Ulan-Ude

We finally made it to Ulan-Ude Friday evening around 9:30pm.  Not the best time to enter a large city as it was dusk and getting dark fast.  We had traveled through a time zone earlier in the day so sunsets are now a hour earlier.  We luckily found a fairly cheap hotel near the outskirts so didn't have to venture too far into the city in the dark.  By most adventure motorcycling standards, you just don't ride at night for many of the obvious reasons.

The ride this day was the toughest yet of the journey.  The roads were absolute shit and the rain was relentless.  After the 2 hour rain delay at the cafe it was about 6:30pm when it looked like there would be a break in the weather.  Ulan-Ude was about 150k away so we decided to go for it.  To start things off I dumped the bike again in the cafe parking lot.  I must have mistakenly started in second gear when I took off because the bike stalled just as I got rolling.  I was hard turning right so a stalled bike with the wheel turned means a tip over.  I put my foot down to try to save it but the lot was muddy, my foot slipped and down I went.  Again no damage to the bike and I was fine - but this was the second time in two days dumping and falling off the bike.  I need to be more focused, even when tired from riding all day.

Very soon after we got started we hit more rain - no lightening so we pressed on.  Just as they were earlier in the day, the "good" sections of road were bumpy, potholed and narrow.  Since leaving Chita I have noticed that the roads have gotten much more narrow.  They are all two lane, two way traffic with no shoulder in most spots so the choices for dodging potholes and the room for error has shrunk considerably.  It was hard to see as the helmet mask was rain and mud splattered from trucks and many sections in the hills were a bit foggy.  Mix in the construction zones where the roads were the shittiest we had encountered and you get some very tough conditions. The construction sections that weren't littered with unavoidable potholes had gravel the size of baseballs that had been spread but not rolled.  Going over these sections the rear tire was weaving all over the place.  One section of supposedly "good" road was actually like driving on a sheet of ice - the road looked glassy but you just didn't believe it could be as slippery as it looked.  I've never been so tense on a bike in my life.  It felt like one blip of the throttle or lean of the bike to change direction would result in a crash.  The rear tire was just walking all over the road.  Scary shit!

It was through one of the construction zones that I thought I was going to crash for sure.  The potholes were bone crushing and unavoidable.  I was slugging along getting punished and saw a few cars and Mark had moved on to the right shoulder.  It looked like the shoulder was actually packed dirt and not the usual deep sand which is basically not rideable.  I moved right to get to the shoulder and saw there was a 3 or 4 inch lip dividing the torn up road and shoulder.  I know a 45 degree angle is necessary when hitting any lip on a bike, but the potholes bounced me off course and I ended up hitting the lip at a shallow angle.  For anyone that rides you know this is usually a bad thing - my tires caught on the lip and by the time the bike was up on the shoulder I was in a death wobble.  Just when I thought a crash was most definitely going to happen my right foot went down and I bounced my boot off the ground just enough to correct the wobble and continue in a straight line.  I don't even remember telling my foot to do this so it must have just been an instinctive survival reaction.  All I remember thinking was bail out and jump off the bike because you are going to crash.  Another close call avoided.  Next time in that situation I will just pound the potholes and not try to make risky moves with potentially harsh consequences.  Although I wasn't going very fast, a crash there would have certainly done damage to the bike and possibly me as well.  I ride in a lot of protective gear, but you don't want to have to test it in a crash.

We are not sure if we are going to stay in Ulan-Ude for a carryover day or press on to Lake Baikal. The forecast was originally 90% chance of rain and thunderstorms! but this morning it now says 20%. Our plan was for Saturdays to be a day off the bikes - this week I need it.  My body is pretty beat up from riding yesterday in crappy weather and harsh road conditions.

Coming into one of the shit sections - this one was actually not too bad.

We passed lots of cool little towns today.  This section of Russia has a lot of farming going on.

Riding into the storm.

The Rainy Road to Ulan-Ude...

The road from Chita to Ulan-Ude deteriorated considerably from the previous two days.  The good spots were patched and bumpy and the bad spots were no road at all - only dirt and rocky construction zones full of holes.  To as to the fun it decided to rain a good portion of the afternoon. We are currently holed up in a cafe about 250 km outside Ulan-Ude - which was our goal for the day. As it is 6pm now and pouring rain with thunder and lighting, I doubt we will make it there today.  We normally ride through the rain, but this storm was just ridiculous - with thunder and lightening which we don't ride in.  We have gained elevation and topped out at 3600 ft on a couple of passes.  There are more mountains in the distance so the terrain will get interesting as we head west.

