it’s sometimes just a little difficult to
find it. The ride to the Altay Moun-
tains was solo ride and the second
part of my 3-week ride to Siberia in
2018. I went to Altay after visiting the
motorbike festival "Motopolyarnik" on
the shore of the Ob Bay in Yamburg,
in the northern part of Siberia, well
above the Artic Circle.
I’d been here 10 years earlier, be-
fore getting involved in motorcycle
travel. I was fond of cycling and par-
ticipated in a 2-week bike trip, this
time I would re-ride that route aboard
the Tiger.
The ride started in Novosibirsk,
the capital of Siberia, located around
3,500 km from Moscow. First, I head-
ed down to Biysk to the famous Black
African Bike Post – a legendary place
where almost all travellers going to
Altay stop. It’s a local biker friendly
guesthouse with a service area and
heartful host Igor, that can help you
with spare parts, advice regarding
roads and places to see. In general,
there are many such biker friendly
guesthouses spread through all re-
gions of Russia, we call them Bike
Posts.
At Igor’s I met two more motorcy-
cle travellers; Stefan from Switzerland
and Edward from Austria. Both were
headed to Altay. Igor loves having mo-
torcyclists stay with him and will of-
ten spend all night with you, prepar-
ing food, eating and just talking about
past trips.
I undertook planned maintenance
on the Tiger and changed the tyres
before heading to the Chuya High-
way. The Chuya is regarded as being
in the top ten world’s most beautiful
roads. It’s a newly paved road that
goes through the Altay Mountains to
the Mongolia border. The main road is
picturesque, but the most interesting
places are located on the secondary
roads that are mostly gravel.
I rode along the stormy Katun river
to Aktash village, deciding to stay for
the night in a tent near a wandering
motorcyclist musician on an old Hon-
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