Heavy Metal around Mongolia and Central Asia
- Thread starter Timolgra
- Start date
David Lee
Guest
I started from the first post again and read it all the way through during a quiet afternoon in the office,
Many thanks for sharing this, really enjoyed it (even if it seems like only 1150's could manage it, not many piccy's of the 1200
)
Great report,
Dave
Many thanks for sharing this, really enjoyed it (even if it seems like only 1150's could manage it, not many piccy's of the 1200
)Great report,
Dave
Elvisto
Graham
Spent all afternoon ready this report,
Best 4 hours, in ages, Brilliant
Well done you guys, thanks for sharing,
Best 4 hours, in ages, Brilliant
Well done you guys, thanks for sharing,
http://baz196.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/UK-to-Mongolia-and-back/WCPGW-
Well folks I thought I would kick off with a photo of stickers Jarvo brought along that gave our adventure a name. To be honest it was a name that was said in jest but little did I know the problems I would encounter along the way!
I can recall speaking to Pete about the name on the bridge where my riding days were over in Turkmenistan and said that we should rename the adventure, ' What could possibly go wrong to Baz?'.......LOTS!!!!!!
Well folks I thought I would kick off with a photo of stickers Jarvo brought along that gave our adventure a name. To be honest it was a name that was said in jest but little did I know the problems I would encounter along the way!
I can recall speaking to Pete about the name on the bridge where my riding days were over in Turkmenistan and said that we should rename the adventure, ' What could possibly go wrong to Baz?'.......LOTS!!!!!!
chad
Registered user
http://baz196.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/UK-to-Mongolia-and-back/WCPGW-
Well folks I thought I would kick off with a photo of stickers Jarvo brought along that gave our adventure a name. To be honest it was a name that was said in jest but little did I know the problems I would encounter along the way!
I can recall speaking to Pete about the name on the bridge where my riding days were over in Turkmenistan and said that we should rename the adventure, ' What could possibly go wrong to Baz?'.......LOTS!!!!!!
it has to be said........you dont do things by half do you fella
,have you pulled all the bashed up bits of yourself and the bike back together
I don't know where to start but hope to have my GS back on the road for the spring!
ExpatinIstanbul
Registered user
Good luck with that, you bike killer you.
mystic
Registered user
“Show me someone who has done something worthwhile, and I’ll show you someone who has overcome adversity”
Good on yer Baz.
Good on yer Baz.
Tim and his good friend Rikk hatched the idea of riding to Mongolia and they very kindly offered the trip out to those who were interested. I was one of I think 11 in total who showed an interest and an information/selection weekend was organised in Llanberis N.Wales.
I sadly could not make the whole weekend only one day so after finishing work at 3am getting up at 7.30am and driving to N.Wales from Dorset I arrived at Pete's eats at about 2.30pm.
I went upstairs to be met by the group and Tim and Rikk with a map of Russia with a preliminary route marked on it. I quickly said hello to the group and Tim soon got back into the swing of presenting the plan.
I suppose this lasted about another half an hour and I was excited at the proposals but very conscious that I had zero off road experience!
The group new that I was a plod and that I ride a bike at work occasionally which meant I had experience at road advance riding but I was conscious this would not cut the mustard when it comes to off road.
I can recall one of the group telling me that there was no way I was going to cope with the off road and at that point I thought my chances were very slim! I did tell them I had a place booked at the BMW off road skills school in south wales and I prayed that this might mean I might be in for a chance of selection.
We soon stopped for something to eat and I can remember asking Tim a question about spares for the GS. I asked him if we would be sharing spares or would I need my own and he replied, " If your rear bevel bearing goes and you don't have one then you won't be getting mine! "
At that point my facial expression must of changed and Rikk jumped in and said, " What I think Barry means is what spares should he be taking?"
At that point I thought my days were numbered and I truly thought that I would be watching their progress on UKGSer.
