clean bed and some cold beers would far outweigh camping that night




We left Kadykchan and set course for Susuman. On the way we stopped by Myaundzha to say hello to Adrian's rescuers. Long story short. They were nice and gave us some food and drink, but they were not overly impressed with all the foreigners driving the Old Summer Road. They thought it a bit stupid and dangerous doing that. Ohhh well, you win some and you loose some

[EtronX]

The Russian gas stations in the boonies are not quite what we are used to in our neck of the woods In Russia you park your bike by the pumps and the you go to the cashier, who usually sits behind solid glass. Then you state the amount of cash you want fill for, or the liters you want, and put money in a small drawer. The cashier takes the money and/or gives you change back, starts the pumps and you can start filling up. We usually broke their routine doing this. We filled up all three bikes together and never knew how many liters or Rubles it would be. One of us just went to the cashier and put 2.000 Rubles in the drawer. Showed three fingers and turned around. Lots of talking and asking followed. We just went to the bikes and started filling up. When done we came back and got the change. that worked every time

One piece of advice though. When you take the pump make sure the pistol is closed. If it isn't and the cashier cranks up the pump you will have gasoline spraying all over the place. In the picture below Steve has just tried that. The only bad thing was that he hosed himself down with gasoline. In his face and in his eyes :eek1 Luckily we had lots of drinking water with us and could immediately flush his eyes and face with clean water. That saved the day, but Steve had that wild funny look in his eyes for the next few days :rofl

[EtronX]

After a good nights sleep in Susuman, for the last time on this great adventure, we saddled up the bikes. Our next and last goal was Magadan. Some 730 kilometers from Susuman. It was a strange day. The weather started out nice. Just some minor adjustments was needed on the luggage




It was quiet riding all the way. We just enjoyed the fact that it looked like we were about to reach our goal. Crossing our continent from West to East. Driving all the way from Norway to Magadan. Almost 18.000 kilometers, give and take a few. 8.000 of them off road and no major incidents or accidents :clap The fun part is that Erik had the first and only puncture, amongst the Trans Sibir Team, some 120 clicks from Magadan. For 18.000 kilometers we had had only one puncture. That is pretty amazing considering the roads we rode and the way we rode.




We passed the town of Atka where we just had to take a picture




Then it started to rain. The mother of all rain came to visit. The last hour in to Magadan was spent driving in the dark and in the rain. I saw diddely squat. We just hooked onto a car and followed its tail lights :huh Due to the rain we didn't quite get the feeling of arriving proper into Magadan. We just got to a hotel and crashed sometime after 1 am.

The next day we went back and took this picture




:clap WE DID IT :clap

[EtronX]

As we left Yakutsk Walter came to me. He gave me three of the Gold Road of Bones patches he has designed and made up. This is the proof that we have done the Road of Bones via the Old Summer Road. When, and if, we made to Magadan I was to give one each to Erik and Steve. If we didn't make it I had to promise to send them back to him and he would send me the silver ones if we instead did the M56. This is what it looks like




In Magadan there is a very good steak house called, guess what, the Steak House 3 We came to Magadan on a Sunday. Well, technically it was a Monday due to the late hours. Anyway, we went to the steak house on that monday. There we had the largest steak they had and some good Italian wine to go with it. After the meal I held a little speech for the guys. Thanked them for their company and their courage on this trip. Then, on behalf of Mr. Colebatch, I distributed the patches. It was a big moment for us all, and I wear mine with great pride :clap

[EtronX]

This is our complete route




Then some statistics from my sometimes meandering mind :deal

• We left Norway on the 1st of July.
• We came back to Norway on the 26th of August.
• We rode some 18.000 kilometers total.
• We rode some 8.000 kilometers off road.
• The longest stretch we did in one day was 1117 kilometers.
• We crossed 10 time zones.
• On the trip my bike used an average of 0.4 liters per 10 kilometers.
• We stayed 21 days in a tent.
• Amazingly we had only one puncture between us on the whole trip :clap
• We had 8 days of riding in the rain
• I got a total of 11 mosquito bites on my balls :eek1
• We had some Vodka :freaky
• We met an amazingly amount of friendly and helpful Russians :clap
• We made some great friends
• We can confirm that you can ship your bike directly from Magadan to Norway :deal
• I only drowned my bike once :huh
• I changed oil two times. One because of the above mentioned submariner :rofl
• I am the first, and the only one, to ride the Magadan panniers to Magadan :clap
• We were stopped by the Police twice. No drama, just showing papers :deal
• We were never asked for bribes
• Russian girls knows how to wear high heels
• I lost 8 kilos of body mass on the trip :norton
• I rode the Vitim Bridge

Thats all that comes of the top of my mind right now. I will post one more post regarding the days in Magadan and the arrangement of the shipping of the bikes :deal

[EtronX]

We did spend five days in Magadan. Through Adrian, which we met in Yakutsk, we got in contact with Olga Izotova. She runs an adventure company specializing in hunting and fishing trips and trips to the Gulags amongst other things. She also coordinated a lot of stuff for the BBC when they did some story about Tomtor in the winter.




