Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia
Job done! Just about. This is the arctic circle calling, we have all six members of our convoy in one piece, but the same cannot be said for the bikes! The day our local friend blew us out on the shooting our bike started making the odd horrible noise from the gearbox and this gradually got worse. We rode into the night and ended up at a tiny little town where we bumped into several other teams and ended up sleeping in the town hall! A local guy also invited all 13 of us to his house for tea, vodka and something to eat which was an amazing experience. The next morning however the bike sounded terrible and would barely move, a suspected thrown bearing in the gearbox to blame but absolutely nothing could be done about it where we were. I managed to get the bike going and it was better in higher gears but a wrong turn out of town which led us to a dead end saw me loose my cool and whole lot of swearing, helmet throwing and ripping the windscreen off the sidecar ensued. We eventually got on the road and made good progress for a while but the bike was getting worse and then the wiring on the bog hopper bike literally went up in smoke. So the Tremlin bike towed them into the town 1km away and that's where our bike finally gave up the ghost. After unsuccessfully searching around town with the police for a mechanic, the painful decision was made to truck the two bikes the final 200km to the finish line. We had an awesome four hours in the police station doing shots and eating with the cops, then a Kamaz truck and a crane turned up and loaded the bikes on board and we set off into the night at 8:15 with the Tremlin bike still running. At about 4am in the biting arctic wind the final bike of our convoy expired within 40km of the finish line despite a great last effort by Cookey and Keysey. So in the end the truck rolled into the finish line with two bikes on the back and towing the third with a frozen Cookey who had been towed for the best part of an hour and a half in minus god knows what temperature. Not the way we had imagined our finish to the trip and I'm sure it's something that's gonna bug me for a long time. That said we had an amazing time seeing some of the most remote but beautiful places that very few foreigners ever see. We've got some great memories and made some awesome new friends. Plus the Siberian people have been the most hospitable people we've encountered anywhere. So... As for the Urals themselves. I started this thing truly expecting to fall in love with them but can sum up my thoughts as follows. I still have the bike ** some text is missing **
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
life on the zimniks is harsh, fucking cold, desolate but beautiful. If there's one thing we've learned it's that rating systems on cold weather gear is a load of bollocks. If it says -40 then it will probably keep you alive at that but just about! We camped two nights ago in -25 and had a painful night. Our feet are suffering the worst, you just cannot warm them up. But sometimes the rest of you is sweating when you have to kick the bike about 100 times to get it going, then you breath heavy and your balaclava freezes and your goggles mist up and then that freezes, so you have to take it all off and start again! We were under the impression that we wouldn't see any towns until the finish but as the sun set last night we came across a little town where we stayed so managed to warm up and met another great local and went out for a meal and some drinks. He was supposed to take us shooting this morning but hasn't turned up so we're gonna hit the road. To be fair he was throwing up last night after drinking a bottle of cognac so I'm sure he's tucked up in bed. We've now got about 400km to go 'till Salekhard...
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
well we've made it to Nyagan which is the last big town before the zimnic of the river Ob, and generally regarded as the last place to refuel our batteries and repair the bikes before the push to the finish line. The local police however had other ideas. We arrived in town to a police blockade who were very nice but insisted that we went to the station and then to a hotel of their recommendation(which happened to be right next door to the station). They weren't keen on us going to explore town but we went anyway and then noticed a shady looking character following us all night! But we managed to meet a really nice local guy who took us out for some drinks and had a blast anyway! The police have said they'll give us an escort out of town tomorrow and it seems like they're just trying to get us out of their jurisdiction ASAP, whether its for our good or theirs we don't know! Tomorrow we try to push past the last little fishing resort 60km out of town and on to the zimniks. There's a couple of minor things with the bikes we'd like to have sorted but due to the police 'escort' we haven't been able to. Hopefully we'll sort things on the road and the zimniks will be fun to the finish line. Famous last words?? Time will tell...
, Kuminskaya, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia
well, we signed up for a hell of an adventure! The last two and a half days have seen us cover about 350-400km, convoying with Ben and Arran of 'The Bog Hopper Express' and James and Ben of 'Putin Up With the Tremlin'. All went smoothly with the launch and we hit the road with high spirits and adventurist glints in our eyes. This soon turned to a look of fear however as the rear wheel on the bike developed a tendency to lock up inexplicably which would then spear us onto the opposite side of the road! Thankfully, oncoming traffic here is sparse!! That problem seems to have reaolved itself for now, and so we carried on!! After our first night camping under the stars we pushed on past Tavda and that's where the fun began with tiny little snow covered tracks that resemble ski runs more than roads which are great fun but super hard work. After another nights camping we expected more of the same but the roads deteriorated and we continuously had to push the bikes in very soft snow. Ben and Arran then accidentally ploughed their bike off the side of a bridge culvert and into a snow bank. It took our bike towing and the rest of the guys and two passing truckers to pull it out! We eventually made it, completely knackered, to this town where we've managed to find cheap digs for the night and some vodka which we've definitely earned! We've learned that there's a fuel shortage in town but have been told they'll be some available in the morning. Fingers crossed, then we can see what the road will throw at us tomorrow...