Tim and the rest of the group could not of been more generous when it came to bailing me out on more than one occasion with spare parts, tows, and tows and tows and help fixing my bike. If it was not for them and a team spirit I might still be somewhere in Centra Asia now...If only!!
I asked if there would be anymore discussions about the planning and as most of it had been done on the previous night over a beer or two and that morning the group decided to call it a day.
I decided to turn round and head off back down south wondering if I would be successful.
At that point all I could say was I had a bike, the money, the time and the passion for such an adventure and looking back on it that really was all I needed.
A few day's later I got a call from Tim and he said Baz you are in! I was so excited I just could not believe it. Why I was chosen I don't know but I will be grateful to Tim and Rikk for as long as I live. Cheers guys!
So here I am the night before departure with a nice shining bike and all I can say is it doesn't look like that now!
I sadly could not make the whole weekend only one day so after finishing work at 3am getting up at 7.30am and driving to N.Wales from Dorset I arrived at Pete's eats at about 2.30pm.
I went upstairs to be met by the group and Tim and Rikk with a map of Russia with a preliminary route marked on it. I quickly said hello to the group and Tim soon got back into the swing of presenting the plan.
I suppose this lasted about another half an hour and I was excited at the proposals but very conscious that I had zero off road experience!
The group new that I was a plod and that I ride a bike at work occasionally which meant I had experience at road advance riding but I was conscious this would not cut the mustard when it comes to off road.
I can recall one of the group telling me that there was no way I was going to cope with the off road and at that point I thought my chances were very slim! I did tell them I had a place booked at the BMW off road skills school in south wales and I prayed that this might mean I might be in for a chance of selection.
We soon stopped for something to eat and I can remember asking Tim a question about spares for the GS. I asked him if we would be sharing spares or would I need my own and he replied, " If your rear bevel bearing goes and you don't have one then you won't be getting mine! "
At that point my facial expression must of changed and Rikk jumped in and said, " What I think Barry means is what spares should he be taking?"
At that point I thought my days were numbered and I truly thought that I would be watching their progress on UKGSer.
Tim and the rest of the group could not of been more generous when it came to bailing me out on more than one occasion with spare parts, tows, and tows and tows and help fixing my bike. If it was not for them and a team spirit I might still be somewhere in Centra Asia now...If only!!
I asked if there would be anymore discussions about the planning and as most of it had been done on the previous night over a beer or two and that morning the group decided to call it a day.
I decided to turn round and head off back down south wondering if I would be successful.
At that point all I could say was I had a bike, the money, the time and the passion for such an adventure and looking back on it that really was all I needed.
A few day's later I got a call from Tim and he said Baz you are in! I was so excited I just could not believe it. Why I was chosen I don't know but I will be grateful to Tim and Rikk for as long as I live. Cheers guys!
So here I am the night before departure with a nice shining bike and all I can say is it doesn't look like that now!
I met with Tim and Pete at Clacket Lane services on the M25. My bike had everything apart from the kitchen sink. I noticed that when I placed it on the side stand I had a really interesting lean onto the stand. I had bought one of the foot plates to attach to the stand but it still made no real difference. My bike was on the balance point with all the kit on it and all it needed was a gust of wind and low and behold that it was it got!
We had not even left the country and my luck was on the way out. After picking up the bike after the alarm stopped and me getting this shot we were soon on our way to Dover to catch up with Jarvo with our passports and Rikk.
One thing about the alarm I will never ever have one again! I had a datatool alarm that was rubbish. It went wrong on numerous occasions and would go off all on its own! This pleased the group as you can imagine and many a time it was suggested I take a hammer to it.
