lengths to which to locals would go
to ensure you felt comfortable. Upon
hearing I was riding, they would not
hear of it to leave my bike anywhere
other than where they felt it was most
safe. This level of genuine care was
so deeply appreciated, and it was ex-
tended without exception everywhere
I went.
After a wonderful time in what I
considered to be ‘Western’ Russia, it
was time to head further east towards
Siberia. Riding through the Ural
mountains towards the large city of
Novosibirsk was absolutely stunning.
The roads were great, even with the
obligatory road works, the views were
magnificent and the twists and turns
endless. After such a long week of
boring straight road, it was a welcome
ride.
After a great day on the road and
with only 50km to go, my Honda start-
ed to experience mechanical issues,
my first of the trip. Stuck in another
traffic jam, it would lose power every
minute or so, making it impossible to
overtake for fear of not being able to
pass before it cut out again.
Not knowing where to start, I pulled
into the next petrol station and called
a friend for help. With a few things
checked and a new tank of fuel I cau-
tiously pulled out again and limped
slowly into the city. As I was pulling
into the hotel, relieved, a group of
Russian bikers on BMW 1200’s also
stopped in for the night.
Alex came to introduce himself and
offered for me to join them for dinner.
The group, Alex, Igor and Denis were
on their way to Vladivostok, a rite of
passage for any Russian motorcy-
clist. It turned out to be a great night
of food, company, a couple of vodkas
and laughs. We said goodbye as they
headed out the following morning for
the town of Krasnoyarsk, and I would
stay to take the bike to the mechanic.
Although fuel is plentiful and cheap
across Russia, the quality can be
somewhat dubious. The ageing un-
derground tanks which are exposed
to the most extreme temperatures in
TRAVERSE 29
this harsh country can provide more
than you bargain for, with tainted fuel
being the cause of my woes. A com-
pletely blocked filter leading into the
fuel injector and more than splash of
water mixed in with my tank of petrol
were diagnosed by the local Honda
dealer.
With the bike back in great shape it
was time to move on to the section of
Russia I had feared the most. Siberia!
I had originally planned to break
the following leg into two shorter sec-
tions however, as the rides had been
getting progressively longer, I felt con-
fident I could do 800km in the day and
make back the lost time.
After a start with numerous road
closures from a couple of severe acci-
dents, it had been slow progress and
at 4pm I still had another 400km to go.
Stopping for a break at a roadside fuel
station, I waved to another BMW rid-
er as he roared past. Minutes later he
came back, it was quickly discovered
we were heading the same way and
that he was the missing member of
the Russian biker’s group, Roman! We
rode together for another 6 hours, into
the night and in pouring rain to reach
Krasnoyarsk and meet the rest of the
group.
It was agreed over a belated birth-
day celebration for Roman that night
in Krasnoyarsk that I would stay with
the gang until we reached Ulan-Ude
some 1,500km away. I felt very re-
lieved as I had been dreading the fol-
lowing days of ‘no mans land’ that had
limited civilisation and decent accom-
modation.
We had a late start with a morning
trip to BMW mechanics, and after
8 hours on the road it was decided
amongst the group, we wouldn’t be
making our destination of Irkutsk.
Igor the ‘fixer’ made calls as the only
hotel within hundreds of kilometres
was fully booked. Eventually he found
us an apartment we could all stay in
for the night, in the middle of a very
typically Siberian town.
Our introduction to this part of Rus-
sia began in the restaurant we stopped