Hotels in Magadan are pretty expensive and through Olga we rented an apartment for a few days. At a fraction of the cost of staying in a hotel.




When we were in Yakutsk Bolot told me that he had met a few Norwegians passing through Yakutsk on their way to Magadan in some old Land Cruisers. He even had a phone number. I rang the number and Audun answered in the other end. He was planning to ship his car home. We agreed on meeting in Magadan.

Our original plan, and the only way of shipping stuff out of Magadan, was to ship our bikes to Vladivostok by container. I know that someone previously (Walter) had managed to put the bike on the deck of the boat, but that option was now supposed to be impossible. So we were to ship the bikes and fly down to Vladivostok and wait there. This would take a week or two. Then when the bikes arrived in Vladivostok we would repack them in a new container and ship them to Norway. Then we would fly home. This would ad another two to three weeks to our trip. Just waiting :huh I wasn't too keen on that.

The reason you can't ship abroad directly from Magadan it that Magadan has no customs service, and therefore you can not ship directly abroad.


Anyway, the first few days we just wandered around in Magadan. Had some nice food




Then we met up with Ilya, Katja and Alexander and had a few beers at the Green Crocodile Pub :freaky




We went up to Maska Skorbi and had a look.



It was a very spacial place to be.




Olga was our guide and we met some locals.




They were celebrating something and when in Rome we did as the Romans :clap




Anyway, back to the shipping issue. We did some research and figured out that it should be possible to ship directly from Magadan to Norway. We contacted Yuri in Vladivostok. Yuri is "the" man in Vladivostok when it comes to bikers. He is mentioned in a lot of different forums and everyone gives him the best recommendations :deal

In order to ship something from Magadan and through Vladivostok you have to be in Vladivostok in person in order to do the customs. Thats the main rule. That was not really an option for us. Our trip was done and for us to just wait in Vladivostok for two to three weeks was not an option. After lots of back and forth we concluded that it was possible to ship from Magadan as long as we empowered someone in Vladivostok to act on our behalf and it seemed like Yuri was our man. The problem was that we had to arrange all the paperwork in Magadan :huh

We can order food in Russian, but arranging transport documents and going to government offices was a far fetch. We needed help and help we got in form of a very nice blond girl called Tanya Sorry no pictures

Tanya was the one Ewan and Charlie used when they came to Magadan. Tanya was effectiveness personated. We spent one day running around to different offices and finally we got a notarius publicus to sign the official paper.




What we had to do was to empower Yuri to act on our behalf with regards to the bikes. That also meant that he could sell the bikes if he wanted to :huh Based on what we had read Yuri was a man to be thrusted and we did that. We got the letter and sent it to Yuri.




That was it :clap Now all we had to do was to pack the bikes in the container. We needed three bikes and one Land Cruiser in one 20' container. It was a bit short :rofl I demounted my bike and then put it in the back of the car. Along with all the rest of our stuff.




Then we fitted the whole lot into the container My bike in the back of the car. Steve's bike over the hood and Erik's in the front. We could now get the h**l out of Dodge and home to our loved ones




Steve left a day before us so we arranged the packing with Audun. Finally we said good bye to Olga and Audun, and went down to the bus station. Audun was staying a few more days since his passport was somewhere in Mongolia. But thats another story :rofl




Erik and I was now to leave this great country and as a last thank you mother Russia gave us a final hug. When we arrived at the bus station a local guy came over to us and asked if we were going to the airport. He and his wife were going to pick up some family members and if we needed a lift we could come along :clap




Our great adventure had come to an end. The country and the people we have met has marked us for life. In the most positive way :raabia

Now a new adventure is in the molding pot. Same country, but different place. That will be another story here on advrider :deal

To all the people who have followed us: Thank you very much :clap See you on the road somewhere 3

[AJ]

Imponerende skildringer med fantastiske og sjeldne bilder fra steder hvor jeg er ganske sikker på at bare noen få motorsyklister har vært.
Kjempegreier og veldig sjenerøst, vil jeg si, at du deler disse opplevelsene med oss, EtronX!