TravelStream™ news feed for member jimbosidecar on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/jimbosidecar en-us Copyright ©2012 TravelPod.com Tue, 13 Nov 2007 21:16:55 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121994900/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121994900/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121994900/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:16:55 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 15 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Another big surprise is that my wife's uncle paid the cop for the truck, and the cop actually did pay for it. We don't have any tie dows but the trucker has one big length of rope. So we get all 3 bikes tied down in the back of this truck and we're off for Erlenhot about 700 kilometers Southwest of us. There is nothing but Gobi desert between us and Erlenhot and I'm double glad I'm not riding my bike. It made it across the Gobi once and it wouldn't be fair to ask it to do it twice. It is hot besides, about 40+ C. About 5 kms outside of town the driver leaves the path and starts bouncing across the desert in search of his friend's yurt. The bouncing has made all 3 bikes dislodge and we have to stop and re-tie them all down. We explain to the driver he must stay on the path and he turns back to the path. For the rest of the day we have to stop another 4 times to re-tie the bikes and finally about midnight the driver stops for some sleep. Doris and Sjaak are already asleep in the back of the truck, the driver is asleep across the front seats, the co-droiver is sleeping under the truck, and I'm perched on a 2 X 10 board tied to the roof of the cab. The next morning we are up fairly early and on the road again. We make 2 stops, one at a yurt for food and another at a village for diesel. The gas station is locked up so we drive into town to find the manager. We find him, drive him out to the pumps, and get fuel. Then he locks up and we drive him back into town and then head further south. We finally reach the southern border town at about 4:00 PM, and Doris finds a hotel. It costs US$ 2.00 per night but there is no toilet or shower in the room. In fact there is no shower in the building. But they have a big yard where we unload our bikes. So I head off in search of better accomodations. I check all 5 hotels in town and there is one with hot showers and running toilets for the equivalet of US$ 7.00. We pay off the $2.00 hotel and move over to the luxury hotel. But by the time we get there the hot water is shut off until 8:00 PM the next night. But still they do have cold water. And next door is a restaurant (also closed) but they are barbequeing beef on skewars outdoords and they allow us to eat there. We are just 5 minutes from the Chinese town of Erlenhot but we don't know if we'll get across the border or not. So we decide I'll try it first and if successful they'll try it next. So late morning I ride across to the Mongolian border. Here I sit for about 2 hours before they finally refuse to allow me to leave. They say I have to go back into town and find the passport control officer to get permission to cross. It's well above 40 C and I haven't eaten or drunk anything all day. I find the passport control officer and he takes my passport and says he'll return in about 10 minutes. About 30 minutes later, I leave to find some water and then return. He finally comes out of his compound and tells me I can just go to the border and they will let me pass this time. And they do. Mongolian customs then wants to inspect my bike and it's contents and finally wave me through to the Chinese side. At the Chinese side they are curious to say the least. They want to know how my bike, which has Chinese plates and a Chinese registration card got to be in Mongolia in the first place. My passport indicated that when I left China it was through the Beijing airport. I tell them I shipped my bike out and that is all they need to hear and they wave me through. I ride into Erlenhot and find the first hotel on the main street. It costs just 80 RMB (US$ 10.00) per night and has 24 hour hot water. I take a hot shower, and the mud is pouring off me down the drain. The streets are paved and there are many hotels, restaurants, and shops. I even have a waterproof cover made up for my bike while I'm waiting for Sjaak and Doris to attempt to cross over. They make their attempt the next day but are stopped first by the Mongolians where Sjaak has to pay a hefty fine for overstaying his visa, and then they are stopped by the Chinese for their bikes. So I wait in Erlenhot for another day to see if there is some way to get their bikes into China. I ask truckers that go back and forth to see if they would be willing to take their bikes across the border, but no luck. They are trying the same on the other side. Finally Wednesday morning, figuring I can do more help from Beijing than I can in Erlenhot, I head for home. It is really a nice paved road almost all the way from Erlenhot to Beijing except for one nasty muddy section just east of Duolun. But even that is under construction, so I expect it will be paved by summer's end. It's been a long ride; 20,000 miles if you include the circumference of the U.S. I did last summer just as a warm-up for this ride. This ride from Bremerhaven to Beijing was just over 7,800 miles (about 13,000 kms). My bike made it although it needed plenty of repairs mostly in Mongolia. If you consider I stayed between the 40th and 50th parallels for this trip we really did ride around the world. Not bad for a 36 year old bike and a 50 year old man. The biggest surprise of the trip was how easy it is to ride across Russia. And Russian drivers were the most courtious drivers I came across. The biggest disappointment was how bad the "road" conditions were in Mongolia. The prettiest part of Mongolia would be the far western part of the country in the Altay Mountains. Unfortunately I did alot of it at night so I missed much of the scenery between Tsagaannuur and Olgiy. Heck, Olgiy wasn't even on my map. Somewhere earlier I mentioned that could there be a more unappropriate vehicle for driving in Mongolia than a Mercedes Benz 190E. Well, yes there is and it's a 1969 BMW R69S. This is not an off-road bike but I treated it like one for 3 long weeks. But it is now resting peacefully in my garage in Beijing, just needing a few parts and a thorough cleaning. I'm still meeting with customs and tour companies to try anmd Get Sjaaks and Doris' bikes across but I'm not having any luck with that either. Monday they will arrive without their bikes to see if there is anything they can do as well.