What goes around comes around... Dublin to New york

Ogmios said:
Oisin has a lot of folowers on IBF (IrishBikerForum.com)
one reported this today;
" his blog has been deleted and his google profile havs been bblocked.

WTF ?"

Anyone know what's happening?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Blog back up and running - but not updated...
 
UPDATE:

Got a text off him, made it to Tynda, very tough going but still doing ok and bike is doing well too.

Next bit is tougher yet !!

let you know more when i hear it
 
srace7,

Thank you for keeping us informed here and by PM.
It is much appreciated. :thumb2

i've passed the news on to his Irish followers :D
 
New shoes for the road of bones....

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Even though there's plenty of life left on my tires I swapped them out for a new set today. Viktor showed up around 2pm and we went off round the town looking for a place to change them. It wasn't long before the biggest stumbling block was finding a place to do it, after three failed attempts Viktor just started changing them out in a car park.

We hit a problem, I'd lost the part that you need to take off the front wheel, and could we hell find it around the town. Viktor seemed to have the run of all the garages we stopped at. Everytime we pulled up to a spot he was rummaging through their toolkits looking for something that might get the job done, seemed like everyone knew him.

We eventually got the job done, I thanked Viktor for his help and headed off for some nosebag. The restaurant was part of an in-construction Buddhist temple and two of the lads who were chowing down inside where from Tibet. The whole restaurant spoke English, it was a great spot.

By the time all was done it was too late to go sight seeing in UlanUde so I hit the scratcher knowing I'd be off fairly early in the morning.

The route that day would take me to Chita. The early going really was strange. I didn't know what to expect really, In my head I thought to myself it'll be foresty with hills and rivers and stuff....but no....it was exactly like being in the state Montana, USA..... couldn't believe it.

Will post 5 times in the next 36hours to catch up the last few days.

take it handy!
Oisin

PS Blog was removed by Google due to it being accessed from a Russian website..."Suspicious Activity" was all they said, had to do a password change and its all good now.
 
nice weather for biking!

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Reckon a jeep might come in handy at least some of the time! :-)
 
Up to the turn off from the Trans Siberian highway

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From the time I left Ulan Ude to when I arrived at the turn off from the Trans Siberian to head north to Yakutsk, a distance of over 1300km the days have blurred. Even looking at the pictures I can’t see when one day ends and where the next begins.

There are a couple of reasons for it I suppose. Firstly the scenery is very unchanging in the part of the world, in this 1300km it was either flat Montana-esqe countryside, or hills with lots of trees. The land by the road side was almost always flooded on account of a late thaw of winter snow and for the most part the weather has been great.

When the land was flat, the road stretched off into the distance like a piece of black string rolled out onto a green carpet under a brilliant blue sky. The only variation in the ride came from the constant switching from gravel to asphalt roads. If I die mysteriously at some point and they do an autopsy; a question will no doubt stump the coroner will be “Now, how do you suppose he got so much dust in lungs?”

When the land was hilly, the sky was blue, everything else was a bright spring green apart from some white clouds and the white gravel path carving its way through the countryside.
When you ride down the road and in your rear view mirror you can see yourself getting chased by a dust cloud, the overwhelming feeling that runs through your body is “Dude!”

These roads are lonely. You can often go an hour without seeing a car or a truck. At one stage I got a puncture and in the whole time to strip off the bike, fix the puncture and pack it up again, not a single car passed. Every now and then I’d flick my head over both shoulders to make sure there wasn’t a bear heading my direction. Although if it was Momma bear that showed up; it’s been so long since I climbed Mount Crack, she’d probably get a lick of the cango.

Everytime I stop for gas the bike draws an every growing crowd. The more remote I seem to go the bigger the novelty a beardy Irish bollix on a BMW becomes. At one stage I came out of a café and there were 18 guys standing around the bike, you can see it in the photo above. My first reaction was “Oh shit, what the fuck do this mob want”, I walked up smiling and they looked at me like I was from another time.

One of the guys spoke English and he said you look like you’re from Braveheart the film, “Oh you mean Mel Gibson?” I replied hopefully, to which he replied “No the other guy, his buddy, the fat guy” as he motioned to a big belly; nice to know Brendan Gleeson has a look alike out here in Far eastern Russia.

The road from Chita north has been under construction for years now, and by the looks of things it’ll be a long number of years before it’s finished yet. Every now and then you pass a tiny village of battered wooden cottages and you can’t help wonder; why exactly do those folks choose to live all the way out here? What do they do all day?

I stopped the first night in a truck stop and pitched the tent and just rolled into the sleeping bag and went asleep. As soon as I woke up I got underway again.

Every long trip has a day when you do a crazy amount of miles; this was the day for that. All told I knocked out over 550 miles on mixed terrain in what seemed like a replay of the previous day. I was dying for something to come along that I could stop and take a picture of but the pickings were very slim.

