I am a group leader of motorcycling tours. This is my job. Sometimes it’s tough, sometimes it’s a lot of fun and sometimes it is quite dangerous, but I love it and I can’t think of doing something else. I’ve been through plenty of different motorcycling tours around Central Asia for the past year and every single tour was unique and unforgettable adventure, all thanks to different participants, interesting personalities, dangerous and hilarious situations, diverse routes, motorcycles, romance and gorgeous nature around. All of that became one big knot called – adventure motorcycle tour.
I would like to share with some of the stories happened during those trips, that I took part in not as a customer, but as an organizer and a group leader. There is a big difference, isn’t there? By your leave I would love to post it here for the very first time. And the story called “(Through the eyes of motorcycle tour leader.)”.
In this report I want to tell about one of our trips, which we had many years ago, at the very start of our business when we have just begun discovering the furthest parts of Central Asia.

So here we go:
Motorbike tour from Almaty to Aktau or “Hot shots”
It hasn’t been two weeks since I came back from my motorcycling info-tour around Pamir, when my colleague called, who is also my partner and just a good friend from Japan – Mr Unno Kazuhitsa or just Kazu san. He said that a Silk Road group was ready to continue its tour. And I realized that I don’t even need to unpack my backpack.
The Silk Road group is 7 amazing people from Japan who are obsessed with their holly idea to get through the Great Silk Road on motorcycles. Thus, during several years they have been methodically realizing their dream: every year they would pack their bags and drive through some parts of the Silk Road. “But why is taking so long?” –some experienced trucker my ask, - “It should take no more than a month”. Let me explain you something. The thing is that for Japanese people vocation time may last not more than one week not including the flight time, so it does not exceed 10 days per year. And it doesn’t even depend on the position, and more over as higher your position or your salary is, the more you are busy and the less time you can find to have some fun.
Thus, every year the Silk Road group gets trough planned part of the Silk Road during their one week of vacations. So how does that actually work? They’ve started the tour three years ago in China and it took them two years of their vacations to pass the Chinese part from the East to the West. They’ve been driving motorcycles of 250cc rented in China with a huge truck behind them carrying nothing else but spare parts for those nice pieces of bikes.))

For the next year during another vacations the group continued their Crusade, which this time had to start here in Kazakhstan at the eastern side of Horgos (border between China and Kazakhstan), leading to the west till Uzbek border, so the route ran through Horgos – Almaty – Taraz – Shymkent – Tashkent. That was the time when we’ve met these guys from the Silk Road group for the first time while organizing Kazakh part of the tour. It was a successful campaign I must say. By the end of the tour everyone was pretty happy and had flown away filled with satisfaction and hope to continue their tour next year.
And now, Kazu san called and asked to support their another tour, but this time the group is going to work their asses of in order to have another adventure and get through the entire Uzbekistan, again from the East to the West, since that is the Great Silk Road. This time the point A was Shymkent, and B – Aktau, but we had to follow Uzbekistan roads.

Here are the following reference points of the route: Shymkent – Jizzakh – Bukhara – Khiva – Nukus – Beineu – Aktau.



Essential information on fuel and route I received from my friend and an expert of the Wild West in Central Asia - Max (MadMax). He told me that the most important thing was to take as more petrol and water as you can. Thank you so much, man, that was one good advice! Thanks to him we decided to buy a trailer just to have additional fuel with us. The only thing we couldn’t predict was the weather. We cherished the thought that it will be cloudy and not so hot. So… the horses are fed and the boys are harnessed !!! Oh, horses are harnessed and boys are fed))

Let the tour begin!!!

Day 1. Almaty - Shymkent. "Cart"
We shipped all motorcycles from Almaty to Shymkent by trucks, where Japanese were supposed to be. Me, my friend and my friend and companion - Sergey (nickname Comandor) took off on our old, but rugged escort car Toyota Land Cruiser with a trailer carrying 12 empty canisters. We were planning to fill it in right before crossing Uzbekistan border since Kazakh petrol is much better and cheaper.
All the way to Shymkent I was hearing some weird squeaking noises. It was coming from the trailer. We had to stop in order to check it. I pushed a wheel for couple of times to check whether everything was fine. And I suddenly found myself holding a broken wheel, which fell off. What the hell is going on!?! Why? We’ve put new bearings just right before the beginning of the trip! We started looking for failure cause and found it. Wheel axis was bent and its geometry was disrupted, so the bearings could not resist this huge side loading. The good thing was that our truck with motorcycles wasn’t that far. We’ve put the broken trailer inside it and went on. “Well, that’s just great!” – I thought, -“The tour hasn’t started yet and we are already having problems. Shoot!”
We arrived in Shymkent at night and until very morning we’ve been repairing the trailer. Even though we still couldn’t fix the axis and make it perfectly straight, yet we could notice some improvements. And went to bed early in the morning.