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121908320/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121908320/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121908320/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:14:24 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 14 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Ulaan-Baatar I like this city. Clean hotel with water, plenty of restaurants, and alot of foreigners. After riding for almost 2 weeks inside Mongolia with not hardly seeing another foreigner, but sometimes a day goes buy without seeing an other person, this is a refreshing change. I'm up early because of the noise downstairs, and lo and behold, there is a car wash next door to the hotel! I ride over to it to try and get 2 weeks worth of mud and grime cleaned off the bike. I insist on using the water sprayer myself, as I have to be careful to avoid the wheel bearing area based on some advice I picked up off the internet last year. But the mud is flowing off my bike like lava from a volcano. Within about half an hour my bike is actually British Racing Green once again. As I'm drying it off, I see another foreigner riding to the hotel next door on some kind of Dual Sport Honda. I thought it was Sjaak, the Hollander I'm supposed to meet in U-B but as soon as I wave him down I see it is not. Instead it is a German man, about 70 years old (?) who is also riding around the world. He speaks not one word of English, and my high school German is long forgotten. Sign language is truly the international language. He has been to about 80 countries and he has a joke passport which looks real enough except his picture shows him wearing a clown outfit and yellow wig. Below it are the words "This passport is valid in every coutry that possesses a sense of humor". Pretty funny. Once Till washes his bike it won't start (again) so I tow it to a repair facility about 1 km down the road towards town. The German fellow follows us as he wants to change his plugs and air filter. I need some (more) welding done to my spare tire carrier and some patchwork to the floor of my sidecar (also again). At the repair facility things turn upside down. The German is going ballistic because he has one of those universal tools that can clip your toenails and turn a socket, but right now it is doing neither. No surprise here. He's throwing his tool at the ground and screaming at it. He takes off his air filter (no easy job on this Honda) and it is cruddy. But there are no Honda parts stores in U-B as far as I know. I suggest he use some gasoline to clean it but he doesn't seem to like that idea. Next he wants me to find him some new spark plugs which I'm happy to do but only after I find something to eat. He again goes ballistic over the thought that I want to eat first before finding his plugs. So, with Till pulling on the back of my jacket, I hand him back his old plugs and hail a taxi for the nearest Pizza Joint. I'm amazed though, that such an ill-prepared guy has made it as far as he has, and even more surprised he has done it without a word of English or any other language except for his native German. The taxi driver takes us to what is supposed to be the best Pizza restaurant in U-B but it is almost inedible. Still, I manage because this is the first time I've eaten since yesterday at noon. After eating, the taxi driver brings Till and me to an auto and motorcycle parts market. It is a huge yard with shipping containers lined up side by side. The containers have been turned into shops selling mostly used auto parts. I finally buy some wrenches to replace the ones that were stolen back in Hovd. I also find a pair of Champion spark plugs that look like they will fit my bike. Till buys a tire and some points and plugs for the Ural. After this we head back to where both our bikes are. The German is gone by now-Good Luck. Besides welding up my spare tire carrier for the 2nd time, I have them rivet some sheet metal onto the bottom of my sidecar body to patch up where the frame has punched through. I then change the oil and filter, (re) adjust the valves, clean the plugs with some fine grit sandpaper, and tighten every nut and bolt I can. Doris, it turns out arrived in U-B about 11 hours ahead of us. She camped out soon after meeting the Finns and then left early, passing right through Arvayheer towards U-B. Without any bike trouble she made it by 6:00 PM Friday night while we made it by 5:00 AM Saturday morning. Anyway she calls my cell phone to plan a meeting up for 7:00 PM this evening. We meet in front of the department store in the center of U-B and then head over to an open air restaurant across the street. I finally meet Sjaak Lucasson who is riding around the world on a Yamaha R1. We decide to take Sunday off for resting up and head East on Monday morning. Sunday, I spend more time working on my bike and helping Till get his bike running. Finally, his uncle shows up who is a "Ural Expert" and he gets it running soon afterwards. Bad set of points I think. On Sunday I find the Pizza King Restaurant and have myself a really great tasting Pizza. Then I head back to the hotel to catch the British Formula 1 race (the highlights only) and lights out early. Monday morning I ride downtown to meet up with Sjaak and Doris for the ride to the Eastern border of Mongolia. Till is leaving to head back home in Hovd. I figure I got quite a bargain. A guide who speaks perfect English, and can "read" the trails that substitute for roads in this country. There were a few spots where I know I would have gone the wrong way, probably extending my Mongolian ride by a few days if not a week. And there was the time I was stuck in deep sand and he helped push me out. Now when he gets back home he'll have a decent Ural for transportation. I'd say we both got a fair deal. The road East out of U-B is paved and pretty smooth for the first 130 kms, then turns to rough dirt, and then back to fresh pavement. There are sand dunes piled up to block access to the hiway after the 130 km mark, but we manage to climb over them and ride on this brand new paved road for another 50 kms or so. Finally the pavement ends, and it's back to rough (corrugated) sand. At one point I see what appears to be thousands of large insects crossing the trail, and it turns out they are scorpions. I probably ran over a hundred of them. We pass a few wild horse and camel herds along the way, hit a very high velocity dust storm, and finally hit rain. I think this is just the 3rd day I've hit rain in 7 weeks of riding. My bike is running better and better though so it's a comfortable ride to Ondorhaan (sounds like Underhand). We pull into a gas station at the outskirts of Onderhaan and the attendant volunteers to show us to the hotel in town. No showers and the toilet is down the hall. But they do have a garage, and he pulls out his minibus so we can fit all 3 bikes in. Then 2 English speaking locals staying in the same hotel offer to guide us to the best restaurant in town. They are in town for mining, and the restaurant they take us to is just closing. But the owner agrees to stay open and cook up a meal. And it is one of the best meals I've had since I entered Mongolia. So back to the hotel where they have a refrigerator with cold bottled water which is also a first. We buy some cookies and crackers for the ride and make sure the man with the key to the garage will be available at 6:00 AM. Next morning it looks like rain so I put on my rain suit and we're off by 7:00 AM towards Choybalsan. This ride mujst have been pretty uneventful because I don't remember it. But we do arrive in Choybalsan before sunset. The hotel is very decent and one of the workers speaks Chinese. I get a hot shower and a decent meal so I'm pretty happy. It is only later that I find out that Sjaak and Doris both had rooms with no hot shower. Sjaak doesn't even have a shower, and Doris has a shower but no hot water. In the morning we leave fairly early for the eastern border of Xi Qi about 250 kms away. It rains and there are clay patches which turn to such a mess that it is almost impossible to even stand up, it is that slippery. We each take turns getting stuck in these patches and we are all covered with mud. Twice more I get stuck and finally my