My advice to anyone who has one fitted don't bother having it on a trip like this. I had to overide the bloody thing when the temperatures soared. It got so hot that it must of temporary disabled the key fob. I was lucky enough to put in a code prior to leaving the UK which meant I could over ride it with the key. This meant more noise! What a load of rubbish
376 miles into the trip and at a town called Tournhout is where the next bit of bad luck happened to me or actually good luck. I can remember pulling off the motorway on a slip road and as I braked I heard a knocking noise. I rode next to pete in the town and I was saying I had this knocking noise and Pete said it was probably a warped disc as he had the same problem. It got louder and louder and I had to stop. It was my near side brake caliper. The two securing bolts had come loose and one of them had fallen out! I dread to think what would of happened if the second bolt had come loose and my brake caliper had got stuck in the spokes.
It wasn't long before a spare bolt was taken out of my foot peg mounting and used to fix the caliper. Jarvo had a search the next morning for a spare bolt and thankfully he had one he let me have.
I was thinking I was a jinxed and could not believe my luck. This was nothing compared to what was to come.
It wasn't long before a spare bolt was taken out of my foot peg mounting and used to fix the caliper. Jarvo had a search the next morning for a spare bolt and thankfully he had one he let me have.
I was thinking I was a jinxed and could not believe my luck. This was nothing compared to what was to come.
Popeye
Registered user
A puncture in Poland and guess what it was my bike. We used a puncture repair kit that used mushroom shaped plugs which were excellent and I would recommend this type to anyone!
a shot at the Latvian border and me wearing a flat cap. I don't normally wear this type of hat but it was given to me by my squad and they wanted a picture of me wearing it in every country.
We had a nice meal at an Italian restaurant the last of western style food for a while before we entered Russia.
We had rushed through Europe having left the UK on the Friday and on the morning of the 6th day we were at the Russian Border. 1,710 miles or so on the clock and we rode along a long road dotted with porta loos. I at first could not understand what they were there for but after 3 or 4 miles we were greeted with a long queue of stationary traffic! This turned out to be the longest 12 hours of my life and I decided to use one of the porta loos for a leak. I thought it would be safe as Tim had ventured in before me but he returned with tales of complete horror. I was desperate and feared getting locked up for urinating in public so used the loo. It was an horrendous experience and only marginally worse than the boat trip across the Caspian Sea but more on that later.
chad
Registered user
As Tim said we met this chap called Alexander Sasha and he certainly had a glint in his eye. We let him jump the queue to in front of us and he spoke good English and said that he would help us with the crossing.
There was something about him which intrigued us as to why anyone would want to queue for such a long time to get into Russia just for a day and of course it was a woman. He said the women in Russia are beautiful and well worth the wait!
Having spent 3 months travelling with Tim I thought Tim was a younger version of this friendly fellow.
Well after we eventually got through all the various stages of paperwork and waited for Rikk to re-immerge fom a search shed we decided to stop at the hotel at the border. I will never forget the long legs of the red head when she left the small office and walked across to the search shed. She was joined with another female customs officer and two blokes. I can remember thinking Rikk could be in for the time of his life with the red head but sadly that was not the case. They questioned him about the tyres on the roof of the 4x4 and said that he cannot sell them in Russia and they then let him go on his way. Thankfully it was not a rubber glove moment for Rikk.
Rikk very kindly carried our spare bags and it was moments like this that he had to be questioned by customs re the contents of the 4x4. Rikk had to explain that some of the items were ours but they rarely let us come over to help Rikk take items out of the 4x4.
We stayed the night in a new hotel and food consisted of snacks from the garage opposite. We washed it down with a few beers and a bit of whiskey and hit the sacks ready for our first days riding in Russia.
The day started off with shit weather and it was cold. We had not been on the road long before we came across our first Police car. It was a Lada and it had two police officers on board. I was riding number 3 then and can remember Tim overtaking . I thought they would pull Tim over to try and get some money out of him for some sort of fictitious offence. The lights remained off on top of the police car and then it came to Jarvo's turn.
I am not sure if we knew what the speed limit was but because Tim managed an overtake without getting stopped Jarvo went for it.
If you could picture the scene, it was cloudy and overcast and it had been raining. It was bloody cold and you could not clearly see any central road markings on the road. To be honest in Jarvo's defence I could hardly see any at all!
