Mongolia to Magadan: Any which (the hard) way

[Chris]

Ch 17 The ride into Tynda or... THE CLEAN BOYS MEET THE DIRTY BOYS

Around Lopcha my bike started seriously misbehaving, but I managed to slowly limp into Tynda. We eventually arrived at 11pm. All the downhill bits I free wheeled with no electrics, nor motor and Felix behind me with his lights on high beam and me making sure my shadow didn't ride off the road in the corners!

On the main drag through town, while looking for the hotel, 2 guys flagged us down. THE DIRTY BOYS: A Russian and a Romanian biker who had started off in Magadan and had ridden the New Federal version of the Road of Bones, where apparently their bikes (sheds) were unsuitable, and had considered the BAM, but were now just going to slab it to Moscow.

Why did we christen them the DIRTY BOYS (from now on and for ever in UPPER CASE!!!!). They flatly refused to believe we had ridden the BAM. Why? Because we were too clean! So, apart that it was nearly midnight and they couldn't really verify our cleanliness or not under a dim streetlight and they weren't aware of the effects of rain and standing water on motor vehicles, I must now admit that this entire ride report is a fake and all the images are photoshopped and the videos cgi-ed.

Felix has a puncture. The other thing I was glad I bought in Severobaykalsk, in addition to the tow-rope, was a big mutha of a foot pump, like the one Peter Berry had. It saved our bacon on more than one occasion!

Look and learn, look and learn

Moody mist

More atmospheric stuff

Getting our old tubes repaired at a Tynda tyre wallah. We also ate and (particularly) drank very well.

I desperate needed a new back tyre. The one I was running would definitely not make it to Magadan. We flagged down a biker and he helped us find a jet wash (and oxymoronic concept, considering our bikes weren't dirty ) and then took me tyre hunting…

…Without any luck, so we ended up back at his bike club house. There I spotted a used Chinese MX tyre on about 1/2 life. He called the owner who said yes and I was hugely relieved.

In the clubhouse where were some sport bikes parked. How odd: Do they really have flag holders? “For club pendants at rallies?”, I genuinely thought.

Upon closer inspection: No, for baseball bats... I didn't know baseball was so popular in Far Eastern Siberia Or maybe there were for catching car drivers' attention when they have just cut you up...

I took this at the street sign on the way out of Tynda with a message to remember the great motorcycle traveller Eric Haws of Oregon, USA who passed away just over a year ago. Eric and his lovely wife Gail blazed the trails that other mere mortals followed. In the 1980s, when Siberia was part of the Soviet Union, they were the first to ride the Road of Bones and the western BAM, 2 up, on an airhead Beemer!

Their Tynda website is no longer published. There's more information at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/gone-but-not-forgotten/eric-haws-has-passed-away-70631

RIP Eric

 

[Chris]

Ch 18 The road from Tynda to Yakutsk: DIRTY... Actually just dusty, straight and boring, with some construction thrown in to break the monotony

Just as we're about to ride out of the Tynda hotel gate, my bike won't start. In fact there are no electrics at all when I turn the key. Captain Carpark turns out to be a nice man an allow Felix to use his soldering machine on the connectors on the ignition switch

Aldan is half way between Tynda and Yakutsk (which are about 1000km apart). We're in hysterics when we see the pictures on the wall in the hotel reception. Recognise them? Felix pays homage...

The Sibirsky Extreme Team Sibirsky Extreme | Going where no motorcycle has been before In the middle picture we recognise the chief guru of all things fun in Siberia and Mongolia Mr W Colebatch and the demon dirtbiker Mr Terrance Brown. A local bloke (newspaper journalist?!) took their pictures.

Said man with the camera took our pics the next day too. If anyone passes Aldan, please look in at the hotel if the mugs of Felix and my good self are there too

The ride really was hot, dusty and boring. My mp3 player pumping out the entire back catalogue of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Jnr made it vaguely bearable.

Here (DIRTY) Felix takes a break in the shade offered by a (pleasant) trucker fixing puctures. These guys are so hard-working. I remember the help that Yevgeny and Todor gave me when I was in deep dudu on the Transalp on the BAM

Hard at work

DIRTY Bright and the black cat. I used to be the part-owner of 2 black cats in the UK. Both were called Dave! It's impossible to get a name wrong if you give twins (actually not related: you could tell them apart as one was fat from eating the other slim one's food) the same name! Here is their Siberian cousin Sibersky-Dave.