As it was getting dark I arrived at the turn off for Yakutz, the sign said 1169km. I pulled in for gas and asked the pump attendant was there anywhere to sleep around here. He gave me directions to a “Rough as a badgers arse” bedsit where after a quick wing wash I drifted off sleep and dreamt of Momma bear wearing a polka dot bikini.

Over and out
Oisin
 
A puncture, A hiro and the road to Tynda

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I woke up the next morning to another flat, for a total of 3 on the front tire. Unlike the last two I couldn’t find this one so thought that maybe the wheel rim had taken a dent, or the side wall of the tire was beginning to rupture. One of the guys who was sitting around told me that 10km up the road there was a motorcycle mechanic, maybe he would be able to help. I pumped up the tire and took it slowly down the road but only got 2km before it was empty again.

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Even if I could get moving again, at this stage I seriously doubted whether or not the bike would be able to make it to Magadan and thought to myself would I be better off just shooting directly east for Vladivostok. That would be an easy four day ride on asphalt, it would make getting the bike to North America a lot easier and less expensive as I wouldn’t have to ship it to Vladivostok from Magadan, and that journey would be far less hazardous from a safety perspective.

On top of that I started to question my motivation for wanting to go there in the first place. Was it just because they went there on the long way round? And was that a good enough reason to risk life and limb? Wasn’t the trip just a “round the world” trip; who would care if you went to Magadan? It’s not like 99% of people in the world even know where it is so why the hell are you going there? So on and so forth my mind went back and forward.

I pulled over to redo the pump up routine when a bike came in the other direction. It was Hiro, a Japanese biker who was going round the world on a Chinese built Yamaha, 125. As he said himself the quality of the bike was not too good.

Hiro had some tire weld, but just then I got the idea that maybe the bead just needed to be reset so I hooked up the compressor and just let it rip till it was beginning to overheat and then just waited to see what happened, sure enough it was fixed.

We started talking and it turned out he had Polio and had severe physical problems with his legs. It gave me the swift kick in the goolies I needed to cop on. A puncture in a tire albeit in the middle of nowhere was nothing compared to what Hiro was enduring day to day riding around the world on a 125.

In about ten minutes I got a great lesson in “Dude, there are always people worse off than you, so get over yourself and get on with it”, and secondly the bike was fixed.

I postponed my decision on going to Vladivostok till I got to Tynda, It was about a hundred miles north of where I was, and I could take some time out over a couple of beers and have a good think about it. Maybe I’d be able to get online and phone a few lads for some advice.
Lots of people who write about travelling say that God sends Angels when you’re having a hard time. Still others believe that if your keep your karma bank in credit i.e. if you’re nice to people nice things will happen to you and some people just think its all blind luck, and there’s lots of times in history where really horrible things happened to really good people; and where was Hiro on his 125 that day?

Well my two cents is that in ordinary day life there is something that sends people your way to help you out. I only have to think about all the help I’ve received on this trip so far for me to believe it.

So be actively nice, it’ll come back………..

The road up to Tynda leaves the Trans Siberian highway and starts out what seems an impossibly thin road, barely enough room for two cars to pass each other and when you consider the verges of these roads can be in a treacherous condition, I thought for certain I’d gone the wrong way. I checked the GPS and I was heading north and there wasn’t any other roads on the map….this must be it.

I was using these hundred miles to convince myself whether or not the bike could make it, if the tire didn’t hold up there was no point heading further north where there would be no chance to get it fixed.

I took it handy and got to Tynda after about 3 hours and was even surprised to find out that about 10km either side of the bigger towns they had laid some asphalt, when all your expecting is dirt a bit of asphalt is like a free pint in your local pub. “oh…jaysus….thanks a mill!”
I stopped and asked a policeman to see if he knew where there was a place to stay and he duly drove me there…. Very nice of him.

More later on.....
Over and out
Oisin
 
Know what you mean mate about getting things put back in perspective... Thanks so much for sharing - has helped me get a perspective on things this morning...

Made me reflect on the fact i had similar happen in the wilds of Yukon and BC last year. There i was pissed off, wet cold and bedraggled grinding out the miles on the Alcan when i saw some cyclists, equally in the middle of nowhere cycling up a great big hill hauling trailers ...

Difference was I was listening to my iPod and had a motor to get me through the landscape.

As we passed they gave a cheery wave and put life back in perspective ! I stopped grumbling to myself and got back into a better frame of mind...

if they could still smile and wave - I had no reason to be a grump...