Jarvo indicated and moved out round the Police car and when he had pulled back in the red and blue lights on the police car fired up into action.
I know I should not say it but Lada versus GS1200 and the Lada would not stand a chance but this was a long straight road and the thought of getting locked up in a Russian police cell to me meant any form of escape and evasion tactic would be bloody stupid. I don't know why I was thinking this because I was behind Jarvo.
Jarvo got pulled in and so I pulled in with Pete a little further up the road to offer moral support if needed for Jarvo. Jarvo was frog marched into the back of the Lada and he was asked to produce his documents.
Pete and I stood there in the cold thinking what was going to happen to Jarvo. A few minutes later one of the Police officers came over holding the photo id part of jarvo's licence. He repeatedly demonstrated that his licence was going to be ripped in half. At that point we knew Jarvo was in the shit but I got a pad out and drew a road and shrugged my shoulders expecting the police officer to explain what happened. I drew the police vehicle on the pad and jarvo's bike and the Police Officer drew a solid white line in the middle of the road and drew the number 7. We assumed that Jarvo had crossed 7 metres of a white line. To this day I could not see a white line and when Jarvo was fined 150 Euros for the pleasure it certainly left a nasty taste in our mouths especially for Jarvo!
Pete had a few words to say about our intro to Russia so click his face and see what he had to say!
There was something about him which intrigued us as to why anyone would want to queue for such a long time to get into Russia just for a day and of course it was a woman. He said the women in Russia are beautiful and well worth the wait!
Having spent 3 months travelling with Tim I thought Tim was a younger version of this friendly fellow.
Well after we eventually got through all the various stages of paperwork and waited for Rikk to re-immerge fom a search shed we decided to stop at the hotel at the border. I will never forget the long legs of the red head when she left the small office and walked across to the search shed. She was joined with another female customs officer and two blokes. I can remember thinking Rikk could be in for the time of his life with the red head but sadly that was not the case. They questioned him about the tyres on the roof of the 4x4 and said that he cannot sell them in Russia and they then let him go on his way. Thankfully it was not a rubber glove moment for Rikk.
Rikk very kindly carried our spare bags and it was moments like this that he had to be questioned by customs re the contents of the 4x4. Rikk had to explain that some of the items were ours but they rarely let us come over to help Rikk take items out of the 4x4.
We stayed the night in a new hotel and food consisted of snacks from the garage opposite. We washed it down with a few beers and a bit of whiskey and hit the sacks ready for our first days riding in Russia.
The day started off with shit weather and it was cold. We had not been on the road long before we came across our first Police car. It was a Lada and it had two police officers on board. I was riding number 3 then and can remember Tim overtaking . I thought they would pull Tim over to try and get some money out of him for some sort of fictitious offence. The lights remained off on top of the police car and then it came to Jarvo's turn.
I am not sure if we knew what the speed limit was but because Tim managed an overtake without getting stopped Jarvo went for it.
If you could picture the scene, it was cloudy and overcast and it had been raining. It was bloody cold and you could not clearly see any central road markings on the road. To be honest in Jarvo's defence I could hardly see any at all!
Jarvo indicated and moved out round the Police car and when he had pulled back in the red and blue lights on the police car fired up into action.
I know I should not say it but Lada versus GS1200 and the Lada would not stand a chance but this was a long straight road and the thought of getting locked up in a Russian police cell to me meant any form of escape and evasion tactic would be bloody stupid. I don't know why I was thinking this because I was behind Jarvo.
Jarvo got pulled in and so I pulled in with Pete a little further up the road to offer moral support if needed for Jarvo. Jarvo was frog marched into the back of the Lada and he was asked to produce his documents.