front wheel locks up because the mud has impacted under the front fender. There the friction from the tire dried it to the consistance of concrete. It takes a hammer and screwdriver to chip away at the impacted mud to free up my front tire. So what should have been an easy 8-9 hour ride turns into 11 hours. But we finally reach the Mongolian border. But now the border guards tell us we are not allowed to leave. This border, it turns out is only for Mongolians and Chinese. No 3rd country persons allowed. We beg and plead, and I call my wife's uncle who is waiting at the other side in Chinese territory to see if there is anything they can do to get us out. They show up on the Mongolian side in a Wu Jing Pajero to try and negotiate with the Mongolian Authorities. They bring me 20 liters of fuel, bottled water, food, and they even bring the Mongolian guards alcohol and cigarettes. But the border closes at 4:00 PM sharp and we are not getting across today. So I take back the alcohol and cigarettes my uncle brought and pass them out among the truck drivers waiting to cross the next morning. I do this in front of the guards who are really upset they are not getting any of this booty. As the sun sets we decide to try and go around the barbed wire fence. It can't go on forever can it? So riding without lights we head south running parallel to the fence but about 1 km west of it. When we think we are far enough away we turn towards the East to see if the fence is still there. Unfortunately it is, but there is a path along the fence so we follow it for a bit. I've seen unexploded shells and something that looks like a shell with a cocktail umbrella sticking up out of the nose of the shell. I think they are landmines? Up ahead there is ayurt with it's light on so we head for that to ask directions. As we approach we are met by a bunch of soldiers. This is their yurt and they are building the fence. We are led into the yurt and offered milk tea. They seem very friendly. After our tea the leader offers to escort us to his commander's barracks just a few kilometers fron where we are. I politely decline the offer, but they insist. So when we get within sight of the barracks we are met by another company of soldiers who are not nearly as polite as the first group. But the trakc is muddy and my front wheel is getting impacted once again. The new group of soldirs insist on sitting on my bike and sidecar and when I stop, it starts to get nasty. I can't take any passengers as my sidecar is damaged in the floor anyway and the extra weight only pushes me deeper into the mud. The leader of the new group of soldiers grabs an AK47, cocks it and points it directly at my neck. He smells of vodka and he is not someone I want to be ******* off more than I already am. He is screaming at the top of his lungs at me (I assume to get moving) but my bike won't budge. The other soldiers see the problem and start helping me clear the mud from under the front fender. All this with a drunken commander pointing a loaded machine gun at me. We finally get enough mud out where the front wheel wiull rotate, but once again 3 Mongolian soldiers hop onto the sidecar for the ride to the commander's barracks. I stop once again until they hop off. We finally reach the commander's barracks and he is woken up by his soldiers. We are motioned to sit on a bench outside. They examine our passports, and the angry and drunk soldier makes a scissors motion with his hand, indicating (I think) that we were attempting to cut the fence and escape Mongolia. Fortunaltely they can find no wire cutters in any of our luggage so the commander dismisses that idea. We are held at gunpoint for another 2 hours before we are let go. One of the soldiers (and he happens to speak Chinese) is charged with escorting us 10 kms to some yurts where we can spend the rest of the night. But about 1 km away Doris and Sjaak stop while I keep following the soldier in his jeep. Finally he realizes there is just 1 bike behind him so he stops and we head back on foot to try and find the other 2 bikes. He's got tracking experience, so he lies down in the wet mud and looks for any silouette against the sky. Sure enough he finds them and we walk over towards them. Doris pretends she dumped her bike on the slippery mud and can't go any further. The soldier takes pity on her and indicates we can camp out where his jeep and my bike aqre parked just 1 km ahead. Sjaak does a "burn out" in the mud to demonstrate just how slippery it is. I think the soldier is convinced. So we get back up to where the Jeep is parked and find a decent place to pitch our 3 tents. When my tent is up, the soldier asks to see my passport once again. I show it to him and he grabs it out of my hand intending to keep it. I argue and plead with him to return it but he's holding firm. He says he wantrs to make sure we don't attempt another run across the border during the night. I finally offer to trade him my motorcycle's key for the passport and he reluctantly agrees. But we're like 2 kinds each afraid to hand over what we have in case the other side doesn't hand over what he has. Finally after about 3 minutes of shuffling opur han ds I have my passport back and he has my key. I have another key so I'm resting much easier. He promises to return at 9:00 to return my key. The next morning he finaly shows up at 10:00 and I have to remind him he still has my key. But he gines it to me, tells us to waqit here and he'll return and he heads off for the border. We wait an hour and then start off towards the border gate as well. At the border they don't seem too surprised to see us again and finally after an hour they open the gate and let us park our bikes inside their compound. I figure this is a good sign. I let them use my cell phone to call their superiors which they do and they also called about everyone in Mongolia with a phone. I don't want to see this phone bill! There's a couple of kids riding around on bicycles inside the compound, and both bikes need some work. So to pass the time, I fix the seat on one bike and we pump up the tires on another. This pleases the head of customs who starts acting friendly towards us when yesterday he wouldn't even look me in the eye. At 3:00 PM the soldier who speaks Chinese motions us we can finally go through to the Chinese border. I profusely thanks everyone in sight and slip all the Mongolian money I have (about 100,000 Tigriks, or US$ 100.00) into his pocket. We pass through customs and the gate is opened for us to exit Mongolia. There is about 1 km of "No Mans Land" between the Mongolian border and the Chinese border. Then when we reach the Chinese border the gate is lifted and I am home (I think). But there is a TV camera filming us as we pass into the immigration building. Once inside we fill out the arrivals card and hand in our passports. A few minutes later a Chinese immigration official comes out and tells me we have to go back to Mongolia. Only Chinese and Mongolians are allowed through at this border. Here we go again. Only they want us to go back to Mongolia immediately so they can close the border and go home. This is spite of a big sign declaring this border is to remain open 24 hours a day. I plead with them to at least wait until my wife;s uncle can turn around and get back here, but he's 100 kms away and figures it will take an hour and a half to get ack to the border. Sjaak and Doris are especially worried as they have single entry visas for Mongolia