Motorcycle Travellers' News Report - Nov 2015, 103rd Edition

"As we get closer to St Petersburg, the second-most populated city in Russia, the traffic starts to get more dense. As the cars and trucks continue to clog the roadways, the drivers become much more reckless. Impatient drivers from oncoming traffic pull out into our lane, only to pass one or two cars at a time. They wait until the very last millisecond to duck back into their lane. There is a lot of swearing going on in our helmets as a couple of drivers don't even bother to tuck back into their own lane, forcing us onto the shoulder! WTF!

These are the crazy Russian drivers we had heard about. It was terrible. Last year, there were over 220,000 traffic accidents in the country, contributing to 28,000 deaths. A large part of the problem is poor traffic enforcement. Lawlessness on the road is rampant when you know nobody is going to stop you from doing idiotic things. But also vodka.

We're still riding without insurance, so this worries me quite a lot.

To make matters worse, an hour outside of the city, I noticed that my engine is losing power at high revs. Everything under 4,000 rpms is fine, but the minute I rev the engine above that, it loses power. ARGH!!! This is very concerning, it's the first serious issue I've had with the engine. What makes matters worse is that we're on a tight timeline through Russia. We can't afford to hunker down in a city and try to get it fixed here because of the looming expiration date on our visas.

This is stressing me out a bit and just hammers home the point that we are not psychologically prepared to continue overland across Central Asia with all of its strict entry and exit dates.

As long as I keep the revs down on the engine, everything seems fine. We limp my bike through the gauntlet of crazy Russian drivers without insurance into the heart of Saint Petersburg and try to find our hotel."

"When I mentioned that I am going to ride my Vespa scooter on the Manali-Leh Highway, I have mixed response. Some said it is possible, some said my scooter is not going to survive. My approach is to understand from both views and at least attempt within my limits. Never try, never know. I am glad my scooter and I made it through stream crossings, crawled through second highest pass in the world at 5328m. Had I let fear rule me, I would not have fulfilled my dream of riding this road.

Manali-Leh Highway did not get my scooter stranded but a longkang (drain in Malay) in Leh got me stuck. Asked help from the locals and had to deflate the tyres first.

The problem with small tyres!

Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a one of the most impressive art works I have seen. A 12 acre sculpture garden made from recycled materials! Creator Nek Chand collected materials from demolition when Chandigarh was being built in 1950s. With his imagination and creativity, he recycled the material to secretly build a kingdom of Sukrani. However, this fantasy land was illegal. It was hidden for 18 years before being discovered by authorities. It survived the threat of being demolished and is now a public park.

From far, the walls look like a typical mosaic or rock. Upon closer inspection, you notice that they are actually broken ceramic crockery or electrical fittings."

"...There have been times when I've forgotten to take my shoes off when entering a home in a country which demands it, finished everything served on my plate, reached out to shake hands with a local man when it was deemed highly inappropriate and even that one time in Tajikistan, when I mistook someone's family gathering for a restaurant and sat down and ordered coffee and kebabs. True story.

Luckily for me, my immense mortification at the realization of my stuff-up was enough to appease my gracious hosts; the latter even insisting we stay and share in the family celebrations. That was a particularly delicious mistake, on my part."

"The ride takes us through forests of birch trees that are starting to turn into fabulous shades of yellow and ochre. There's not a lot of hotels out here so our first day on the road was 600 kms and the subsequent days didn't get any shorter.

Next day we had planned to stay in a small town but decided to press on to the next major centre, Mogocha. When we arrived in town it was cold and wet. We needed fuel and a bed when we were rescued by angels – the Iron Angels.

Their vice president, Alex, drove alongside of us in his little car and told us to follow him – we ended up at the Mogocha Iron Angels club house. It's rustic in the extreme with no running water and no toilet but it was warm and dry. They offered us dinner and a bed and some good conversation with Sasha from Vladivostok and Francisco from Chile.

We're in striking distance of Vladivostok now and a ferry to South Korea so another two long days and we're there. But there's time for a photo op at the iconic Moscow / Vladivostok sign on the highway."

"The Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sacrada Familia is a UNESCO site still under construction. The building began in 1882 and Gaudi took over in 1883 and transformed it to his vision. It was only one-quarter complete when he died in 1926. It has progressed slowly since it is funded by private donation and building was halted for the Spanish civil war from 1936-39. It was half done in 2010 and should be completed in 2026, 100 years after Gaudi's death."

"We left San Cristobal de Las Casas on the 12th September. Originally we'd planned to stay at a coffee plantation in the hills as it was soon to be our 20th wedding anniversary. However, whilst in San Cris we discovered that Mexican independence would be celebrated on the same day as our anniversary, the 16th September. Now having spent quite a while in Mexico we're more than aware how Mexicans love a celebration and we decided this one was not to be missed. Why spend a few days at a tranquil coffee plantation when one of the biggest celebrations of the year takes place elsewhere? That's it, we're off to Oaxaca.

