Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[Prutser]

The moment we drove towards the campsite I noticed an eagle had landed on the top of a mountain nearby.
After dinner I decided to climb up the mountain to get a better look at the eagle.

When I was hiking up the hill Beamster kept looking how I was doing.
Than Terry spotted a dog like thing standing on the top.
Just before I reached the place where the eagle landed I stopped to have a look.
It turned out to be a Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) that I had seen a few times before.
The place it had landed turned out to be its nest. Trying not to disturb the bird I turned round and started to walk back.
At that point Beamster and Terry were waving at me, so I waved back and carried on.

When I was back at the campsite Beamster and Terry asked me: Didn't you see it ?????
See what ???? The big dog on the top they said !! No idea what you two are talking about.

They told me that a dog had been watching me the whole time, and the moment I turned around it chased me down the hill. As I walked down I disappeared behind a ledge and was out of site for 10 min. The dog disappeared behind the same ridge just behind me.

Don't know about Terry, but Beamster was happy to see me again after the 10 min that I was out of sight.

These are some of the other birds I had seen near the campsite.
Desert Wheatear Oenanthe deserti


This Cinereous Vulture (Aegypius monachus)was resting here for the night. The picture isn't showing much.
But the bird was about 700 meters from our campsite. Than you can imagine how big those birds are. They stand 105 cm's tall with a wing span up to 295cm.



Some other birds that I have seen were:
Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus)
Masked Wagtail (Motacilla personata)
Calandra Lark (Melanocorypha calandra)

[Prutser]

Originally Posted by norseV4force

Okay so this is the winner but what is it? I can't work out whether it's a Gerbil, Gerd, Degu or what have you. Either way I want a little family of them to take care of

They were really funny to watch. They were all over the place....

[Gale B.T.]

That little creature is very close, maybe first cousins, to our alpine pika, a tiny rabbit looking grass eating shy little thing that inhabits our high mountain rock out crops/piles/ scree type fields.

My 2 cents and I welcome you two or all 5 of you to come and I will show you first hand.

cannot tell you how much I am enjoying another RR by Walter

[ADKbeemer]

Originally Posted by Gale B.T.

That little creature is very close, maybe first cousins, to our alpine pika, a tiny rabbit looking grass eating shy little thing that inhabits our high mountain rock out crops/piles/ scree type fields.

I agree, looks like a cute pika!

Thanks again to the SE team for another great ride report! Just wonderful...

[Pickup man]

Very nice pics there Prutser. Looks like you had close encounter with possibly a wolf and
you had no idea!
Its amazing how the landscape changed so quickly from green to almost desert like in
such a relatively short distance.

[Umarth]

Originally Posted by ROD CURRIE

If you're going any further than an afternoon's ride ... Buy a pump laddie! There's a couple of aftermarket ones now but I wouldn't like to say which is better. Someone will chime in I'm sure. You'll need it at some point-if you happen not to need it you'll Ebay it to another Katoomer double quick for sure.

Despite all the grief, it is as you'll see in the coming weeks a brilliant bike and if I'd just had a spare pump with me the trip would have been totally painless-but maybe not as rewarding ultimately?

That last bit I whole heartedly agree with. These rides are adventure rides after all. Not fluffy security trips down the beach to Barbados. When the shit hits the fan, yes it pisses you off and it can make for really tense moments. But that's when you meet the greatest people, see just what you are made of and make some of the BEST memories.

Shit happens and, personaly, thank god it does!

[ZagE]

Hi everyone!

It was a surprise to see here my wife`s happy face!

Originally Posted by Colebatch

A Russian tourist posed on Beamsters bike

Actually, we are riding Africa Twin and Super Sherpa.



That time, in Altay, we were travelling by car, so we didn`t look like cool riders. But we were happy to see great equipped 2-wheel machines and to have some chat with their pilots. :)

[Evilstare]

In addition to all the other praise already posted by everybody else, I really love how circles get closed. First the Australians, then a bunch of updates on Victors health and now the russian "tourists" who get in touch. The internet has turned the world into a village!

[tee bee]

What happened ,when i looked up towards bas, i saw something with a bushy tail and four legs....i mentioned it to Linda, who said it must be Bas crawling around....,What has he grown a bushy tail,? Then through her binoculars we could clearly see a really vicious looking animal ,with big nasty fangs sitting right at the top of the ridge looking down at bas and licking his lips.!
Really don,t know what it was to be honest, but it looked to me like the hound of the baskervilles

[MattBrasovBMW]

Was the Beasty like this Terry?

[Blader54]

Originally Posted by 2WheelieADV

If you think Europe has restrictions, try the USA. Cops are just everywhere. European 130km/h limit is a breath... park on sidewalks or on any spot available...
VVe rode from Spain to Hungry and it felt like in biker''s paradise. No highway patrol, passing is permitted almost everywhere (especially in France), lain splinting... etc. Yeah, open lands of Russia have lot's of freedom, but everything is in comparison :)

The French transport minister tried to institute some very anti-bike measures but I understand there were widespread protests by bikers and these have been quietly postponed and will probably disappear. Not sure if the requirement to carry spare headlight bulbs met the same fate. Hoo-ray for our French moto-brethren!!

[V_king]

great ride report. wonderful pictures. thanks

was a big septic of helmet cameras, but Colebatchs' way of taking snapshots for the report makes sense. Stopping for the photo is not my thing, but just keeping the camera rolling sounds like a good idea :)

BTW, Walter, been to south of Ukraine mountains, very familiar to Altai, just greener. Might be worth editing the route, by adding south Ukraine, then to Chernobyl

[enduro0125]

Originally Posted by tee bee

What happened ,when i looked up towards bas, i saw something with a bushy tail and four legs....i mentioned it to Linda, who said it must be Bas crawling around....,What has he grown a bushy tail,? Then through her binoculars we could clearly see a really vicious looking animal ,with big nasty fangs sitting right at the top of the ridge looking down at bas and licking his lips.!
Really don,t know what it was to be honest, but it looked to me like the hound of the baskervilles

First the cattle now this.

I think Bas is a werewolf.

[tee bee]

Yes Mattbrasovbmw, thats exactly what Bas looked like........

[Prutser]

After a good night's rest and a breakfast we packed our stuff to start our daily expedition.

But this was something we didn't expect............



We just tried another one. But that track stopped in the middle of a dense pine forest.



We all agreed we deserved a pistachio and chocolate biscuit break. Those were becoming our addiction this trip.
Not knowing if we would ran into a shop later that day, we filled our water bottles in the stream.