and they have meen stamped out. And Sjaaks Mongolian visa expired today as well. But the Chinese official offers us a choice. Either we go back to Mongolia right now or we are placed under arrest. When we ask about the visa problemk he says not to worry he'll negotiate with the Mongolians on our behalf. So we turn around and get escorted back across the no mans land back inside the gate of the Mongolian border station. There the Chinese official does a U-Turn and speeds off. When I ask him about the visa proiblem of Sjaak and Doris he just yells out the window that's our problem, not his. So back in Mongolia the soldier who now has all my Mongolian money offers to find us a place to stay. He leads us in hius Jeep to his barracks and they are surprisingly clean and well kept. He even has the cook fix us something to eat even though dinner is long past finished. There are no showers of course, and the bathrooms are 2 out-houses about 100 meters away but overall it is one of the nicer accomodations I've stayed in since I entered Mongolia. The next morning I find if I climb a small mountain nnext to the compound I can get a Chinese cell phone signal so I call my wife and her uncle to see what can be done. As there is no way we'll be allowed into China at this border, my wife's uncle arranges to be driven in a Wu Jing Police vehicle out to meet us. He brings bottlede water, cookies, potato chips, and money. he also hires a Mongolian cop to escort us back to Choybalsan. So being led by a police bus we head off to Choybalsan. The bus is quite a bit faster than we are, something aboiut driving your own vehicle versus driving a government vehicle, but he does wait for us every 20-30 kms or so At one point we cross another mud bog and I get stuck once again. So off comes the shoes and socks and I'm knee deep in mud trying to push my bike out. Sjaak gets quite a kick out of this so he sets up his tripod and video to shoot the fun. We get the bike out of the mud surprisingly quickly and join up with the bus just ahead. From here it is just about 10 kms to Choybalsan. When we get into town, I want to stay at the same hotel we stayed at 2 nights ago, and this is when I find out the other 2 rooms didn't have a shower or hot water. So, I'm out voted and we stay at a cheaper hotel (about US$ 7.00) that supposedly has hot showers and toilets in the room. And it does. They also cook us a meal and I'm in bed by 10:00 PM. The next morning the same cop who escorted us to Choybalsan is charged with finding me atruck to haul my bike back across the Gobi to the Southern border near Erlenhot. I offer Sjaak and Doris to have their bikes hauled as well, but they want none of this. They are riders and they only want to ride. But when the truck finally shows up at the hotel they also want to have their bikes hauled. The problem is, I rented a smaller truck thinking there was just one bike to be hauled. And the driver of the truck also thought there was just 1 bike being hauled. But he's nice enough and if we can fit 3 bikes in the truck he'll haul them all.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121649000/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121649000/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1121649000/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:11:55 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 13 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Yikes- Where to begin? It's been a long time since I had internet access. Doris, the German women that wants to ride with me into China showed up in Bayanhongor about noon time without Till. I ask her where is Till and she says he ran out of gas 14 kms out of town. It seems she lost her temper at him and they aren't speaking. But leaving someone without gas or money seems a little harsh to me. Anyway I steer her in the direction of the hot showers and borrow her bike to go back after Till. Till was able to trade a pack of cigarettes for some gas and I find him out of gas again, but just 5 kms from town. He does not want to continue to U-B if Doris is coming. Anyway by the time we get him gassed up and back into town and under a hot shower he's refreshed enough to keep up with the ride to U-B. So after lunch we're off to Arvayheer (pronounced "are we here?") This ride is also a tough one climbing rocky mountains and rough terrain. Along the way we meet some other bikers headed in the opposite direction. The are from Finland and Canada. One of them needs a bolt to re-attach his pannier which I happen to have. We chat for about a half hour and then head off. Doris stays to chat a bit more and pretty soon we're out of sight from her. The ride is very rough, climbing mountains and rocks. We keep pressing on, coming to a swamp in the early hours of the morning. On the other side are Toyota Landcruisers and Mitsubishi Pajeros backed up not chancing the crossing. Till goes first and makes it across so I cross my fingers, wind her up to about 3,000 RPM and let her go. I also make it across although I hit the bank on the other side and almost get thrown off the bike. But we're outa there. We keep riding until we hit Arvaheer about 4:00 AM. Here there is a hospital open and one of the doctors volunteers to show us the hotel. In a country where so far not one hotel has even asked me for my name, this one insists on seeing my passport! Once she's satisfied that I am truly a foreigner she gives us the key. Another hotel with no bathroom or showers. The morning comes way too quickly and I'm out working on my bike by 10:00 AM. One of the nuts holding the bolt that attaches the front fork is missing along with a myriad of other nuts, bolts, and parts. But we're finally under way by 1:00 PM and it's true the road is freshly paved from Arvaheer towards Ulaan-Baatar. The only problem now is my bike is running very hot and I have to stop and let it cool down every hour or so. With Till running at about 40 kph it works out that I pass him (I'm only doing about 60 kph) and when I stop I just wait for him to pass me by. Along the way there is a broken down bike with a couple, the wife very pregnant, needing some kind of help. I stop and they motion they need an air pump. I see their tires are fine, but I don't have one anyway. I tell them in a few minutes Till will be coming by and he has my tire pump. I still can't figure out why he needs a tire pump. When Till arrives he explains it to me. The bike is a 2 stroke, and the oil has settled to the bottom of the tank. They hook up the tire pump to the fuel petcock to blow air into the fuel/oil mix to mix it up so the bike will run. This answers a very old question I had from years ago. I was driving a minibus from Shenyang to Fuxin where I was making shoes. The reason I was driving is the driver got drunk at lunch time. This would have been about 1984. The bus started running poorly so the driver woke up, had me stop, attach his tire pump to the fuel line and pump the hell out of it. I restarted the bus and drove it the rest of the way to Fuxin. And I had always wondered what we were doing pumping air into the fuel system. I'm assuming now this is exactly what we were doing. Anyway, the temperature is well above 40 degrees C and my bike is only running hotter and hotter. There is a series of yurts on the side of the road, sort of like a truck stop if there were any trucks, and I pull in to cool the bike down. The bike motor siezes up before I can shut it off. So I unpack my sidecar and