On the car ferry across the Lena river (much wider now than it was at Irkutsk)

The former clean (fake) adventure biker was temporarily real and DIRTY, now he's fake again

Mr V I Lenin shows the way, looking over the main square in downtown Yakutsk

 

[Chris]

Ch 18 Leaving Yakutsk, and an involuntary return (For You Herr Wright, zee journey is over!)

Yakutsk is a great place to hang out, but we only had 2 nights here. Our time schedule was very tight, particularly if we were going to attempt the Old Summer Road section of the Road of Bones. Still plenty of time to dope up on pizza, burgers and beer. I also got myself a haircut. Not a mullet though...

A concert in the main square.

Snoozing on the ferry back across the mighty Lena river

No idea that's going on there. Hare Krishna outing?

A BMW and a Honda Transalp. You can tell by the logo on the fairing...

Nice views on a nice day. It wouldn't last long

Wow, a local biker. Nope! Phil Kirk from Australia on a 1983 Jawa 250 2 smoke. Riding from Magadan to London to attend a conference. His Australian employer was paying his transport to get there. Most use the money to buy an air ticket. He used it on freight from Brisbane to Magadan as well as petrol and 2 stroke oil!

Phil and the bike made it to London, with barely a hitch. Might be worth considering alternative choices of vehicle when planning long distance travel. It doesn't need to be a real (or faux) "adventure" market niche junket with bling out of the catalogue. I bumped into Phil again on the highway near Irkutsk. I had flown from Magadan to Irkutsk and was riding the Mark I to Mongolia to freight/fly it/me home.

Wot the sign sez

The statue to match the sign

For You Herr Wright, zee journey is over! Felix was waiting for me as I'm riding a bit slower. My steering head bearings and fork seals are fuct. Nothing compared to Felix's bike mishap though. He had noticed that his rear auxilliary tank was leaking petrol. After attempting to seal it, we had a closer look at why it was punctured. The chain had hit it. Broken shock? No. Cracked swingarm? Yes.

I'll only say that it wasn't a BMW manufacturing or design issue or caused by any sort of crash when Felix was riding the bike. I know too much about the real reason why it broke, but I think Felix should comment as he sees fit.

Help was at hand to start 200km the journey back to Yakutsk

Loading the bike onto the next truck. Felix putting a brave face on it. He must have been totally gutted.

I started riding back to Yakutsk too, while Felix followed in the truck, but then the rain started and it got really slippery. It got dark too, so we loaded my bike into the back as well. By 1am we manage to get into a hotel near the Yakutsk ferry terminal. What a day and night!

 

[wildbeeste]

Good stuff this

 

[Chris]

Ch 20, The end... or Brighty, Show us yer gulags...

Right chaps and chapeses

Let's make this the final instalment. Why?

• Why not? 20 is a nice round number
• I got a major monkey off my back, finally after all this planning and en route mishaps (adventures) actually reaching Magadan. This ride report is now taking an awful lot of time that I don't have at the moment. I need to plan this summer's trip and actually get out riding...
• There isn't really a lot to say. After the fun of Mongolia and the BAM, it was IMHO a pointless boring trudge riding the New Federal Road version of the Road of Bones to Magadan, solo and in sh!te weather and in a big rush to catch flight connections. I should have taken more breaks en route, but didn't have the time, due to work commitments. Oh yeh: The bike is virtually unrideable at less than 30mph/50kmh: No oil in either fork, and totally shagged steering head bearings. Felix had some, but I forgot to blag them off him.

Many thanks for reading this RR and even bigger thanks if you took the time to comment. Much appreciated.

See you on the road

Chris

Friendly chap who helps me extract the snapped key from the petrol cap on the bike. He even gives me for free the screwdriver I now use to "lock" it



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The situation I’m in

Quite a pleasant view

A bridge over a piece of water connecting 2 bits of mud…

Luverly jubbly

Drink driving?

