RTW East to West: Moscow by Night...

After three somewhat uninteresting days of just pounding out kilometers on the bikes (my brain is now converted to kilometers) we had an interesting day - and night. We took a quick break about 100 km outside Moscow to touch base with Dmitry - a friend of Mikhail's that lives in Moscow. Ken had been in contact with Dmitry and he was going help with getting the shock sorted. We told Dmitry our location and he said it would be 3 hours to Moscow - it was about 2:30 so we would be hitting rush hour. We arranged to meet at a McDonald's near his home on the northwest side of the city.

As we approached the eastern edge of Moscow things began to change right away. The roads got wider and traffic heavier the closer we got to the perimiter. Moscow is set up as a grid with concentric freeway circles going around the center of the city. These expressways help connect the districts where the 25+ million residences live. We would be approaching from the east and take 2nd perimiter expressway around the northe to get to the west side where Dmitry lives. All the Russians say there are two Russia's - Moscow and St Petersburg, then the rest of Russia. This couldn't be any more evident when we hit the expressway (and later got to really see Moscow). There are five lanes in each direction - and two extra lanes in rush hour. One is the shoulder on the right, the other a narrow strip between the dividing wall to opposite traffic and the far left lane - the one only wide enough for motorcycles (barely).

We took the flowing traffic as it came and basically stayed in the mainstream lanes. Then an accident ahead slowed everything to a stop - and that spells overheating for the bikes. We got past the accident after a bit only to quickly hit the wall of Moscow rush hour traffic. It was then that we ren the wall on the far left to keep the bikes moving and engines from getting too hot. For me it was a bit unnerving as there were only a few feet of error - the wall on the left and the line of traffic on the right. My fender bender in Vladivostok suddenly came classing back. I blocked out the thought as bes I could and just concentrated on not hitting the wall or clip a car. After a bit we exited the freeway and made it the relatively short distance on side streets to the McDonalds near Dmitry's home. We just had to have a Big Mac combo meal to see if McDonalds is consistent with their product across the world. The fries were identical, the burger seemed a little different - but when I thought about it I could remember the last time I actually had a McDonalds burger. Maybe over 10 years? So maybe it is the same, I just don't remember.

We called Dmitry and he met us promptly riding his Gold Wing. We would follow him to his friends shop where we would get oil changes for the bikes - across to the opposite end of Moscow, in rush hour as it was now about 5:30pm. We set off following Dimitri and as soon as we hit the first wall of traffic we proceeded to split lanes and weave between the stopped cars. There were literally inches of tolerance in some spots - again the Vladivostok flashbacks. I tried to go to my happy place and relax to the music in my headset and focus on skinny thoughts. The ride took us past the city centre - passing by red square, the Kremlin and various other ancient historical buildings and cathedrals. Simply an amazing city, like nothing we has seen so far - two Russia's. After about an hour of lane splitting we made it to the garage unscathed - I'm an expert at it now. I was thinking I should move to California to put my new skills to use - CA is the only state in he US where lane splitting on motorbikes is legal. We got the oil changed and headed out to grab some dinner. It was just beginning to get dark and the traffic had died down a bit. Thank goodness - after 8 hours and 450 km into Moscow and th one hour of insanity across town, I was ready to get off the bike for a while.

We arrived at the biker bar/restaurant with dozens of bikes in the lot. There are two separate establishments - one more a bar for drinking alcohol and the other a restaurant. This was a enthusiast gathering place for Moscow motorcyclists of all types. We joined a couple of Dmitry's friends and enjoyed some dinner on the outdoor patio of the restaurnt. As everyone there is on bikes, no one drinks alcohol - only coffee, tea and sodas. At about 11pm Dmitry said it was time to go and experience Moscow - at night riding the bikes. Since the city is so congested during the day, it is night time when the motorcyclists come out to play. We took a three hour whirlwind tour of the city stopping only twice to get off the bikes. The city is completely lit up at night and is breathtakingly beautiful. We hit very little traffic and were able to blast down empty streets at speeds of 100 kph. There were hundreds of bikes on the street - but mostly street racers. Not too many touring or adventure tourers as we were on. We got to see so much of the city and I was having so much fun - until I ran out of gas. My fuel light had been on for about 45 miles - I usually get 75 to 90 miles to empty after getting the light. But running at slow idle in traffic and then heavy on the throttle during the night tour made for crap fuel efficiency. It happened in a terrible spot while going through one of the tunnels. Very dangerous as cars are speeding through the tunnel at speeds off 100+ kpm. I was sputtering about half way through and completely shut down about 50 yards from the exit. I hit the hazard lights and frantically did the Fred Flintstone shuffle to get clear of the cars whizzing by. Once out of the tunnel I hopped off and pushed it quickly to a side street. I had got off a radio transmission to Ken just as I was sputtering so he knew I was out of gas behind them. After a bit they came back, helped me tip the bike on one side to get the remaining fuel to what was remaining over to the fuel pump side of the tank - then fired it up and ran it the 100 meters to the station we were about to stop at before I ran out. I had started sputtering a few days earlier just as we rolled into a station. I felt lucky then - this time I was 100 meters short of lucky.

We returned to Dmitry's home at about 2:30am where he graciously put us up for the night - an early night by Russian standards, but Dmitry has to go into work for a bit on Friday. While he is working we will take the subway into Downtown Moscow to get a closer at some of the sights we rode past at night. Then tomorrow evening we will take Ken's bike to the suspension shop to hopefully procure a repair. The replacement shock that was sent for Holland is here in Moscow, but apparently held up in customs indefinitely. Then we will meet up with our new friends and partake in some liquid librations Moscow style - off the bikes of course.

Night riders.