dig out my tools to check the valve clearance. By now Till arrives and he gets some water. I warn him not to park too close to the yurts, but it's too late. He parks and almost immediately about a dozen naked kids are jumping all over his bike. He tries to start it to ride it over to where I am but now his bike won't start. Meanwhile my valves are way too tight and I loosen them up to the proper spec. It's taking Till more than a couple hours to finally get his bike to start up but finally it does and we're off, still about 150 kms from Ulaan-Baatar. We vow to ride until we reach U-B. Then about a hundred kms from U-B Tills bike runs out of gas. He has no reserve. I stop and refill him from my spare can, but I leave my bike idling while I fill Till's tank and now my bike will only run on the right cylinder. It's midnight, I have to climb a steep hill on one cylinder and I'm still several hours away from U-B. Oh what a night! There is a gas station about 1 km up the road so I stop to refill and find out why my bike is only running on 1 cylinder. The gas station is being overrun with locusts and I'm pulling them off my bike and myself. My left sparkplug is completely fouled and I haven't a spare, and I haven't anything to clean it with. I'm using blades of grass. I do have a cell phone signal and I have a contact in U-B waiting for me to arrive. I try calling him to tell him I'll be very late into U-B but his cell phone is shut off. I get my spark plug semi-clean so at least it now fires so we're off once again. As the bike runs more, the cylinder seems to be clearing itself up although there is alot of blue smoke from the left cylinder and black smoke from the right cylinder. but at least she's running better than she has for the past few days and we motor on towards U-B. The road turns to broken pavement and it's once again first and second gear for the rest of the way to U-B. We arrive at the gates of Ulaan-Baatar at 4:00 AM and there is a police check point with a gate. But it's "manned" by a kid I estimate to be no more than 9 years old. He cheerily raises the gate for us. I find a 24 hour convenience store just up ahead so I stiock up on bottled water, peanuts, potato chips, and cookies. The 4 basic food groups. The first hotel we come to has no toilets or showers. But the 2nd one is owned by Chinese, I can finally communicate with someone and they do have 24 hour hot water and clean bathrooms in the rooms. All for less than US$ 20.00. I take the room and hit the bed at 5:30 AM.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005180/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005180/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005180/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:06:50 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 11 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Altay, Mongolia. Lets see where was I? What should have been my last night in Hotv I met an American who was born in NH. Where I grew up. He spent a year in Northern Russia teaching English and before heading back to the states to get a real job he's back-packing across Mongolia. So he, my guide/translator, ad myself have dinner together. Only the restaurant I want to eat at has the president of Mongolia inside and they don't have any more food for us. Imagine walkig into a small restaurant and meeting face to face with President Bush before beig escorted out? Not much security here. Anyway we find another restaurant ad during the meal I mention that I wouldn't mind some company on the ride to Ulaan-Baatar if he felt like coming along. He's headed towards Moscow to catch a flight back home. But my guide volunteers to do this ride if I buy him a used Ural. Used Urals are going for under US$ 400.00. So it's a done deal and we agree to meet the next morning at 8:00 AM to hit the bank for some cash and buy a Ural at the market. He asks me for M10,000 (about US$10.00) so he can take a taxi to his village and get some clothes and a bedroll ad he'll be back in the morning. So at 8:00 I'm outside with Chris the other American, and I'm still there at 9:00, and I'm still waiting at 10:00. But I'm not completely stupid, so at 10:30 I head off for the market to buy some fresh oil, tires , and wrenches to replace the ones that were stolen and I'm outa here. I get all this work done, ad I decide to take a shower at the public bath house. Only I don't kow where it is. So I pik up a old man on the back of my bike and ask him (in pantomime) to point me to the shower house. He does this fine ad the shower, after 3 days without one is great. So afterwards, I'm bringing him back to where I picked him up (he even stayed and guarded my bike while I was showering). On the way back a Hyundai taxi waved me down, ad inside is the guide/translator with his mother, father, and younger brother. He brought them along to prove that he really did try ad meet me this morning but the taxi broke down. Either way is OK with me, if he wants to ride to U-B or not. So I tell him this ad he seems sicere that he wants to do this ride and receive a bike for his services. So I hit the bank for some cash and we head to the used motorcycle market. I find a 1995 Ural that looks in fairly decent shape. I agree to his price if he will put on 3 new tires, supply a used wheel and tire for the spare, put in a new battery, and install a new clutch cable. This all gets done in about an hour (because the seller is *****ing the whole time) and now it's almost too late to leave for Altay about 400 kms away. So we agree to leave at 7:00 AM sharp the next morning. The guide/traslator has a name, but unless it's written down in front of me I can't remember it, so I call him Tim. Tim tells me he has somewhere to go tonight ad he'll meet me at 7:00 AM sharp the next morning. I'm now skeptical I'l ever see him again, but I'm leavig tomorrow at 7:00 with or without Tim. Surprise, Tim is knocking on my door at 7:00 AM sharp. We're off for Altay.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005060/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005060/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195005060/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:05:21 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 10 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Hotv, Mongolia Last time I had access to a computer I was in Novosibirsk, Russia I think. I didn't know at the time but the best part of Russia was just coming up. I took the hiway south and once I passed Barnul the place was transformed. I was now in the mountains (Show me round your snow capped mountains way down south...The Beatles) I stayed in the small town of Manma for the night. Got a decent meal at a nearby cafe. This road runs along side a river and it is a smooth road and just as picturesque as any place I've ridden on this trip. The "Hotel" is a converted barn with a common bath and shower on the 2nd floor but the price is right at about US$ 18.00 per night. I get an early start the next morning and continue south. There is an outdoor market on the right in a village and the main item for sale is honey. Every stall has jars of different colored honey. Here I meet someone who speaks English, an Englishman with his Russian girlfriend (who may actually speak better English than he!). They are touring with her family in a Toyota Landcruiser. I buy something that looks like a fried bread roll filled with honey and head off southward. So