Road of Bones, Lake Baikal, Mongolia, 2010

not sure if this is the right forum for this one. Spank me if I am out of order.

I am going to run a one-off tour in July-August 2010 starting in Magadan, visiting the Gulags, travelling across the Road of Bones, then through the Heart of Yakutia on the rarely travelled Vilyuisky Track to Lake Baikal. There will be the option to continue on to Mongolia and either ride home from there of fly the bike back from Ulaanbaatar.

For anyone who has always dreamed of doing that kind of trip but didnt have the time to plan it, logistical contacts to make it happen and language skills to get the most out of it, I look forward to hearing from you.

I will be running the tour in conjunction with Arnaud Humann, a Frenchman who has run moto tours around Lake Baikal before - so there will probably be Frenchy bikers there too.

For a lot more information, please see: Sibirsky Extreme 2010

interested

can you give us an even approximate cost? I'm sure there's a lot of people for whom this is a dream trip but before we can consider it can you tell us rough cost and rough time period.

I'm only working part time but you never know, going without certain things might make it vaguely possible.

Cheers,

justin.

should have read the web link first.

Still need a rough idea of cost please.

J.

Dates are currently planned for July 10 in Magadan to August 10 at Irkutsk, with an extra 5-10 days to go on to Mongolia,

Still fine tuning how it will start ... my favoured idea was to ride the bikes over 3 days from London to Moscow, then fly them internally to Magadan. Thats easier for Russian customs to deal with than flying bikes from outside the country into Moscow and onto Magadan. It also allows the group to get to know each other under less than extreme conditions.

The deal will be a pretty much all inclusive package (excluding booze!), but including Russian visas, 8 hour flight from Moscow to Magadan plus air freight motorcycle transportation from Moscow to Magadan (the expensive bit), food, petrol, accommodation, guides, side trips (to Eveni reindeer villages, Permafrost caves, Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal etc), Russian SIM card for your phone, support vehicle, ferries, maps and GPS routes – and of course T-Shirt and stickers.

Still pinning down the airfreight side of the costs, but looking like it will come in at about GBP 8500 all up.

The main thing not included is the return from either Irkutsk or Ulaanbaatar ... as some people will want to ride back while others will box the bike and fly back. But from Ulaanbaatar, containering the bike back to Europe was just under GBP 1000 this year. The cheapest return option is to (domestically in Russia) train the bikes back from Irkutsk to Moscow (about 100 quid) and ride back from Moscow.

Dates are not finalised yet so any preferences can still be taken into account.

As far as I know there has never been a tour group in Russia off the main road - and we will not be on ANY main roads, so this will be quite a groundbreaking trip. Magadan to Irkutsk will be about 3500 miles, 90% dirt roads. Only a handful of people get to ride the Road of Bones each year. Even fewer ride some of the other tracks!

I for one, am really looking forward to doing it again

The plan is for a minimum of 5 and maximum of 8 people - plus myself and Arnaud. A one off trip. Any less than 5 and its not economically feasible. More than 8 and the infrastructure in these remote regions will struggle to cope.

if you need any ideas or help with Mongolia let me know I spent 2 years living their and have been all over... Irkutsk is a great place, camped on an island on the lake it was great...

Hmmm, just when I thought I'd got it out of my system

ok sadly that's out of my range. Will follow your trip with interest though.

J.