Hi Motoreiter,

Thanks for the reply! Before I posted this I had the feeling that there may be some concern about my experience, so I get where you're coming from. For the dying in Russia bit, I didn't really believe them, especially after watching Long Way Round, Races to Places - Lyndon Poskitt, Not Dead Yet - Oising Hughes, and reading lots of ride reports while trying to get some inspiration and insight!

I think the main reason I don't really doubt my ability is most likely ignorance. Like one of the guys from this forum wrote in his book "As you can imagine, there were some nasty accidents, but that's the cool confidence of youth I suppose." I don't know if it's that I'm indifferent about dying or just can't really comprehend it. Maybe its the fear and not knowing when and if I'll ever be in a position to take a trip like this any time soon, especially if I head to university in the US, I feel rather limited going to South America and Canada (two regions that don't interest me as much as Eurasia). That being said, I don't really want this trip to be easy, I do want it to be a challenge, and not being too familiar about bikes on roads, I think off-road is where I would thrive (as I drive my car off road as well as go mountain-biking as often as I can) just because I've learnt the mentality "as slow as possible as fast as necessary" and enjoy the more technical side of things.

Is there any reason you could recommend Mongolia? It seems as remote as Tajikistan, although slightly more developed. I'd like to stay away from SE Asia if possible as it's an area I've already explored but if you have any more suggestions of other trips I might be able to do I would really appreciate it. I think it's really important to start planning as early as possible in order to make the trip go smoothly which includes me getting as much bike experience beforehand as I can (even if it includes really pissing of my mother).

Thanks again for the reply!