Yesterday afternoon I dumped the bike for the first time on the trip.  We were riding through a construction area on a closed road and as I approached the lip intersecting the real road, I had to hit the brakes as traffic was coming and skidded to a stop with the back half of the bike on the dirt and the front wheel on the roadway which was elevated 5 inches.  I went to put my foot down and stabbed air - down went the bike and I hit the dirt.  Once 650 lbs. of loaded bike starts to lean you are basically done.  Luckily no damage to the bike and only a tweeted wrist for me.  I now have done the two things I try the most NOT to do while riding - run into something and fall off the bike.  Luckily both were minor and hopefully I have them out of the way so can run clean moving forward.

It's been pouring for an hour now at this cafe.  I hope we can roll out soon...

Overland Travel...

Tonight we are at our best camp spot of the trip so far - a wooded area a few clicks outside Chita.  It's a beautiful spot. It is 10:30pm and just now starting to get dark.  The sunrise and sunset patterns here take some getting used to.  We hope to be at the lake by Saturday afternoon - about 1000 km.

Overland travel by motorcycle is certainly interesting, exciting and frustrating at times.  This is NOT a traditional vacation.  There is work involved, stamina necessary at times, hardship, etc.  I don't expect anyone to feel sorry for me - and they shouldn't because this is truly an adventure of a lifetime. The experience so far has been life changing - but some days can be hard fighting the elements. Sunny cool days (there haven't been many of these yet) are truly appreciated.

Russia is an fascinating country with incredible people.  When we roll into any town, gas station or cafe it's like we are rock stars.  We are constantly approached and asked questions about our origin, where we are heading and to pose for photos.  I was a bit worried about traveling through Russia as an American - especially with the current political climate.  All worries are gone as the Russian people we have encountered are just like us - they just want to live a happy life and mostly despise their government as greedy self-serving A-holes screwing everything up.  When we identify ourselves as Americans it is all smiles and a firm welcoming handshake. They go so far out of their way to help and make us feel welcome.  I don't think a Russian in the US would experience this degree of hospitality.

I'm looking forward to visiting the largest fresh water body of water in the world this weekend.  I'm very familiar with large fresh water lakes growing up in Michigan - but this lake contains 20% of the worlds fresh water so should be impressive.

The typical crowd around our bikes at a grocery store stop in Chita.

Nice camp spot!

Wide open rode with beautiful weather!

Little Dom's Big Adventure...

After getting checked in to the guest house on Tuesday night we ran into Dom - a Brit who was traveling from England to Japan on a charity project for the survivors of the Tsunami that hit Japan several years ago. He is also planning to live in Japan for 6 months at the end of the trip. We all had dinner and beers in the strange bar/restaurant next door and exchanged stories. Turns out Dom had some scares in Mongolia - a crash in the desert while riding with some fellow travelers, getting stuck in a marsh while solo and an angry Mongolian threatening to cut his arms off after a misunderstanding having to do with someone else. You can see video of his adventures and also find links to his charity on You Tube by searching "Little Dom's Big Adventure" - some really good stuff! His website is littledom.co.uk.

So Dom's mishaps in Mongolia definitely scared us out of taking the southern route. We had already eliminated the northern route as we had heard bad things about the roads there, so now we don't have to choose - central route it is!

I have a lot of catching up to do adding pictures to the blog - only posting iPhone pics recently. We have not had WiFi since Sunday morning and the cellular network here cannot handle large files. Once we get to a city I will add more photos.

We hit the road at the crack of noon on Wednesday after watching some videos and saying goodbye to Dom.  Ken got pulled over for passing a truck on a double solid line right in front of a police checkpoint.  He had to show his passport and was sent on his way.  We arrived around 7pm at a shady looking guesthouse, but there were no other options so we stayed there the night.  There was no electricity, working showers or toilets.  The running water in the sink was barely a trickle - but the beds were comfortable.  We had some average dinner and beers and turned in early so we could get a jump on Chita in the morning.  Breakfast was the standard guesthouse fare of eggs, bologna sausage, bread and coffee.  The ever elusive Chita is slowly getting closer.  Russia is big...

Ken and Mark posing with the police.

Typical breakfast.  Yes, that is bologna.

Toilets can be pretty rustic.

Little Dom loading up.

The Road to Chita...

