The federal highway is mind numbingly boring and not fun.
Side excursions I would suggest:
If you have several days:
Krasnoyarsk -> Kemerovo -> Leninsk-Kuznetskiy (stay at the hotel Victoriia and make sure to eat in the restaurant attached to it! You will understand when you get there and take your camera! – hotel non-descript standard). Continue south via Novokuznetsk and Sheregesh (ski resort) . From there you will finally hit the mountains.
Get to Gorno-Altaysk via Tashtagol. You could , on the way, ride to the north shore of Lake Teleskoye.
Most of that is paved.
From Gorno-Altaysk, explore the Altay. Get lost in the little roads. If you want a bit of a challenge, ride south to Aktash, then leave the M52 and ride to Ust-Ulagan, (the track is more challenging beyond this point) then continue on that track all the way to the spectacular Katu Yarik pass and down to the river and to south shore of Lake Teleskoye. Plenty of guest houses and campsites by the river side. Note this is a dead end and the only way to get to the north shore is by boat. There is not road beyond the lake.
On the West side of the M52, soon after Manzherok, you can cross the river and again, explore the Altai region. Plenty of villages and towns in the mountains that are worth exploring. Places like Soloneshnoye and all those “white roads”. Most are in reasonable conditions.
North of the highway, and before reaching Novosibirsk, I really recommend spending few days in the ancient town of Tomsk. It is a very pleasant university town with a good vibe and lots of old wooden Siberian houses still standing. Lovely place.
Enjoy Siberia.
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