far I'm missing rain although it is VERY close. I'm going to try and make the Mongolian border tonight, but I just can't help myself. I'm stopping for pictures every half hour or so. Problem is all 3 of my memory flash cards are now full, so I have to delete things to take in these new sights. It is pretty chily up here in the mountains and there is snow on all the peaks. But I'm making pretty good time between 80-90 KPH (about 40-50 MPH) which is about as fast as I've been able to ride this entire trip in Russia. I stop at a cafe (this is easy, it's spelled almost the same in Russian) and a Kazak woman who speaks English helps me order meat and potatos. After lunch I continue through the most beautiful scenery I've seen to date. But I finally leave the mountains and ride out on a flat plain that looks like a desert. I finally get to Tasanta, the Russian border and it's 7:15 PM. Problem is they close at 7:00 PM. There is already a long line of Kazak plated cars waiting for the border to re-open in the morning. The closest hotel I'm told is about 75 kms back the way I came, so I head off backtracking. I remembered seeing a gas station back there so not all is lost. I didn't bring my map with me to this internet cafe so I'm already forgetting the name of these towns. I end up finding a hotel in this one-horse town but it is full! Lucky enough for me, there is a Russian father and son who know the owner very well, and she opens the room of a sleeping guest, takes one of the beds out of her room (she never woke up) and moved it into her office. This is my room for the night. There also is no restaurant, but the Russians invite me to their room for Chinese instant noodles. They are from Barnaul, down here surveying for the "squatters" so they will receive a legal deed for the land they occupy. I suppose squatters is too harsh a word, but I can't think of another word for them. They live in homes they built on former Soviet land. Now the land is in the process of being transferred to the people who occupy it and this father and son are sent down here by the government to procure for them a legal deed. Pretty noble work. The son speaks English very well. That night the huge thunder clouds that have been stalking me all day open up. Once again somebody upstairs is looking out for me. The rain is coming down in biblical proportions and because this land is so dry, it immedietely causes flooding. But I'm high and dry in my office/room for the night although there is no water! The next morning I head off early so I can be at the border crossing at 9:00 AM when they open. I arrive and get in line behind about 6 busses and 6 cars. Around 9:30 I decide to mosey up to the front of the line to see what's going on. By now I am the talk of the line as there is only one American and one motorcycle. The customs officer motions me to bring my bike up to the front of the line and soon waves me to the immigration post about 100 meters up the road. There I get "processed" and moved ahead of everyone and within an hour I'm through with Russia and headed for Mongolia. But another 5 kms up the road there is another border post also in Russia who checks my receipt for clearing customs and I'm finally waved on my way. The road is smooth surprisingly and about 20 kms further on up I finally arrive at Mongolian customs point. Only it is under construction so I get motioned to ride onto the grass and come around the construction zone. Only there is a small river running across the grass. I make it across and again get motioned up to the front of the line where there is just 1 jeep and one van. Unbelievably, these 2 fellows collide into each other jockying to get in front. While they're arguing, I move in front of both of them. As usual, on a bike I'm the focus of their attention and one customs lady speaks Chinese (which I understand). So I'm ale to communicate with her, but they aren't letting anybody into Mongolia until they process the people who are exiting Mongolia first. This takes about 1 hour, and then all the customs people leave for lunch. So we're sitting around at the gate for 2 hours when they come back from lunch. I'm the 1st person through and within an hour I'm cleared through. It looks like Tsagaannuur is just 30 kms up the road so I stop at one of the Yurts at the border for lunch, water, and to change money. The host is very accomodating and refuses to accept payment for lunch. He was recommended to me by the customs lady who speaks Chinese. The exchange rate I get for Russian Roubles is half of what it should be, but I figure it's still worth it for the free lunch and getting passed through customs. They asked me for my visa, and when I explained to them that Americans don't need a visa for Mongolia, they stare at me in disbelief. So it is worth the loss in exchange. After lunch (about 4:00 PM now) I head off for Tsagaannuur. The road is gravel but not too bad. When I arrive at Tsagaannuur, it looks like 5 buildings that were hit by a bomb. There is no life here. So, the next town on my map is Hotv and it is 250 kms away I think. Riding along the scenery is even more beautiful that southern Russia, but there are no people. Once in a while I find a yurt to ask directions because there are only paths, no roads. There are mountains now and lakes but no roads. I'm getting a little nervous as the sun is setting, rain clouds are threatening and I haven't a clue when I'll hit Hotv. I ask directions at every Yurt I see and they all just point eastward. There are a few small rivers I have to cross, so I have to find some large roacks to pile in the water that I can ride across. The water is too deep for my 36 year old bike. After the 3rd one, I think I'm getting pretty good at bridge-building! Now it is almost dark and I still haven't a clue where I'm going or when I'll get there. Not the way I wanted to ride across Mongolia. I can barely see a big river to the left of me which is bordered by sheer cliffs on the far side. I wish it was daylight so I could see it! I'm about to give it up and try and camp out when I see a single light on maybe a few kilometers in the distance. I think it must be Hotv so I head towards the light. It's like a lighthouse as far as I'm concerned. When I arrive, it turns out it is a quarry and the light is on the one machine. But there are a group of about 6 men who all point me towards a town called Ugi (pronounced). It's 50 kms they say and now it is completely dark, I decide to head onwards. Riding on a road at night is bad enough for me, but riding on a path is much worse. But I finally see a cluster of lights and a radio tower so I head down the mountain I'm on into town. As I get into town, a taxi stops to drop off some passengers, and I hail this cab to lead me to a hotel. I'm still using sign language since Russia to make a sign like I'm sleeping and it serves me well. He leads me to a hotel, again no water, but it's a bed and I need one bad. They even manage to find me some bottled water before I pass out. The next morning I find my starter switch which was working intermittantly is now permanently not working. I hail some passerbys to give me a push start (in the morning is the worst for starting my bike, I swear it doesn't want to wake up before 10:00) and I get the bike to start up. First stop a gas station where they only have 80 gas. I don't know what 80 gas is, but I hope it will run in my bike. In Russia, I saw 80 gas but I was always using 95 or 96 with the