DAY 2. Shymkent - Jizzakh. "Contraband"
In the morning being still very sleepy, we went to Shymkent airport in order to meet the Japanese group. And we have finally met them all. What an awesome group! All the same faces! As always accompanied by enormous pile of luggage.
We got to the minivan and headed to the appointed start point, where meanwhile Sergey was supposed to unload the truck, set up the bikes and fill it with fuel. The group quickly changed the clothes and was ready to start.
Before we go any further, I would like to introduce participants of this exciting expedition, I think they deserve some special attention.


Shoichiro Irimajiri or just Mr. Iri san - the pack leader, inspirer of this trip and the oldest participant. He is 70 years old. In spite of his modest look, Iri san is a very noble man. He started his career as aeronautical engineer. Then he joined Honda Motor Co and worked there as project manager. Iri san is the father of legendary series of Honda CBX motorcycles. This bike used to be as they say "the killer" of the motorcycles of those times. The bike possessed unique engineering solution and had such an incredible power that rivals almost switched to production of washing machines and vacuum cleaners))
Iri san had been working for Honda Motor Co for the last 20 years as chief engineer and was designing motorcycle engines and racing car engines for Formula 1. And later he became an executive vice president of Honda Motor Co. After that Iri san had some health problems and had to resign. You can easily find bunch of web-sites telling about the history of this bike, and of course Iri san’s name is written there with block letters, as an indivisible part of the history of this sensational model.
Here is a brief link to the history of this motorcycle
History of the CBX Motorcycle
And here is young Iri san himself
Master Shoichiro Irimajiri Speaks of the CBX Motorcycle
Shoichiro Irimajiri - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Today Iri san is retired, however sometimes he visits Honda company as honorable and well-known consultant. But now his every single aspiration and thought is wholly dedicated to traveling and discovering new and interesting places on the Earth, which can be reached on two wheels.


Kambayashi san. He is 60. Good friend of Iri san. In the 80-s used to be a part of the Honda RacingTeam management.

Usui san is the president of Sega Corporation. Yes, yes, that’s the company that used to be the leader of video game consoles market. Nowadays Sega Corporation has partially redeveloped into other directions and is called SegaSammy. At home Usui san is driving Honda XR250K and quite happy with it.
COO - SEGA CORPORATION | Management Message | Annual Report 2011 | Investor Relations | SEGA SAMMY HOLDINGS

Sekine san. He is 56 years old. President of some big record company in Tokyo, which name I couldn’t remember no matter how hard I’ve tried, because I could not even pronounce it.

Hashimoto - the youngest member of the group. He is 40. Mr. Sekine’s assistant.

Kurihara san – even though he tried very hard, he couldn’t say what he did and who he was, since his English was very pour, however as everyone else’s except for Kazu san and Iris. As Kazu san funny commented– they’ve been bad students in school. )

Kazu san - my good friend and colleague. An employee of Japanese Motor-touristic company, the organizer of this trip. The whole year around he is taking part in tours around the globe. His wife was organizing motorcycle tours in Mongolia until 2010, when they had a child and she had to stay at home. We took part in a couple of successful off-road tours in Kazakhstan last year. He is a one funny dude. Riding Honda XR400 and quite happy with it.
Each of them lives in Tokyo.
As one can see these people are not that simple, but still polite, courteous and hilarious.

As I planned, the oldest folks were seated on the most comfortable motorcycles with 650 cc of engine capacity. Iri san provided the most comfortable and a low rider bike Suzuki XF650. It was according to Kazu san’s request he sent right before he arrived. Since everyone still could remember the last year when Iri san could not reach the ground by foot on Yamaha TTR and every time when the entire crew had to take off, we had to literally place Iri san on a motorcycle, and we could move on only after he makes couple of circles around the place, since the stop for him equaled to be down on the ground. When we were driving through some cities at traffic lights we had to perform semi-acrobatics exercises. Before reaching traffic lights we had to support Iri san from both sides trying to keep his bike in balance until the red lights on. So this time Iri san decided not to stick someone and made special shoes with super tall platform, a la “Kiss” band from the 80-s. And he even did not forget to attach specific metal horseshoes to the left shoe in order to be able to switch gear speeds. Tadaaaaaaam!






