30.07.09 Birthday Time

The bikes were liberated from the Vladivistok port, conveniently located right behind the main railway station, just a few hundred yards from our hotel. Also located just a few hundred yards from our hotel was the Gutov beer house – which by now had become the unofficial Sibirsky Extreme meeting, eating and drinking place in Vladivostok.  Tony and I had told Terry we would meet him there when we got the bikes out.  By 5:00pm we three assembled in front of the beer house, got the luggage and were joined by a fourth rider.

Jun was a Korean guy off on his first big adventure on a F650GS. He had met Leon on the docks at Zarubino (where the ferry from South Korea arrives in Russia), and Leon had told him to get in touch with us in Vladik. He had found us in the middle of the night last night and asked if he could ride with us as far as we were riding the same route … which in this case was Khabarovsk.  It would be a good chance for us to pass on our wisdoms (or otherwise) about riding in Russia and motorcycle travel in general.

The four of us left the Gutov beer house at 6:30pm.  It was about 30 degrees and really humid.  The priority was getting airflow thru the clothes and I led the way out of town at a brisk pace.  We zoomed in and out of the traffic, slowing down only for the traffic police posts.

About 200 km out of town and we hit the first bit of gravel road – a stretch of roadworks about 800 yards long. A couple of kilometres down the road and Terry and I stopped to wait for Tony and Jun, who had disappeared after we had blasted thru the roadworks.  After 2 minutes, we turned round and returned.

Jun was down!.  Off the road.  The bike was off the embankment and down a yard or two.  Jun seemed ok, but the bike was in bad shape.  One of his plastic panniers had broken open completely and his stuff was scattered throughout the dust.  It was his first few hundred yards off asphalt.  I have never been to South Korea but from what I have heard, the roads are immaculate asphalt, similar to Japan.  I am not surprised Korean riders have never seen dirt roads before arriving in Russia.

Terry set about sorting out a temporary fix for Jun’s pannier, while I tackled his badly bent gear lever.  Tony was helping sort out Jun psychologically – telling him that these things happen and everything is fixable, and giving him tips on dirt riding.

One thing that didnt seem fixable was the clutch lever.  It had snapped near the base.  Jun came up with the answer himself after Terry had been unable to splint it.  He had a pair of multigrips and clamped them round the base of the clutch lever.  His clutch now was a pair of multigrips.

Terry, using his years of wild-man enduro riding experience, took Jun’s bike back up the embankment and onto the dirt road.  We all chipped in to put the luggage safely back on and rode on to the next town where we found a hotel and settled down for the night.

It was a crazy, surprising 40th birthday … We celebrated by going to the local store (all restaurants were closed by now in the village of Sibirtsovo) and loading me up with my favorite beer, Sibirsky Korona with Lime.  But it was a birthday in which Tony and I got our bikes back and on the road and Terry finally got going in Russia.

Think he was getting a little stir crazy in Vladivostok.

– – –

31.07.09

We slept in till 11am before Tony knocked on my door and suggested we make a move.  The beers were still wearing off.  Soon after leaving we were within 5km of the Chinese border.  Tony and I both received texts welcoming us to China.  This is the region that is home to the Siberian Tiger, largest cat on earth.  Only the Russians dont call it the Siberian Tiger, since they dont consider the far east to be Siberia.  Here the big cat is called the Ussuri Tiger or Amur Tiger, after the two big reivers that dominate the region between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.

It was another sweltering day, and I was determined to make it to Khabarovsk.  I had texted a contact in Khabarovsk that we would get there this evening and I dont like revising plans if I can help it.  Roman, our man in Khabarovsk, also had a set of tyres for me, a set of tyres for Tony and a rear sprocket for Tony.

Jun had clearly listened to the advice the three of us had given him … particularly to relax and dont try to or expect to control the bike as precisely on the dirt as you can on the asphalt.  We went thru a few more roadworks sections including some deep gravel, and Jun made it without problems.

We stopped for lunch and I introduced both Jun and Terry to Shashlik, a fine delicacy and a common source of protein for the Sibirsky Extreme Project.  As it happens it was the finest shashlik I had eaten since Uzbekistan and the meal made a very positive impression on Jun and Terry.

About 200km from Khabarovsk the sun faded away in about 5 minutes and within a few more minutes the rain was pelting down.  As the light faded I had zipped up while riding so headed on into the rain.  Tony did the same.  Jun had stopped earlier to put on wet weather gear.   I saw a covered petrol station and Tony and I dived in there just as the storm picked up intensity.  Terry behind us hadnt seen us or the petrol station, but had stopped 200 yards short of it to put on his wet weather gear.

