Vienna to Magadan - BAM Road and Road of Bones

[Xdream]

Well this is the start of my first ride report on the ADVrider Forum. I have not really planned to do so, because I did not know any of you guys and you don´t know me either. So I thought you might not be interesed. But guess what - I don´t care

Before I went on my trip, I read many ride reports that helped me planning my trip and my route. I did not really ask for help, just the information that is on the forum helped so much. So I thought I will give something back and write down my story plus a few notes that I was searching for and did not find. (but found out by myselfe now)

So for the start of the story, here is a short appetizer. So you can judge within a few minutes if this will be an interesting one for you or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ikZ-Dtc_M

But before you just skip this report - beware - I will disclose the well hidden secret why adventure travellers all over the world are buying BMW´s for their adventure rides.

And here are some facts:

Rider: just me (and those weird voices in my brain appearing from time to time) + a few nice guys I met during the trip
Bike: an old worn out BMW 650 Dakar which I bought just for that trip with 135.000 km on it when I bought it for not much money
Route: Basicly the shortest way from Vienna to Magadan which took me EXACTLY 13.000 km + 100 meters
Days: 21 (19 riding days)

30% of the ride was on tarmac
30% was on gravel and sand and mud
40% i did not see what I was riding on

more to come ...

btw. is there a way to insert youtoube videos right into the forum?

[Ridesolo]

wow, cool vid. I'm in. For attaching video, click on the "share" and then click on "embed",then copy paste the link.
.

[JediMaster]

Great video xdream.

What helmet cam were you using? What format did you shoot in?

That's some of the best quality helmet cam footage I think I've ever seen.

Adam

[Throttlemeister]

This looks like it is going to be pretty epic ride report

Some neat country over there from what I've seen in the reports. And that is quite statement about the bmw(I like my dakar very much too)

[Xdream]

Originally Posted by JediMaster

Great video xdream.

What helmet cam were you using? What format did you shoot in?

That's some of the best quality helmet cam footage I think I've ever seen.

Adam

Thanks. The Cam is a Gopro HD. So nothing really special. Maybe I just used it right

It shoots in mp4 format. and i have put the video together with the Live Movie Maker from Windows.

[Xdream]

So here the story goes:

I left Vienna on the 29.th of July at 10:00 am. My plan was getting to Poland to the Boarder between Poland and Belarus. Everybody told me NOT to go to Belarus. So I decided to go there.

I arrived at the border at around midnight after 900 km of riding. There was a lot of traffic and people told me before that some waited for more than 10 hours to cross the boarder. So I thought gettin in line now would be better than stay in Poland overnight and stay in line the next day.

Nobody complained when I passed all the cars and so I got out of Poland within bout 10 Minutes. Then it starts gettin funny. I passed all the cars again. Again no complains from anybody waiting in line. So I got to the boarder to Belarus quick. A stamp here, an insurance there, pay insurance at another counter. pay insurance for bike, pay another insurance for medical whatever, get a stamp for whatafuck, pay for that stamp, get back to get a stamp that you paid for dontknowwhat. get to the guy at the boarder again with all the stamps and papers and then get to another window to show them your papers. Then get to the customs and get another stamp and pay. And then --- I´m in? Yes!!! NO!! Give back half of the papers I stamped. NOW I´m in Belarus I think I paid money about 20 times to any office chick. Overall it costs me around 7 Euro And it took me just about 2 hours. That was perfect. And by the way, even if it was a lot of stamps and insurances. Everybody was really nice and helpful.

Wenn then - I was in Belarus, it was 2 o´clock in the morning and I did not have clue where to go, so I went to the next city (Brest). Streets were dark and there was not a person on the road. I stopped at a traffic light and a small van came up. 3 guys were in the Van and waved at me and showed "thumbs up". I asked them for a gastiniza (hotel). Lots of talking. I did not understand much, but I had to "high five" like every minute. *lol*

Then they asked me to follow. We drove about 10 minutes. We got out of town and were driving somewhere between trees. I thought "nice. 10 minutes abroad and I get raped by 3 guys, fucked in the ass and get robbed afterwords" (order may vary). Everybody told me - but I did not listen. I thought I knew it better than everybody else.

But suddenly we came to a Hotels which looked like a prison, but it actually was a hotel and I got a room for the night.

What a first day

pictures to follow ;-)

[Redbull Addict]

Fantastic video!

It looks like that bike spent more time in the water than on dry land.

We want more!!!

[Xdream]

Originally Posted by Redbull Addict

Fantastic video!

It looks like that bike spent more time in the water than on dry land.

We want more!!!

This is the proof that 2/3rds of the worlds surface is water, only 1/3rd is ground

In Sibiria it´s 2/3rd water and 1/3rd bridges

[John K.]

In!

[Speed3]

Subsrcibed.

[booger1]

Great video, looking forward to the RR.

[elias]

Originally Posted by Xdream

So here the story goes:

A stamp here, an insurance there, pay insurance at another counter. pay insurance for bike, pay another insurance for medical whatever, get a stamp for whatafuck, pay for that stamp, get back to get a stamp that you paid for dontknowwhat. get to the guy at the boarder again with all the stamps and papers and then get to another window to show them your papers. Then get to the customs and get another stamp and pay. And then --- I´m in? Yes!!! NO!! Give back half of the papers I stamped. NOW I´m in Belarus I think I paid money about 20 times to any office chick. Overall it costs me around 7 Euro And it took me just about 2 hours. That was perfect. And by the way, even if it was a lot of stamps and insurances. Everybody was really nice and helpful.

Wasnt there any stamp to proove that you got all the stamps, or maybe a stamp to ensure that you have the stamp that proofs the stamps that.........

[Flood]

I saw that video a few weeks ago and now I'm very much looking forward to this report.

[FLYING EYEBALL]

kick. ass!

[Littlepeter]

Subscribed.