The ride would take us south-west to the Pacific coast and then see us head north-west-ish to the city of Oaxaca in the state of the same name. I was a little apprehensive about one part of our route, the area around La Ventosa. La Ventosa is famous for its strong winds, in fact there are literally thousands of wind turbines in the area, and we'd heard from Mike and Karen of their traumatic ride when they passed this way. They had tales of trucks being blown over, needing a police escort and finding the whole experience one they would not want to repeat. Well, for us, there was virtually no wind and most of the wind turbines were motionless. I was almost disappointed. Almost.

Tigger was very happy with his accommodation in Oaxaca

Arriving on the Sunday our strategy was quite simple. Find a reasonably priced hotel for a couple of days giving us time to find something that was befitting of our upcoming milestone. We finally settled on a hotel located right on the main plaza where most of the independence celebrations were to take place."

"Before and After. Riding a Honda C90 into the heart of Africa. Day one - leaving my home in England; fresh faced, naive, frightened, eager. About a year later - somewhere in the Congo! Ragged."

"Indian petroglyphs, natural stone arches and spectacular vistas of Canyonlands opened up at virtually every corner, especially when we found ourselves teetering on the edge of a cliff at 2,000 feet.

Better known as the Shafer Trail, we took in some of the 18 miles of dangerous dirt–on a par with Bolivia's Road of Death–it's one of those roads that will humble the biggest of egos."

"Well, we may be jumping the gun a little bit on this with regards to telling the story of all the places we've managed to travel through so far, but we felt it's timely considering all that's going on in the world. We put together a 9 minute slideshow for the 9 Minute Moto Film Festival back in May and thought it's about time we shared it. 

It's 900 Days in 9 Minutes – so we had to skip Asia but we'll get to that next time! Hope you enjoy it... and feel free to share it with your friends!"

California

"We arrive to HU and find our campsite for the next four nights and dig in for a few days of meeting people, enjoying and learning during the presentations, and hearing of people quitting jobs to begin their own RTW adventures. This is a great group of people and I can't name everybody that makes up this 'family' of travelers. Some we see year to year, some are off on their own long adventures, and some we may never see again as they are traveling through and will be on to other countries. We have a great time with music, craic and grog seeming to take up the evening hours and into the night. Much too quickly the fun times come to an end and we all scatter in many different directions, like the wind..."

Fellow travellers at HU California 2015 - Nevil Stow and Greg Turp

Portugal

"...we cross the bridge into Pinhao, riding slowly down the main street enjoying the village ambiance. We rode north out of town headed to the Spain border and jumped on the A-52, like an interstate highway, to make up some time. It was a beautiful ride twisting at fast speeds in and out of curves with not much traffic and we stayed on these roads for about 200 Kms. We finally got to slow back down and get on small two-lane road as we headed up toward a1400 meters pass.

Almost to the top we crossed an arm of an alpine lake/ski resort and another unexpected pass following the Rio Vejo as it fought its way down through yet another canyon. The road weaved back and forth, gaining elevation with rock walls jutting out forming one side of the road, while on the other side a small river wove its way among pocket of grassy areas and old homesteads. As we came to the top of the pass we met several bikers on holiday from the Netherlands. We exchanged routes as we were both headed in different directions of things that shouldn't be missed ahead."

"In the way back and beyond somewhere between Cochabamba and Sucre the dirt road we were on suddenly turned to cobble-stone, for a staggering 41 miles! The rocks for the construction came from the river valley far below. We wonder how long it took to build this handmade masterpiece?

The first sign we were no longer in Peru were the drivers. Bolivian drivers lack the suicide gene common in Peru and we were able to ride without the 'death race 2000' mentality we had grown accustomed to in Peru. We left Lake Titicaca behind for La Paz, Cochabamba, and Sucre as we made our way to the Salar de Uyuni in southern Bolivia. After three nights in Sucre we loaded the bikes for an early start, paid our hotel bill, and hopped onto our bikes. Shannon's bike refused to start. It refused to even stutter or backfire so we moved back into the room we had vacated a half hour earlier and our residence status in Sucre began.

Fuel/air, spark, and compression; the holy trinity of internal combustion engines and all were suspect at this point. The tools came out and Shannon's bike Zippy was disassembled piece by piece. Mike's bike, the Black Donkey, became the test platform as components like the carburetor, CDI, ignition coils, switches, and relays were moved over and tested. If the Donkey ran with a Zippy part that part was deemed 'not the problem'. On the third day of trouble shooting a smoking gun was found. A small electrical device called a pulse coil, a component of the stator assembly, which lives in a sea of motor oil in permanent darkness inside the engine, tested bad with the OHM meter. The pulse coil's sole job is to tell the bike's computer when to spark; without a working pulse coil Zippy would never run again.

