Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

Massive YUCK! :huh
(why am I not surprised?)

That's insane. Always wondered about that stuff after hard use.

Wow that looks better then what is in a KLR.

Wow. That is terrible looking. Did water get in? Those look far worse than my new-to-me KLR's 12 year old fork oil looked... Like not even in the same league. Though, you can't really judge fork oil until you've tasted it... As I found out after popping seals with compressed air WITHOUT covering them with a rag. Blech!

BTW, when is the DVD due out?

Yep, this is complete crap. I just spent 3 weeks in Iran on holiday and they are easily the most friendly and hospitable people I have met anywhere. Incredibly friendly and welcoming. We were given all sorts of things, juice, bread, biscuits, fruit by complete strangers just because its a nice thing to do.

I cant wait to go back.

yeah ... after a lot of hard use, you do expect the fork oil to be grey or black - it gets a brutal churning on tough roads / fast off road ... but what really amazed us was how much SLUDGE had been created by the oil in the closed cartridge. Definitely suspect single chamber forks are more suitable for the long run, for adventure riding.

DVD is a huge project. Minimum another 6 months. The amount of footage to wade thru was insane. At least that is done now. Its now a matter of stitching it all together into a coherent watchable format.

I'm thinking some water and/or other contaminants must have sneaked past the fork seals in order to create that sludge

Maybe a Box Set for Christmas!

+1

The people, I won't disagree in principle. But in any country, you are going to encounter the government. Any American with the least bit of familiarity with this case is not making plans to visit. And gaining the greater bit of familiarity doesn't change that any. Basically, three hippie peaceniks from San Francisco take some time out from basically humanitarian jobs to go hiking in a part of Kurdistan that is generally regarded as safe, but happens to be on the border with Iran. Someone starts yelling, gesticulating, waving at them from a distance. They walk toward him to try to understand what communication is being attempted. As best they can figure out later, they were still in Iraq when the shouting started and probably crossed the line either before or after reaching his location. He's a soldier, they end up being arrested. Happy ending...

Generally, any Mongol Rally team with an American has had to work out a route that avoids the place.

Just finished the extreme, read from 2 weeks ago. I came from the BAM so know Terry and Tony well. Plenty to catch up on but needless to say anything with Colebatch is next on my list.

Walter , you are de man!

Tony and Terry, in my dreams you 2 are me if you met in the Haddron collider.

Prutser, Bas, i'm an airhead man R75/5 bought new in Munich 1973.

TOTAL RESPECT bro !

Beem(st)ter Linda , thanks for jerking us out of our male dominated fantasy and

showing the guys that you just have to DO IT!

Rod, you picked up Walter's baton and ran with it, well done mate, we all
wanted you to make it home and hear about it! Superb.

Geir , when I go travelling I want you, man mountain, on my team!

Photos to die for, beautiful prose, that bear cub!!!!! And so much more!

Erik, Just like Terry eh? "What's all the fuss about?" Let's just get it all done!
Sterling effort.

And the ONE in my humble has to to be Steve. How good was he? Novice? Unsuitable bike? Magnificent pics? Ditto Vid? Ditto ditto words not his own tongue? How good is that?

Gordo the gratefull.

Make sure to keep us posted. I'll definitely be ordering it once it's released.

What a wonderful read.

Tsk, tsk Walter. An accomplished overlander of your experience should know not to abuse your equipment like that. Clearly you should have taken a page from some of your companions, and reduced the wear and tear on that suspension by much more extensive Bongo usage. I bet the contents of their forks are at least one shade less grey.

To all the group that contributed to this absolutely amazing adventure I bow down to you.
Your sense of adventure, camaraderie, diplomacy, humor, fun et al is a testament to the human spirit!
And all the effort to put it down in writing and posting great dialogs and pictures puts to shame anything I have ever seen on tv or the web!!
So, again, I thank you heartily, and extend an invite if you are ever in this (very tame) part of the world!
Paul

The start of a family pic if I've ever seen one. Now you two go get married and have children and show them THIS PIC. :)

The reason is the lack of private land and therefore no fences. One of the unintended consequences of Socialism is a good adv motorcycling terrain.

Oh let's not turn this "beyond epic" RR into a political debate....ixnay, I say!