Sunset over the flooded fields

The next ferry across the Lena River isn't leaving until tomorrow morning at 7am. So I sleep on the boat. The captain is cool enough to let me sleep in a spare cabin. For free. What a nice man

The engine room

In the morning they start loading other vehicles…

…but we don't leave until noon when the mist/ fog has cleared. I've lost 4 valuable riding hours :-(

A trucker and his wife

I'm on a new bit of track that was carved out of the mountain side after a huge land slide. It took them 4 days

Riding until well after dark every day meant I had the chance to take pictures of sunsets without getting off the bike. At 60 odd degrees north in the summer, it didn't get dark until very late

The turn off for the Old Summer Road. In 2013 no motor vehicle made it from here through to Magadan via the OSR

The fuel station at the turn off. Phil on the MZ had written his details here a few days ago. I add mine. I wasn't organised enough to print stickers before I left

The fuel station

After a night camping at the cafe/petrol station at the turnoff: Amongst the crashed/abandoned cars and trucks. That black cloud in the distance was coming my way. I tried to race it, but it was faster than me :-(

The highlight of my Road of Bones ride: Near Ust Nera, bumping into Pete Berry and Adam Lewis again. They had made it to Magadan, but transport for themselves and their bikes out of there, was beyond their budget, so they were riding back. Pete rode is XR400 all the way back to the UK. What a man!

Landslides have been cleared. In the distance, centre right is where the road came from. This is me looking back. I've just ridden a 1/2 mile detour

Lots of abandoned buildings everywhere on my journey. Now an abandoned town. No time to look round as it's getting dark



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Ghost Town by The Specials (1981). The first vinyl record I ever bought

I don’t visit any gulags, so have no pictures to show. Lack of time, an unfit bike (remember 50kmh min speed…), solo riding and most definitely not in the mood

After the ghost town I get to next inhabited town in the dark (11pm?), where my GPS unit says there's a hotel. It's closed. Bollocks. The janitor lady suggests I try elsewhere. They tell me to get lost too. So I head back to the closed hotel and persuade the janitor to let me sleep on the floor in the hallway. Actually, she lets me sleep on the benches in the gym room/waiting room.

The next morning the hotel owner lady arrives and sees me. She says nothing to me but gives the unfortunate janitor girl a whole load of grief. So I impress owner b!tch with my excellent grasp of Estuary English and head out of town. Only one more day of riding to go....

It stopped raining enough to kick up some dust

The only fuel station in town

I is dirty too

A bloody long way to ride to get a picture at a road sign. Bashplate/skidplate, silencer and auxiliary fuel tank are all held on and in place with fencing wire (probably a few cows have since escaped en route...), cable ties and bungee cords

I rolled into downtown Magadan at about 10.30 at night. In the rain. (Did I mention it rained a lot?) "Great, there's the hotel", I think to myself. I get off the bike in front of the main entrance and while I'm trying to remove my helmet, this rabid drunk man is preventing me by every means from getting to the hotel door. Oh joy...

I'll spare the details, but I did "assert" my right to enter the hotel prior to the police taking him jail.


And I leave you with a song:



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[crumbles]

Well Done

Just come across this by accident !
Great write up,picture's.BlaBlah.
Loved it all the way to the finish..

 

[Chris]

Just come across this by accident !
Great write up,picture's.BlaBlah.
Loved it all the way to the finish..

Glad you liked it

 

[doyle]

Yep,great report really enjoyed that. The question is -what bike for you now?

 

[Chris]

Yep,great report really enjoyed that. The question is -what bike for you now?

I ended up buying the XC off my mate. I rode it around the Balkans last summer (2014) and it'll be going to South America later in the year. I own a variety of other bikes too. They're all Japanese (3x Honda: Af Twin, Transalp, Transalp, 1xKawasaki: KLR650 US model)

 

[Timolgra]

Don't want to worry you Chris after seeing Felix's swing arm

This was 3 weeks ago in the desert, Morocco and 5 hrs later he was riding again!

Brilliant RR btw

A plan is hatched

 

[Chris]

Don't want to worry you Chris after seeing Felix's swing arm

This was 3 weeks ago in the desert, Morocco and 5 hrs later he was riding again!

Brilliant RR btw

I saw another related picture when you posted it on FB Tim. Lordy Lordy

Good repair job. Probably better than the original.

Hope that doesn't happen to me!