His friend Kambayashi san was placed on a Yamaha XT600E along with 35 literAsserbis fuel tank, which served as an additional source of fuel supply.
Mr. Sekine san got Honda XR650L also with 25 liter Asserbis fuel tank.

And the rest of the group gladly sat on Honda CRF. And let’s notice that Japanese people unlike the rest of the adventure motorbike world, which thinks that real motorcycles are only those that have engine capacity of minimum 650 cubes, with all satisfaction prefer bikes with 250 cubes of engine capacity. It might be not that comfortable, but quite easy and maneuverable. At their motherland they are not ashamed to drive bikes with 250 cubes and I fully agree with them.
And I ended up with Yamaha WR250. By the way right before the tour we fixed sprockets of smaller size on all the Hondas and my bike as well in order to drive faster and spend less petrol. That was the only upgrade we’ve managed made.

And here we are finally on our way. Flying. Buzzing. 8 motorcycles and a jeep are rushing through southern Kazakhstan one after another in a straight line. I am going the first as the group leader followed by the crew and an escort vehicle rounds out the whole group. I have a radio touch with the jeep. The border is getting closer. We have to hurry up in order not to get there right during the lunch time. Border check points on both Kazakh and Uzbek sides have their meals in different time, and sometimes these feasts may last for hours making the line of people and cars. With strict Japanese requirements every single minute is precious. Having passed not more than twenty kilometers I heard Sergey’s voice in walkie-talkie: “Hey! Stop right there!” My heart dropped. That means that something went wrong. I’m taking off the bike and going to the car. Thank God the bike is standing in a straight position and Kambayshi san is also safely standing, but for some reason with his hands up and wide-opened eyes. Turned out he was all covered with motor oil from top of the head to the bottom of the feet!
The worst thing was that he had white outfit. I couldn’t get it, how come he is covered with motor oil? where did that come from? After troubleshooting we realized that heavy Aserbis fuel tank had broken oil hose, which for some reason was situated right above the bike’s frame on Yamaha. Seems like our customizing turned out to be a failure. We changed the hose and just in case placed a piece of tire as an additional layer. It was ALMOST perfect! Washed the bike and went on. Kambayashi san had to stop couple of times thinking that the hose was broken again. Actually it was oil drops that flew off when the bike was moving. He would stop several times and ask us to eliminate the leak. And we would carefully wipe the bike and apologize for those oil drops flying out of the gaps and say that it’s gonna be alright and we have to hurry up. And he had no choice but to listen to us. Anything can happen on the road. Before reaching the border line we filled all the canisters with Kazakh petrol.
Border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.Yallama check point.
During summer time this building feels like sauna. Very hot and very crowded. Wearing a gear in that room felt like medieval inquisition. Way too hot. And more over you have to fill in some papers and bunch of other forms, which turn into napkins because of sweaty hands. It’s better not to ask the officer to give you another form since that makes them so angry that they will not give you a thing until they chill. It was taking forever. Everyone was nervous. At the end it took us three hours to pass the border. But that was only me and the group, since we passed the border on our bikes with other cars standing in the line. Sergey on his jeep stuck in neutral zone in front of gates to Uzbekistan standing in the line of trucks, they were not moving because someone in the beginning of the line had problems with customs. They all had to stand there and just wait. Our car was trapped as I understood. Me and my crew, we all passed necessary procedures at Uzbek border and here we were standing 300 meters away from our car, but couldn’t do anything to get it out of the line. The escort vehicle during the tour is like our mother. It might be a burden like now, but actually it is our safety net. We have all the spare parts there, as well as petrol, some medicines, personal stuff of the tour participants and even water and food. Its already been five hours since we’ve started passing the border! The shades of evening began to descend. To lead the crew through the darkness on Uzbekistan road is not really cool. The road is full of wagons driving without any flickers, walking cows and donkeys. Expression on our faces said we did not expect that it is going to take so long. We all were exhausted, starving and wanted to get some sleep. We had no choice and I’ve decided to leave the car and wait for it in the hotel in Jizak town. It’s about 200 kilometers from the border. Kazu san had to agree with me. I passed a note with the hotel address to Camandor and we left him waiting in this stupid trap.