once in a while treat of 98. Anyway it works and my next stop is to find something to eat. I find a small shop with bread, cheese, bottled water and cookies so that takes care of me for breakfast and lunch. On my way out of town I run into a Landcruiser with an American aboard. he tells me to follow the main road (which is a wider path than the non-main roads) and I should be in Hotv in 4-5 hours. He must drive faster than me! The scenery leaving Ugi is once again just spectacular. There is a huge lake with mountains coming right down to the waters edge and not a soul to be seen. I'm tempted to go for a swim just to wash up, but the water is near freezing. The ride is long and tough. The path I'm following is taken mostly in 1st and sometimes 2nd gear. I'm trying to calculate my gas mileage at these speeds and hope between my full gas tank and my 2 1/2 gallon spare can if I have enough to make the 200 kms to Hotv. The answer is just. I stop along the way to give a ride to an old lady and her son who need to cross a mountain. I then stop to help another biker (Mongolian) but he waves me off. I cross 2 more rivers by building my stone bridges and the thunder clouds are hovering just in front of me. Lightining is striking the ground well in front of me, but I realize I'm the highest object for maybe a hundred miles in every direction. And it is snowing just off to the south! Here all the peaks are copvered in snow and again the scenery is stunning. I come across a swift flowing river that I don't think I can cross. And now there are no large rocks I can throw into the water to reduce it's depth. So I ride about a kilometer down stream not finding any better place to cross so I come back to the main path and give it a try. I almost made it too!!! The front tire is across and up on the far side bank. But my rear tire has dug in in the water and the frame is resting on the riverbank's edge. The exhaust is bubbling under the water and I'm looking around for someone, anyone. Suddenly, so fast it startled me, a horseman rides over to me. Now I haven't seen a soul in about 3 or 4 hours and here is someone who comes across my path just in time. Between the 2 of us standing in knee deep water we manage to push the bike up on the banking. Did I mention someone must be looking out for me. So I ride off, giving thanks to the horseman and to God. I make all kinds of promises to God if I get across Mongolia with my bike in 1 piece. So when I get back to Beijing I may have to become a preacher. Riding along, I come across a cafe, and when I stop to take a look, a foreigner comes out to greet me. He's a Frenchman hitchhiking across Russia and Mongolia. He's in this small village for their Nadam festival. Nadam is the once a year festival where the 3 sports of horse racing, archery, and wrestling are performed. I bid my goodbyes (and good luck!) and head off. I'm now well past my 4-5 hours ride and Hotv is still nowhere in sight. And the path is only getting rougher and rougher, and the dark thunder clouds are getting closer and closer as well. Time for more prayers!!! Riding along I come across a Mercedes 190E broken down. I stop to help and fortunately for them I have exactly the bolt they need to re-attach their driveshaft yoke. While I'm helping them, I'm thinking is there a more un-appropriate car for this land? The owner asks me if I have a gun. I say no, and he then asks me if I'm riding alone. I think I should lie and say there is a posse just coming up behind me, but before I think of this I tell him yes, I'm alone. He nexts wants to take my bike for a ride. I say no. So as quickly as I can pack up my tools I'm outa there. Makes me want to think twice about stopping to help anybody but if I don't stop who knows how long they will just sit there. I've now been riding over 8 hours and I think I'v seen maybe 4 vehicles all day and 2 of them were broken down. But off I ride and I'm told I'm just 35 kms from Hotv. My rear tire is completely bald, I have no more water, little food and almost no gas. Could I be more un-prepared? So now instead of praying, I'm badgering myself over how stupid I am. I now come across a path crossing (an intersection if there were roads). the path to the left looks bigger and it is heading for another big lake so I think Hotv must be situated on the lake. Abouth 10 kilometers later I find out this is not Hotv and it is not a city either. There are a few yurts and some more buildings that look like someone dropped bombs on them. They have terrorists in Mongolia??? So I turn around and head back to the path intersection and take a left which leads to yet another moutain peak crossing. By now I hate mountains. Bu thankfully on the other side of this mountain is a city, it must be Hotv. As I'm now speeding down the path towards Hotv I run out of gas. Geez- I'm just 8 kms from town and I run out. If I didn't make that wrong turn back there, I'd be in a hotel already. But I do have a little left in my plastic container so the rest of it goes into my tank and as I push start it, my rear tire goes flat. I can almost see a hotel and I'm in the road, with about a million mosquitoes having a bancquet on my skin changing a tire. Or attempting to change a tire. It turns out I don't have a 23 m/m socket for the axle nut. I have every size but the one I need! A family in a Ural stops to help, but Ural axle nuts are 19 m/m so he has no help. I do have one can of fix-a-flat in my sidecar so I give it a go. Fortunately it fills up the tire and I push onward towards town. Once I get to town I stop as my tire is back completely flat but soon a van stops and they are all over my bike taking the spare off, changing it for the flat tire and just being great people. They even point me towards a hotel once I get back on the bike. I check into a hotel (again no water! Doesn't anyone take a bath in Mongolia?) and an English speaking guy offers to be my guide while I'm here. I need plenty of help now as my headlight ears are both broken off, I have them taped together holding up my headlight bucket which on a BMW holds all the electricals for the bike, the rear fender bracket is also broken, and the windsheild mount is also broken. These paths are rough on a bike (and me). So today my guide meets me at 10:00 and takes me to a welder where for about US$ 5.00 I get my headlight ears welded, my rear fender bracket welded, my windshield mount welded, and another shop fixes the floor my my sidecar which is also broken through the fiberglass. Next stop, look for an ATM. Guess what- they never heard of an ATM here. But at least the bank is able to give me some cash against my credit card, or else I may end up having to live here! Now I'm at an internet cafe sending this waiting for my guide to come back with some fresh oil so I can change the oil and filter, adjust the carbs, and plan for tomorrows ride towards Altay. I'm told it's just 300 kms away but if that's true that means at least 12 hours and maybe more on some of the roughest terrain I've ever come across.