Suzuki Bolivia in La Paz could get an entire stator assembly (which includes the itty-bitty pulse coil) in as little as 60-days and for a mere US$650. The pulse coil alone is not available from Suzuki. Not good. Another couple of days scouring the internet and asking contacts on social media we had our answer, a Suzuki DR650 pulse coil was made of unobtainium in Bolivia and could not be had for any price. The pulse coil via DHL from the US took two weeks, favors from many friends, some helpful strangers along the way, and an overnight bus ride for us to finally receive our new part in Sucre, Bolivia.

Little did we know the weekend we arrived in Sucre was the biggest party of the year. The parades and marching bands started in the morning and went until 5am.

While we waited for our parts to arrive both bikes got new chains and sprockets and the Black Donkey got some new tires as well. We made friends in Sucre and were invited to the home of a Bolivian motorcycle mechanic I had befriended in my mission to get Zippy running. We slept late, ate good, and read a lot of books. We became the resident expats of the hotel and were the unofficial greeters to the guests that arrived each day. Shannon went native and shopped in the market like all the other Bolivian women and soon found a favorite baker, produce seller, butcher, and egg wholesaler.

Finally one bright Spring morning our DHL package arrived. After the high fives and happy dances I opened up the left side of the engine, cut out the bad pulse coil, and soldered in the new part, green wire to green wire and blue wire to blue wire just like the dealer in the US insisted the part be installed.

I am still smiling because the repair is still in its first few days. Nearly a month would go by before that bike was fixed and the frustration grew by the day.

Giddy with anticipation we all gathered around Zippy to see her roar to life. Nothing, no change, no start, same shit as before. My confidence as a mechanic was shaken. Had I not diagnosed the problem correctly and because of my mistake waited two weeks for a part that didn't fix the problem? Ouch."

"Decided to hang out in South Africa for a bit longer to attend the Horizons Unlimited travel meeting being held at the Elgro River Lodge near Potchefstroom. The event went from the 12th to the 15th of November and then a group of us rode to Hazyview, near Kruger NP, and spent a few days doing day rides in the area.

Bourke's Luck Potholes

The HU event and ride was a fantastic time, it was non stop fun and laughter from the start to the last.

Grant and Susan were along for the ride.

To everyone I met at the HU meeting and those along on the ride after, thank you for such a great time. Kobus, I'll be back, thank you."

"To drive the officially closed road 40 from Payogasta to San Antonio, was not one of my best ideas.

To prepare the vanished roads at above 4000m height, to put big rocks in the rivers to build a passage you can cross... That was way too much for my condition at that height... Stupid to stay in waist-deep in icy water that tries to wash you away. But it brings me further...

A road too far, officially closed for a reason!

Anyway. Very important is to wear the right shoes for that conditions.

At the end I meet a passage which I was not able to cross, and had to return. Back to that roadblock from the morning.. Grrrrrrr...

But I made it on a less adventurous road to the Jungle and to the City Salta. Met too some animals which I didn't want to meet often."

Friendly critter?

"...one of the best rides of the whole journey was next, Paracas Peninsula, a welcome and unexpected surprise. The peninsula is a desert, and a national park and reserve. We went in through the 'back' past tiny shacks and ruins in the sand. After riding for about an hour or so, the tar disappeared, turning to hard dirt with patches of soft sand covering our path in wind spots. The road became increasingly less defined and lonelier, and just when the road had ended, disappearing completely into the earth, the sea rose to meet us in a dramatic coastline. With open air, yellow sand cliffs and deep blue water we found ourselves completely alone, and without any semblance of road to follow. We nearly wet ourselves with excitement.

Arrival at the other end of the park, where the roads reappeared and we met the sea

(In Lima) Megan and I got new suspension at Touratech Peru, serviced the bikes, wrote blogs and made videos to our hearts content. Megan also received her brand-spanking new Klim Motorcycle suit, which is cool beyond description, and an essential piece of kit for the rainy season which lay ahead of us.

Most importantly though, the three weeks spent waiting for Megan's suit gave us the opportunity to meet a host of awesome people, who have become very close friends of ours, as well as relax with current mates like Ed Gill from my last post. Christiaan is travelling around the world in a Land-Rover, a chef who makes a habit of visiting fancy schmancy restaurants the world over, and Erdem and Sarah with their little dog, Tara, traveling as Nonurbia. Erdem previously travelled from Turkey to Mongolia solo on his motorcycle, after which he met Sarah in the USA, they are now travelling together in a 4×4 around the world."

"From Santiago I went up the coast to San Pedro De Atacama. It was great to see the ocean again, I miss it when inland. The Trans American Highway is good road, amazing scenery along the coast. Then back into desert, my kind of country.

San Pedro was in an amazing place. However the town itself is plastic backpacker territory! Maybe I am getting old? Maybe I just don't mix well with others. Maybe I am just getting grumpy, but two days was all I could take. I worked out a course through the back road to the border. A few things to look at on the way, salt flats, alpacas, desert, volcanos. You know the usual stuff."