Our goal is to get to Chita by Wednesday and Ulan-Ude by Thursday so we can be at Lake Beikal on the weekend.  We try to plan a layover day on Saturday so we can have a break off the bikes and have the opportunity to meet locals when they may have days off from work.  Lake Beikal is a popular vacation and weekend getaway spot so will probably be busy.

Making miles in Russia is difficult.  The roads are unpredictable so we keep the pace fairly conservative.  Speeds top out at around 60 mph, but are often only 10-20 mph through the rough spots.  We keep the speeds down for safety as well as conserving tires and gas.  We have off road tires on the bikes for Mongolia and need to have tread left for the dirt tracks there.

Today started with very smooth and straight roads similar to what you may find on most US interstates.  We also noticed the roads were better lined, marked with reflectors on the shoulders, had guard rails and signs warning of upcoming rough sections and construction zones.

We stopped for lunch and gas at the nicest facility we had experienced thus far.  A restaurant/deli with a display case so you could actually see what you were ordering, a convenience store with 7-11 type selections and bathrooms that had real toilets.  The gas station toilets to that point had all been a shack with an open hole in the ground - all pretty disgusting.  The nice bathrooms did however come with a price of 15 Rubles (about 45 cents) to use, but it was worth it.

After lunch we fueled up the bikes and hit the road in a great mood.  Lunch was good, the air was cool and we had not been rained on once today.  That's when the road got interesting.  Many sections had buckled causing huge undulations in the road.  Ken and Mark looked like they were on pogo sticks riding ahead of me bouncing up and down through the undulations.  It was actually quite fun when going through at the proper speed.  The other hazard we had this section were regular potholes, reverse potholes where the road had heaved upward and car sized 2 foot deep rectangular sections of the road that had been recently removed for repair.  Going into one of the those would be a trip ender. Needless to say the road had our full attention.  

We arrived about 7pm at the M56 which leads to the Road of Bones and Magadan - one of the most remote parts of Russia.  We would like to ride some of the Road of Bones but just don't have the time. It would be about a 5000 km diversion there and back as it is the only road in and out of Magadan. We found a guest house near the M56/M58 intersection and stayed there for the night.  It was quite an interesting complex with a restaurant and bar.  We also got secured garage parking for the bikes so didn't have to strip them down like the night before.  Tomorrow we hope to make it to Chita.

Our guesthouse for the night.

Bikes out front for loading, but we had secure parking this time.

Siberian Tiger statue - hope we don't see any...

Here is Little Dom.  Check out his website at littledom.co.uk.

Svodobny...

We left the beekeeper compound and Sasha around 8am and rode into a misty rain towards Blagoveshchensk and the Chinese boarder.  The roads were a bit rough in spots and disappeared at times like they had on M60 and M58.  This would be about a 400 km diversion from our route on M58 to Chita, but we wanted to a least see China from across the river.  We arrived in Blagoveshchensk around 2pm and found a little outdoor cafe for lunch.  Two bikers pulled up as we were leaving and we chatted a bit and they offered to lead us to an ATM which we needed to hit before leaving town.  Mikel lead us to the ATM and his friend disappeared.  As we were leaving the bank Mikel offered to lead us out of town as the route was a bit tricky due to several roads that did not allow motorbikes (a few of which we unknowingly rode into town on).  He stopped at the edge of town and asked us to wait a bit as his friend had some presents for us.  He arrived a few minutes later with a bag of items from a Chinese grocery store - coffee, tea, biscuits, snacks and candies.  What a nice gesture from someone we had just met and had spent less than an hour with!  The Russian people certainly do show above and beyond hospitality towards foreign travelers!

We rode out of town and were hit with a heavy downpour that lasted only about 15 minutes.  We rode a some sometimes rough and sometimes smooth twisty road along the river north through the countryside.  It really was quite beautiful through this stretch.  We arrived in Svobodny around 7pm and found a guest house for around $30 US each.  We striped down the bikes and dumped the gear in our room and headed out to find some dinner.

I was a bit behind Ken and Mark leaving the guesthouse as I had the key to the room and had a bit of trouble figuring out how to lock the door.  As I arrived out front they were chatting with a Russian girl named Natasha.  She and her friend - also Natasha had noticed the two of them standing out front waiting for me and had asked if they needed any help.  Ken and Mark inquired about a place to eat and they recommended a Chinese restaurant nearby.  Mark asked if they would like to join and Natasha #1 who spoke English informed us that Natasha #2 was married so would not be appropriate. We invited told her to invite him as well so Natasa #2 went off to collect her husband.  While waiting we all chatted with Natasha #1 and learned she was a lawyer for a local real estate office.  Natasha #2 was in school studying to become a lawyer.  Her husband Artyom was in the auto paint business but had recently left to find other work due to having to work with harsh chemicals.  