We waved frantically at him so as to encourage him not to bother as we were only 20 seconds ride down the road, but to no avail – Terry wasnt looking up.  By the time Terry finally got on the road, saw us sheltered and dry in the petrol station and pulled in there too, Jun pulled up,  just where Terry had stopped.  Again we waved any tried to catch his eye, but Jun didnt see us.  He was on the side of the road 200 yards away, adjusting his wet weather gear in the heart of the tropical downpour.

Finally we all met up in the fuel station and waited for the storm to pass.  It was clearly a localised storm cell, and I advised us to button up and ride through it (it was headed roughly the same direction as us).  Off we went into the intensifying rain and darkness, and just when it was at its peak, I caught a glimpse of blue sky ahead.  3 minutes after the heart of the storm and we were on totally dry road.  I turned round to give the boys the “I told you so” look, but there were only 3 of them.  Terry had stopped back in the storm as it was worsening, to put on his waterproofs again.  Oh he of little faith!

It was almost 8pm when we got to the outskirts of Khabarovsk.  We arrived as a three, as Jun had dropped off the pack somewhere down the road.  Tony suggested he go back for Jun while Terry and I push on into the city to find the gps co-ordinates I had been given for Roman (and our tyres).

10 minutes later and we were with Roman.  I called Tony to find out the latest on where he was and had he found Jun.  Tony had found Jun not far back and they had been met by a Russian biker on a yellow Honda X11.  A bit on confusion followed before we realised that the guy on the yellow bike was a mate of Roman’s and 5 minutes later we were all re-united at Roman’s massive garage.

Roman lived onsite at a big automotive service centre in Khabarovsk.  He said the plan was we garage the bikes, take just what we need and he will run us into a hotel.  We did that, checked into the Amur Hotel, showered and headed around the streets of downtown Khabarovsk to an Irish Bar round the corner for some much needed food and refreshments.

– – –

01.08.09

Saturday began with a plan to get to the bikes and start working on them about 9am.  Roman had arranged for a bike mechanic to check the bikes out around 11am and we had a list of things to get  done.  We hadnt given the bikes any real loving since Mirny, and that was over 4000 km ago.

I needed to change my oil from the temporary mineral oil solution I used in Mirny back to the full synthetic I preferred.  Air filter had to be cleaned, new tyres and mousses had to be fitted, both of my rims needed a little bashing, and my front assembly needed straightening up.  Also needed to find why one of my headlights hadnt been working since Yakutsk.  Tony had a more comprehensive list, and Jun also now had a list of things that needed to be attended to.

We started on the lists while we waited for the mechanic.  Terry put on the knobblies he had been carrying since Seoul.  That was his list done.  The mechanic, Sasha, arrived checked out what had to be done and said he will do stuff tomorrow as he is busy today.  We continuted to work away on the lists.

I removed my front assembly, found a blown fuse on my headlight switch so solved that problem.  With a bit of heaving I had bent the front assembly straight.  With a bit of Jun’s Korean shampoo I cleaned my air filter.  My bike went up on a stand and both wheels were removed.  The tyres were removed and I took the rims downstairs with a big mallet to sort them out.  Later in the afternoon, Slava, the guy on the yellow Honda, ran me down to the Shinomontazh (tyre service centre) with my rims, new tyres and mousses.

I had a set of Michelin Deserts delivered to Roman’s address by a pair of Russian bikers from Moscow who had come out this way a week earlier.  They were riding across Sakhalin, or rather Sakhalin top to bottom.  It was another rendezvous I had hoped to make, and to join them for their 2 week adventure, but I was still about a week behind the initially planned schedule, so they went ahead to Sakhalin without us, leaving the tyres with Roman.

Also with the tyres were a pair of Michelin bib-mousses.  I was tempted to get another set of mousses sent out earlier to Irkutsk so I could have used them on the Irkutsk – Magadan leg, but concerns  about fitting the mousses made me err on the side of conservatism.  This time I would try the mousses – especially after all the flat tyres we (or rather Tony) had between Irkutsk and Magadan – 14 in all !!!

Down at the shino-montazh, the big burly Russian lads had never even heard of mousse, let alone seen one, or fitted one.  Luckily the mousse came with lubricant and diagram instructions for fitting.  The boys took to it like kids with a new toy.

Slava lubed up the inside of the tyres while extra tyre levers were called for.  They were going to tackle the mousses by hand!  The front went first and only needed 3 guys straining and groaning with extra long tyre levers to  get it on.  The rear took longer … a good 10 minutes, with the tyre being levered onto the rim one inch at a time, this time it took 4 guys.  But we got there.  Puncture free off road motorcycling.  These mousses will last me at least to Irkutsk and maybe beyond.  I hadnt ridden with them before so it was a good chance for me to try them out.

