Sibirsky Extreme 2012 - The Toughest Ride of Them All

[jackpiner57]

Originally Posted by EtronX

When you do the BAM and ROB you inevitably have to cross a river or two.

Some you drive through with ease.

Some you drive through with difficulty.

Some you try to drive through.

Some will challenge your persistence.

Some you will conquer.

Some will conquer you.

But all will make your feet look like this

So who removed the toe tag?

Thanks Colebatch and all who contributed to this ride report! Fantastic!

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by stemic01

Here is an example of a bridge where you can choose to be "up" or "down at the base". Here you also clearly see the "safe exit" where you can hide yourself and the bike in case a train shows up.

If you have metal boxes on a bike, like Tony did in 2009, or Steve this year, its difficult riding in the safer bit down low ... cause the bike is wider and if it does hit something then nothing is going to give.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by Yamezz

Walter et al, if I can back track for a second to Mongolia; where do the little towns you came across get their power? We saw that the gers have solar panels, but do the little isolated towns have diesel generators?

Yes the little towns have power ... I guess from diesel generators.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by O'B

Walter has anybody ever ridden the entire Bam as it sits now? If so when was the last time it was ridden?

Pretty much yes ... a Russian woman called Sasha Teplyakova rode the Western half in 2005 on her way to Magadan



and she (above) is one of only two people to have ridden the eastern half ... in 2010, with the help of a local rider called Max from Tynda (on a Djebel).

I have never met her, but she is quite a legend ... spends all her life doing extreme moto journeys ... often solo. I was interviewed in Adventure Bike Rider magazine about 12 months ago and they asked me who do I admire ... who is my hero in the world of Adventure Riding .... and I said her. I dont think many westerners have ever heard of her but she has done more hard core adventure riding than anyone. Any magazine editors reading this ... she is who you want to track down and do a story on. Its ironic ...not only is the hardest core ADVrider on the planet not one of us on this forum, nor is it a strapping tall guy, its a woman - a small lightweight russian woman who happens to have very tomboy-ish looks.

If you are pedantic about the BAM you might say she didnt ride the little bit at the finish ... from Komsomolsk to Vanino / Sovetskaya Gavan on the Pacific. They also took some trains for tough sections ... I believe Dugda to Fevralsk they were on a train and also Isa to Etyrken on a train. We know its possible to ride Isa to Etyrken as Tony, Terry and I did that in the 2009 trip (and Izi and Movistar did it in 2008), but the bit from Dugda to Fevralsk has a couple of big river crossings and no road bridge - not all of it would be rideable ... but some of it would be ... Sasha describes the rail bridge just north of Fevralsk as crawling with armed guards so you clearly have to take a train for the river crossings. But maybe more of the bits in between could be ridden.

But in principle, she is the only person that has ridden the whole BAM on a motorcycle.

Her 2005 ride http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/Magadan_05_1.htm (BAM and Road of Bones solo on a 2 stroke Izh Planeta 5)
2010 Western BAM http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/BAM_10_p1.htm (in a team of 4 people all riding Yamaha 250s)
2010 Eastern BAM http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/BAM_10_1.htm (With Max from Tynda: she was on a Yamaha 250, Max on a Djebel)

I spoke with Max about it when we met him in Tynda (part of this trip still to report) and her said there was a lot of riding on the 12 inch (30 cm) edge of the sleepers ... hundreds of kilometres. The idea is that when are train comes you can throw the bike out of the way. One time his bike got clipped by a train and was sent flying down a 10 metre high embankment. I imagine getting it back up with two people to be a total chore.

For the record, Sasha and Max are the only two people I know that have ridden the Eastern BAM as much as possible (disregarding the bit beyond Komsomolsk, and the Isa-Etyrken section)

I still feel a bit of a sense of unfinished business there.

I think its possible to ride more of it ... since I have previously done the bit beyond Komsomolsk and the Isa-Etyrken section ... and stuff like the train from Dugda to Fevralsk, I think you could take a local flatbed train for the first and last parts of it, over the rivers, but you could ride the bits in between (if you have a really good map of the BAM from Nora to Cherbinka).

It would be insanely tough. And you really ideally want a sub 120 kg bike and light luggage. I think Sasha and Max took the right weight bikes for it. Fortunately I still have my Husaberg 570 (Lukas, Barton are you reading??)

[C/W]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

(on a Djebel).

Motorcycle Specifications has a few more pictures of the Djebel

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/mod...jebel%2096.htm

MCS lists a few Djebels (200cc & 250cc)

http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/bik...i%20%20%20.htm

I'm guessing the round headlight is the same size as the headlights used by most of the cars there.

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by kyns

Why not strip before going in the water, then you would at least have dry clothes to put on, while waiting for the truck...?

Your clothes dry pretty quickly. Getting them soaked thru is a good way to keep em reasonably clean . And it keeps you cool on a hot day.

Your feet are constantly wet from all the river crossings anyway ... and thats the only part that isnt dry in an hour. Its not something that worries me or bothers me. I take my jacket off cause my ipod and mobile phones are in there ... getting wet I dont care about. Its very much part of the deal ... you do the BAM, you are going to get wet, and you are going to have wet feet most of the time.