We all had a nice dinner and conversation.  Mark conversing in Russian with Artyom and Natasha #2 - Ken and I conversing with Natasha #1 in English while she was also translating for the Russian speakers.  They were all very interested in our journey and the motorbikes.  Artyom is saving up to buy one of his own.  We also found out the launch area for the Russian space program was only 30 km away and a good percentage of the 50,000 person town was employed there.  It was a fun evening learning about each others culture.  We seem to easily meet people everywhere we go in Russia.  I hope the pattern continues.  We ended the evening taking photos together with the bikes.

All together at the Chinese restaurant.

Natasha #1 posing for photos on my bike.

Natasha #1 and #2 on the bikes

Off the Grid...

We again got a slow start Sunday morning leaving Khabarovsk - enjoying a late breakfast with our new Russian friends.  We exchanged some small gifts, said our goodbyes and hit the road again.  Our time in Khabarovsk was a wonderful experience - the generosity displayed by Lena and Phil was above and beyond.  I'm so glad we got to meet them along with their family and friends.

We now will be traveling on M-58 - the longest road in the biggest country in the world.  It is a a two lane highway road that travels through villages, towns and cities all the way to Moscow.  Like M-60 before it, the road occasionally disappears into dirt and construction zones.  Some of the construction zones are very hazardous - on one stretch they had just put down a diesel/tar mixture on a section they were about to pave. It was very slippery and at least a half mile or more long - super sketchy!!!

Traffic just goes through construction zones with no division between the machines and crews and traffic - no flag man, nothing.  We are always very careful as a machine can move into the traffic lanes at any time.  There also is very little warning when approaching the construction zones or when the road is about to disappear.  

We got in about 150 km and decided to start looking for a camp spot about 7pm.  We went down several dirt roads and could not find a good spot as everything off the roads were wet, marshy and lined heavily with vegetation.  After about an hour we found a sizable dirt road heading towards China.  We followed it for about 8 km and saw a two track heading off into the bush.  The trail dropped down into a wooded area and after a few minutes riding and we heard dogs barking and saw some rustic buildings ahead.  We pulled up and were greeted by an elderly looking Russian man. Luckily the dogs were chained as they looked like they wanted to tear us apart.  We discovered his name was Sasha as Mark handled the translation.  Sasha offered us tea and we all sat down in his makeshift outdoor kitchen.  We found out he was a beekeeper and had lived in this compound for 3 years.  The whole place was super shady looking and we weren't sure if we wanted to ask if we could camp there.  It was right about then Sasha brought out his shotgun and laid three shells down on the table.  Right when we were wondering if the three shells was a message - three shells, three bikers he began to explain to Mark in Russian that the shotgun was for the Siberian Tigers he sees frequently in the area.  We were a little relieved he was just proudly showing us his gun and not threatening us - but then thought about the idea of wild camping with Tigers on the prowl.  A storm was coming in and we didn't want to start over with the search for a camp so we decided to ask him to stay.  He immediately asked if we had Vodka, which we didn't.  We offered him money, but he said he couldn't drink money.  He said there was a store 15 km away and would go with one of us to buy the Vodka. So Mark ended up taking him to the store on the back of his bike with a storm brewing.  Ken and I stayed at the compound and had a look around while they were gone. Of course Ken had to check out the gun, which he determined was fully functional - but only 2 of the three shells were good, so one of us was sure to be around to tell the story.

They returned about an hour later, soaking wet as it had started raining.  We then all sat in his little house - which was actually only a small room with a wood stove, table and cot and watched the lighting storm while shooting Vodka.  We all had to do three shots as it is Russian tradition and left the rest for Sasha.  It was now around midnight and the rain had let up so we set up our beds for the night - Ken and Mark in hammocks and me in my tent.  

It ended up raining on and off all night and the dogs never stopped barking so we got pretty much zero sleep.  We got up early and it was still drizzling so all the gear got put away wet, which really sucks.  We hit the road and stopped after about an hour for breakfast at a cafe.  We all just looked at each other and said "did that really happen?"

Ken posing with Sasha's gun while he and Mark were out buying Vodka.

The compound.

Ken and Mark having Tea with Sasha.