The darkness reached us on the road. The traffic was still pretty active and we had to maneuver between trucks and car in the total darkness. One thing that was killing the most was that our escort vehicle wasn't there behind us as it always used to be. And I couldn’t see the end of our line. That was just awful. If something went wrong (we are out of the petrol, the bike is broken or some accident) the car would always report me by walkie-talkie, we would all stop and move on only when the problem was solved. We even call the escort vehicle “a broom” since it’s kinda “sweeping” those who got behind. Without the car I had to look back all the time while I was driving in order to count the bikes. If you have ever been the tour leader you should know what it feels like. I would call it some kind of an art and of course it’s a huge responsibility. Every single minute you have to be aware and feel your crew. It’s like a snake’s body, where a group leader is its eyes and head. And before making any move (over taking or stop) you have to be sure that your “body” (the crew) is still there, it didn’t fell off and did not break into pieces, because of that we may lose our confidence or even one of the members. You have to be aware of every single factor: participants’ mood, their individual driving experience, physical strength, the road condition, traffic, weather conditions and etc. As I said it’s a huge responsibility. Oh, sorry, I may have lost the line of my story.))
So here we are on the road. Sometimes I could see that some car would reach and follow us. I would truly believe that it was Sergey, but it wasn’t him. The walkie-talkie was silent. The phone wasn’t ringing.
We reached Jizak in the middle of the night. Checked in, hardly walking. Got some food. No one was talking. Everyone knew that Sergey still wasn’t there, so as the car, and that means that there is no luggage, no petrol, no tools and bunch of other important shit.
It was just the beginning and we had hundreds of kilometers in front of us.
I had the only thought in my mind. Am I ready..or even.. will I be able to lead the group without the escort vehicle. Maybe it was crazy, but I felt like I was ready. We all had our documents, some money and some necessary tools to change the tires. But if we don’t make it and the tour is over, that will be a disaster. I would lose my face in front of anyone, but not in front of these Japanese people. And “hara-kiri” wouldn't even help me.))) we all finished the dinner, everyone headed to their rooms and I was still sitting, with my head full of sad thoughts.
I could turn around and come back, but I couldn’t leave the group, and to be honest I had no power. So I’ve decided to wait till the morning. I went to bed and put the walkie-talkie under my pillow. It took me quite long time before I fell asleep. Suddenly I caught off. I had a dream about Sergey. Seemed like he was asking me: “Where are you? What’s your room number?”
At first I didn’t get that it was actually coming from walkie-talkie. I’ve answered. Oh my God! He was back. I looked at the clocks. 4 am. Sergey came in the room. He didn’t look good, all covered with mud, angry and exhausted. I realized that he cannot talk and he is just ****ing surprised with something. I went to get some and got him talking.
- What happened man? – I asked
- I was arrested by Uzbek customs officers – he said swearing as he could
- What the hell? Why?
- They found canisters with fuel in our trailer and thought that I was smuggling it! Turned out that according to local legislation it is not allowed to have more than 20 liters of petrol per one vehicle. And there is a petrol crisis here in Uzbekistan now!!! We have more than 12 canisters in our trailer.
Shiiit, - was my first thought. 240 liters is a great reason to get some easy money for Uzbek customs. Knowing Sergey’s hot temper I understood that he wasn’t giving out the petrol and just told them to get the **** off him! And they’ve just put him in a jail.
- What happened next?
- Well...then they made a kind of performance, pretending that they got the head of smuggling racket and held me in a jail until I found another way to bribe them. And after, those bastards took out all the petrol and poured it in a hole. So now we have 12 ****ing empty canisters! – Comandor was drinking and slowly coming to himself.
- But why are you so dirty? – I was dying to know
- **** that shit…don’t even ask me…!!! I don’t give a shit about that ****ing trailer…why the **** we’ve decided to buy it…its ****ing wheel…shit….fell off and rolled down to the ****ing field…with corn or some other shit…and I couldn’t find it in the darkness…and there was a ****ing swamp or something else…and when I finally found it, no **** would stop to help me out to fix it…
Comandor was about to cry because of that annoyance, and I was about to laugh of happiness. It wasn’t all that bad – everyone was alive, in a good health, free and we were finally reunited. He finished the and we went to bed.......

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www.silkoffroad.kz - Motorcycle tours in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan (Pamir). Contact me mariolucker@gmail.com