[ciedema]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

I still feel a bit of a sense of unfinished business there.

Would you consider it with floats similar to the one MetalJockey or the Moto Syberia guys have used in the past?

[ROD CURRIE]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Pretty much yes ... a Russian woman called Sasha Teplyakova rode the Western half in 2005 on her way to Magadan



and she (above) is one of only two people to have ridden the eastern half ... in 2010, with the help of a local rider called Max from Tynda (on a Djebel).

I have never met her, but she is quite a legend ... spends all her life doing extreme moto journeys ... often solo.

Her 2005 ride http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/Magadan_05_1.htm (BAM and Road of Bones solo on a 2 stroke Izh Planeta 5)
2010 Western BAM http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/BAM_10_p1.htm (in a team of 4 people all riding Yamaha 250s)
2010 Eastern BAM http://shoorik-spb.narod.ru/BAM_10_1.htm (With Max from Tynda: she was on a Yamaha 250, Max on a Djebel)



It would be insanely tough.

Guys. Get a look at these reports. This is extreme ADVing without a safety net.
They're in Russian but Google Translate will give a you a reasonable though literal feel for the trip. If you write in a chatty way with slang thrown in it won't come through the tool as well as if you write very carefully, but when she wrote it she doubtless wouldn't be thinking about an audience as international as this one.
This is one tough and resourceful little dame...and we, I'm afraid are pussies!

This exemplifies what's great about this forum...it smashes down the barriers of international misunderstanding and gives us a feeling of kinship and understanding with this little woman we'll never meet-but we know exactly what makes her tick.
ADVRider should be required reading in schools...but then the outback would be full of the lippy little feckers and we wouldn't have it to ourselves...Yer just can't win!

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by ciedema

Would you consider it with floats similar to the one MetalJockey or the Moto Syberia guys have used in the past?

I have spoken with Mac about it in the past. I would need to talk to him again and get a much better feel for his opinion on them before considering it with any seriousness. Last time I spoke to him about it, the impression I got from him was that it made for great pictures but was a pain in the a$$, massively time consuming, and not particularly practical.

I would add that at the same time as Mac was developing his floaties (2009), Sasha Teplyakova was also developing floats ...











Yet I also note that despite also being a pioneer of this concept back in 2009, she did not use floats in 2010 when she did the eastern BAM, despite a season of development and testing.

[EtronX]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

There are two major issues with floats like this.

• First of course is the bulk and the weight.
  
• Second is the current in the rivers. Some are pretty tranquil, but some are fierce. You would end up miles downstream

[beat]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

If you have metal boxes on a bike, like Tony did in 2009, or Steve this year, its difficult riding in the safer bit down low ... cause the bike is wider and if it does hit something then nothing is going to give.

if you build it right, it ain't wider
mine fits trough a door with the boxes on...

[ciedema]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

I would add that at the same time as Mac was developing his floaties (2009), Sasha Teplyakova was also developing floats ...
Yet I also note that despite also being a pioneer of this concept back in 2009, she did not use floats in 2010 when she did the eastern BAM, despite a season of development and testing.

mmm interesting and they seem better than both the MJ and the MS setups.

[Tony P]

Originally Posted by beat

if you build it right, it ain't wider
mine fits trough a door with the boxes on...

Width is not the whole story. Ground clearance can come into it.







What the photo does not show too well is the height of the top of the sleepers on bridges above the concrete side path. This was usually level with my footpegs - a foot (30cm) or so?.


In 2009 I regularly removed my metal boxes and took them across such bridges on foot (or my man, Bongo, did!) then I went back to ride the bike.

Even without the metal side panniers, at the regular triangular support panels I often had to lean the bike to wriggle the footpegs through the reduced gap.


Except possibly saving the walk first, having the slimmest of boxes would not have helped. A higher ground clearance/footpeg height than the Dakar had would have though.

[El Saguaro]

Originally Posted by Colebatch

Your clothes dry pretty quickly. Getting them soaked thru is a good way to keep em reasonably clean . And it keeps you cool on a hot day.

Your feet are constantly wet from all the river crossings anyway ... and thats the only part that isnt dry in an hour. Its not something that worries me or bothers me. I take my jacket off cause my ipod and mobile phones are in there ... getting wet I dont care about. Its very much part of the deal ... you do the BAM, you are going to get wet, and you are going to have wet feet most of the time.

Walter, EntronX, Have you ever considered using canyoneering shoes plus neoprene socks? like these:

[Colebatch]

Originally Posted by El Saguaro

Walter, EntronX, Have you ever considered using canyoneering shoes plus neoprene socks? like these:

No. Because I want the support of motocross boots. Additionally you cant stand up on footpegs all day without rigid soles - ideally with a metal rod running thru the sole.

I have never worn neoprene socks for a month on end but I cant imagine its good for your feet.

Again , I dont have a problem with wet feet inside mx boots. Its part of the bam experience.