Evening came and Slava insisted we head out with him to the Harley Davidson cafe near the river in Khabarovsk.  At the time it was suggested, we just wanted to head back to the hotel for a shower – but felt obliged to do whatthe locals asked as they had been so helpful to us.  The 30 degree temperatures were still complimented by 90+ percent humidity and we were all a pool of sweat.  Tony had been working thru his list all day and Terry had been lending both of us a hand, in between snoozing on the floor.

Once down at the Harley cafe, our mood changed immediately.  Cold beers came out and we were being feted as celebrities passing thru by the staff and the band that had just started playing.   The band was good, the crowd lively, the beers cold.  In between sets, we were entertained with the likes of female arm  wrestling. Jun was ecstatic.  his first day in Russia had been a bad one, having his wallet stolen.  His second saw him come off his bike and he at a very low ebb.  Now we had make it to Khabarovsk, his bike was well on the way to getting fixed, and Russian bikers, Slava in particular, had been helping him out all day to get the bits he needed to get, and now he was being treated as a visiting celebrity by local bikers.  It was great to see the change in his face over the past 24 hours.

After the Harley cafe we went to Garazh, another bikers bar, for some food before finally making it home for those much needed showers around midnight. A great evening had been had by all.

– – –

02.08.09

Back to the garage where my last remaining task was the oil change.  We needed Sasha the mechanic for that, as he had the oil draining machine.

We were leaving a useful stash of used tyres here in Khabarovsk, and anyone passing thru this way who needs them is happy to avail themselves of the tyres.  There are 3 x 21 inch tyres there.  2 x 17 inch rears and 1 x 18 inch  rear.  If anyone needs any of them on their cross Russia travels, get in touch thru the blog.

Sasha founds some bolts Tony needed to complete his suspension linkage problems, before doing the oil changes.  Sasha was also a biker and despite it being a Sunday, was happy to work on the bikes.  One of the other guys who worked at the Auto centre was having a birthday and the afternoon was punctuated with constantly having to stop for shashlik and vodka!

Jun had been in the workshop with Slava for much of the morning and came out punching the air and screaming how much he loves Russia.  Slava had repaired his busted pannier with metal sheeting and  no less than 50 rivets.  He just needed his alloy clutch lever repaired and he was back on the road, good as new.  The welding couldnt happen today as it was a Sunday and the argon welder was back at work on Monday.

By the afternoon, our long extensive list of things to do was all done … except I needed some stitching done on my riding trousers.  That too was a Monday morning job, along with Jun’s clutch lever.

The evening was spent down at the Irish pub, giving Jun a list of useful Russian words and phrases.  He would be going a different way to us once we left Khabarovsk.  He is in better shape to tackle Russia and its roads now than he was when we met him in Vladivostok – and that was a good thing.

– – –

03.08.09

After breakfast, we helped Jun get a mobile phone.  South Korea and Japan have different mobile phone systems to the GSM world (everywhere except Japan, South Korea and North America) so he will need to be in contact with family, friends and other travellers like us along the way to Europe.

Then it was off to the bikes.  Sasha the mechanic had argon welded Jun’s clutch lever, and everything apart from my riding trousers was in readiness for the road.  Sadly Roman, the only guy who new the good place to get the trousers stitched, was out of town.  So we packed up and prepared to leave.

Jun rode with us to the main road and the fuel station where we topped up with fluids and fuel.  We said farewell to him there at 2pm and wished him well.  He was heading west to Birobidzhan, and we were headed north east, to Vanino, and the start of the BAM railway.

It was very much a ferry stage … there was not a lot to see until we turned off the main road.  It did feel a little like riding thru the east coast of Australia … lots of forest, long empty roads, sparsely spread out towns.  We stopped for a bang up lunch in the town of Mayak.

By 6pm we turned off at Lidoga, the turnoff to Vanino.  We had fuelled up for the 333km road, which I assumed would be all dirt.  We would have to push the speed to get to Vanino by nightfall. To my (and Terry’s) disappointment, the road was asphalt … at least the first 60 km was.  The fun started after the 60 km mark.  The road wound thru low hills, following rivers and was a lot more twisty than the dirt roads we had ridden further up north.  The first few dozen miles was just getting used to the feel of the new knobblies on the dirt road, but once the comfort factor increased, we cranked up the speed.

“Enduro Terry” saw a chance to speed past a van in some thick mud and ended up in the mud himself.  His first hour on dirt roads of the trip and he muddies himself up.  Humidity was near 100% all day, and most of the rivers were covered with mist.  I guess the water in them is a few degrees cooler than the air.

After the halfway mark, the speed cranked up again to 110 km/h as the roads were a bit straighter.  with 70 km to go and darkness not far away, we hit asphalt again.  The 200 km of dirt roads were behind us and the bright lights of Vanino came into view just before 10pm.  By 10:15 we were showering in a hotel by the Pacific, BAM railway in full voice across the street.

We were now in position to start the next phase of the project, the BAM railway road.