Pete and I stood there in the cold thinking what was going to happen to Jarvo. A few minutes later one of the Police officers came over holding the photo id part of jarvo's licence. He repeatedly demonstrated that his licence was going to be ripped in half. At that point we knew Jarvo was in the shit but I got a pad out and drew a road and shrugged my shoulders expecting the police officer to explain what happened. I drew the police vehicle on the pad and jarvo's bike and the Police Officer drew a solid white line in the middle of the road and drew the number 7. We assumed that Jarvo had crossed 7 metres of a white line. To this day I could not see a white line and when Jarvo was fined 150 Euros for the pleasure it certainly left a nasty taste in our mouths especially for Jarvo!
Pete had a few words to say about our intro to Russia so click his face and see what he had to say!
I took a Zumo 550 and plotted a few points on the way and have only downloaded them tonight onto my computer. You can make out the route with the black flags. If anyone wants them I will gladly send on but not being the best with computers you will probably have to tell me how I achieve it.
Thanks for posting the report Baz...
Looking forward to some great stories
Looking forward to some great stories
(RIP) petcul
Registered user
Keep them coming
We blasted across Russia encountering Police checks on pretty much every entry to any town or city. On the whole most stopped us because they were interested in our route, where we were from etc etc. It was the police that were out between towns that were the worst setting up sneaky speed cameras covered in camo nets or hid behind trees etc etc. Some fell foul of their sneaky ways more than others and nothing that two packs of Marlborough would sort out hey Rikk!
This is an abandoned Police station in eastern Siberia where if it was running we would of been stopped!
A friendly encounter
Russia was a strange place in my opinion with very much a cold unfriendly attitude on the west which started to dissipate as we headed east towards Siberia.
The weather was not really in our favour as we headed east and we were all grateful for heated jackets. I can remember thinking about leaving it at home but was SO GLAD I didn't.
Whoever said a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was lying!
A Sgt once said to me when I was adventure training in North Wales and soaked to the skin complaining about being wet. ' What are you complaining about your skin is waterproof?!' Since then I have always tried to see the funny side in those situations.
Smiley happpy faces just after the rain had stopped...but for how long?
On this occasion I tried to park as close to the 4X4 to be first in the queue for a hot cuppa but lost my place to Tim and Pete to take the photo. I know some of you out there are hardened solo riders and look at the ethics of support vehicles. For me Rikk was a saviour on numerous occasions and when he stopped and made a brew for us when there were no places to get a hot drink it was a welcome sight. Cheers Rikk
The one things the Russians do love is concrete and everything seems to be made out of the stuff. As you can see we passed some many villages with quaint wooden houses and real subsistence style existence and there would be the remains of some dilapidated concrete monstrosity nearby.
Some of the weather we rode through produced some of the most amazing skies which are always nice to look at and at times we just stopped and did that!
This is an abandoned Police station in eastern Siberia where if it was running we would of been stopped!
A friendly encounter
Russia was a strange place in my opinion with very much a cold unfriendly attitude on the west which started to dissipate as we headed east towards Siberia.
The weather was not really in our favour as we headed east and we were all grateful for heated jackets. I can remember thinking about leaving it at home but was SO GLAD I didn't.
Whoever said a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was lying!
A Sgt once said to me when I was adventure training in North Wales and soaked to the skin complaining about being wet. ' What are you complaining about your skin is waterproof?!' Since then I have always tried to see the funny side in those situations.
Smiley happpy faces just after the rain had stopped...but for how long?
On this occasion I tried to park as close to the 4X4 to be first in the queue for a hot cuppa but lost my place to Tim and Pete to take the photo. I know some of you out there are hardened solo riders and look at the ethics of support vehicles. For me Rikk was a saviour on numerous occasions and when he stopped and made a brew for us when there were no places to get a hot drink it was a welcome sight. Cheers Rikk
The one things the Russians do love is concrete and everything seems to be made out of the stuff. As you can see we passed some many villages with quaint wooden houses and real subsistence style existence and there would be the remains of some dilapidated concrete monstrosity nearby.
Some of the weather we rode through produced some of the most amazing skies which are always nice to look at and at times we just stopped and did that!