It is moments of self discovery and meeting wonderful people like Hiro that makes what you are doing so special.

thanks for sharing the anecdote. It made me reflect on my situation and I'll be starting this day with a better attitude - life in perspective again !! :thumb2
 
Tynda...stuff....and starting up to Yakutsk

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Tynda

I’m sitting in what would best be described as a soviet hotel room. The windows are wooden with mosquito traps, and the room is furnished throughout with cheap wooden furniture most of which is damaged. The wall paper reminds me of something I used to see in my grandmothers thirty years ago and to my right is a small picture of a vase of flowers in a broken white frame. The floor is covered with Linoleum and has a brown rug thrown down over it.

There’s a tall brown wardrobe with three white plastic hangers in it and a cracked mirror with a ledge at the bottom which is tilted downward from overuse. The TV is a 16inch portable; the fact that its standalone with only a power lead coming from it means there’s little point in turning it on. There’s a single bed which Frodo the hobbit would struggle to turn in during the night and the blankets are many years old and have a dusty feel.

Outside its lashing rain, my worst fear from a road quality perspective. It could be worse; I could have decided to push on through Tynda today in which case I’d now be caught out in wilds getting soaked. The rain will make many of the stretches to Yakutz almost impassible and the wet sand will accumulate in clumps between my tire knobbles taking away any traction, rendering them useless.

I’ve been psyching myself out all afternoon since I saw the rain clouds pulling in, whatever chance of getting to Yakutz I had with a dodgy bike, and a dodgy front tire has quickly dissipated. I’m sitting here contemplating forgetting about going to Magadan altogether and cutting my losses and going south towards Vladivostok, and try to get to North America from there, maybe to Vancouver.

My head has been working along different lines of thought since I got to Tynda. When the weather was good I thought to myself ok its 990km to Yakutz, three days maximum or two days if you really push it. If you average 50kmph and ride for ten hours you’ll have to camp out one night. If you go slower it’ll be two nights. I keep interrogating my decisions by saying “Why wouldn’t you ride for ten hours, and take breaks in between. Even if you’re on road for sixteen hours who cares? It’s not like there’s any towns and cities or places to see on the way, it’s all about just getting there.”

Following that train were the implications if I decided to do it in two days. I’ll need to give myself enough time to get into Yakutz in daylight to get the ferry across the river to the city and find a place to stay in. So I’ll need to make sure I arrive no later than 8pm. If you back up 16 hours from 8pm assuming that’s how long it takes to ride 500km on a dirt road, with a dodgy front tire I’ll have to leave at 4am that morning. Therefore I’ll really need to do 600km on the first day, and 400km on the second. To do 600km will likely take 18 hours, assuming no problems. (Note, 3 punctures on my front tire in 3 days so far)

It all leads me to the inescapable conclusion that it has to be done in three days; no two ways about it (excuse the pun). So the goal should be to just get as far up the road as possible on the first day, and don’t even try and do it in two days.

Following on from this logic, when I start to look at the Yakutz to Magadan leg and roll in with the same logic it means that it will take a minimum of five days. So what’s the problem with that? Every inch of me wants to be in Magadan right now, and for this part of the journey to be over and done with.

Tynda was a grand spot to spend a night...... :-)
Take Care
Oisin
 
Good luck with whatever decision you make. :thumb2

And as you say who really cares whichever way you go.
 
That tyre problem is a niggling nuisance, keep smiling and do what you think fit, nobody will think any less of you whatever your choice.
Keep safe :thumb2

Stewart
 
Yakutsk!.....and now for the last throw of the dice...

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<table><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-QhTgqHAI/AAAAAAAB_Xk/t9yfcqeo3Bo/s640/IMG_5179.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-QlUyIO7I/AAAAAAAB_X0/LfjcJCymODs/s640/IMG_5181.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-QnlNSIQI/AAAAAAAB_YE/0pxsUUIu6oI/s640/IMG_5185.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-QxSjGQDI/AAAAAAAB_Yk/Du3QmZ_rVMU/s640/IMG_5189.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-Q6esfp0I/AAAAAAAB_ZA/ix_AdQAHHWE/s640/IMG_5192.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-QAxOgF8I/AAAAAAAB_Vg/ZyvgPpmRE5M/s640/IMG_5162.JPG" WIDTH = 700></tr></td><tr><td><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8x5h-fHHXiI/TA-MBwTHA2I/AAAAAAAB_GA/dbE60TGiO8k/s720/DSC_0039.jpg" WIDTH = 700></tr></td></table>

Just a quickie.... i'm off to Magadan in the morning... :-)

Yakutsk...i made it...had the beers...and now while theres a break in the weather I'm shooting out for Magadan......

Take care!...catch you all in 5 days....

Over and out
Oisin
 
Bloody well done so far. Glad to hear you hooked up with Bolot.

Savour the next days and remember you are achieving what few would even contemplate...

I'm taking notes in readiness for my trip next year - thanks for being the trail blazer...

May the Force be with you.

Proud of you... :thumb2

Simon & Susie
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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