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004760/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004760/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004760/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:04:24 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 9 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Yup, I've decided to stay one more night in Novosibirsk and head south in the morning. It's only a couple hundred kms to Barnaul so I'll probably just pass through and see how far I get. From some advice in Ulaan-Bataar I've decided to take the South road from Tsagaannuur and go through the Gobi. I would have preferred the Northern route but it is completely washed out until after rainy season whenever that is. I only got stopped once yesterday which is nearing a new record. The cop showed me the radar gun showing 78 kmh and I have no idea what the speed limit is. Anyway they showed no indication that they want to write me a ticket, just tell me to be careful and ride slower (I think).When I stopped for lunch I parked the bike in front of the window and then watched as some guys climbed all over my bike twisting the grips, touching the carburators, looking inside the sidecar. I was outnumbered so I just watched. Fortunately nothing got damaged and I was good to go after lunch. Riding along the road for miles at a time I couldn't help thinking what would I do if I broke down and couldn't fix the bike. No Russian language, not even a clear idea where I'm headed. Geez, I hate to even think about it. I finally took out my MP3 player, plugged myself in and just listed to music as I rode along the most mind numbing road I've ever ridden. Thankfully before all the songs are played I reach Novosibirsk. I covered 660 kms (I think) in about 10 hours which is also a new record for me. Road signs are funny here. When I left Omsk the road sign said 660 kms to Novosibirsk. Then after about hald an hour the road sign said 670 kms to Novosibirsk. Then a few hundredmeters up the road another sign said 651 kms to Novosibirsk. And this has been the way the roads signs have been all across Russia. For the first time in a long time, I didn't ask a taxi to show me a hotel. I found the river and just cruised along the banks. The first hotel in Novosibirsk looks brand new and very nice. It's huge but completely full. Unbelievable. So down the street about 1 km there is another hotel, bigger, but not as nice. I then ate in the hotel restaurant where the waitress speaks English. The meal was good too. Poached fish, tongue and vegetable salad, caviar and bread, and ice cream. What a treat! After dinner, I look for an internet cafe. I ask around, and internet cafe is the same in Russian as it is in English, but 2 of them are closed already. I find 3 students sitting around drinking Czech Republic Beer from a 2 liter Pepsi bottle. They lead me first to 1 internet cafe above a bowling alley but it is closed. They then find another one nearby. They insisted to pay for the taxi that brought us there. Really nice people. Gave me a warning about walking back to the hotel when it's too late and said goodbye. Only after I'm checked in at the hotel do I discover from www.waytorussia.com that there are resort types hotels further on up the river. A nude beach as well. But I've got alot of work to get done on the bike and it's hot, and there is no air conditioning anywhere in town. Don't blame them what with maybe 6 weeks of warm weather and 46 weeks of cold. The women really like to show their skin here during the warm breaks! This city looks like it was layed out during the Soviet era to populate Siberia. Huge apartment blocks everywhere and big factories in the downtown area. This is quite different from all the smaller towns I've passed through out here, where the majority of people live in single family homes made of logs or wood. Cars seem to be common nowadays everywhere I've ridden throughout Russia. Most common is the Fiat 124 based Lada and you also see them parked on the side of the road, hood up every 4-5 kms. I've also seen a few sidecar rigs stopped on the road. I've stopped for every bike, but I'm waved on by every owner. Bet they don't realize I have a full tool kit in my sidecar!!! Most of the Japanese cars in Siberia are right hand drive. Amazing, probably 75% of them. You also see quite a few BMW, Mercedes, Audis, and VW products. A fair number of Chrysler products too with the PT Cruiser being the most common model. Saw a couple of Hummers too. I just read my 2 previous posts... I really need to proof read what I'm writing! Well, back to work on the bike and just 2 more days (hopefully) and I'll enter Mongolia.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004640/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004640/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004640/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:03:38 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 part 8 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Novosibirsk. The road from Omsk to Novosibirsk is the smoothest I've ridden on in Russia to date. But is it boring! Siberia is probably what hell is really like. It is a thousand + mile long bug infested swamp. If you stop for any reason you are immediately swarmed with bugs like you read about. The road looks like someone took a ruler to a map and bisected Siberia as it is as straight as a ruler to the horizon. I did get a nice lunch for a change at a truck stop about halfway between the 2 cities. I'll probably stay hear for an extra day while I do some preventive maintainance on the bike and try and find some Ural square shouldered tires. Then I have to make up my mind to head south to Tsagaannuur Mongolia or try and make it through Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude to Mongolia. Because my visa for Russia expires in 8 more days I'm leaning towards heading south but I heard from friends in Ulaan-Bataar that the recent rains have washed out some of the roads. I still haven't found a place to download my pictures so that may wait until I reach Ulann-Bataar. I just heard that this city has a big nude beach. The city is bisected by a large river, similar to Omsk. Today was the warmest so far since I hit Europe back on May 30th. It was 27 C and the first day I didn't wear leather chaps or jacket. But I am covered with bug guts. These insects hit you and you feel like a small caliber bullet just hit you. Then they leave a colorful mess, like you were the last man out in a paintball contest. Anyway getting to an internet cafe at 1:00 AM is getting old too so I'll sign off and try and download pictures and more details of the ride tomorrow. Funny, at every internet cafe I've hit it is packed with young people all playing Counter Strike.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004520/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004520/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004520/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:02:55 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 7 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Omsk, I still haven't found a good internet connection to send pictures but at least I can post some text (before I forget!). I'm at an internet cafe in Omsk and the manager said he "knew" me from television. It seems he saw me at the Moscow Bike fest last week. Anyway, yesterday I rode from Ekaterinburg to Tyumen which was a good (short) ride. Only about 8 hours to cover 400 kms. The roads are improving as I move eastward it seems. Also I only got stopped twice yesterday. Now my habit when I get into a new city for the night is to find a taxi driver, pay him to lead me to a hotel. it worked twice so far but last night in Tyumen I should have waited until I checked out the "hotel". It was a dormitory, but I was tired so I stayed anyway. I rode dwntown to eat at an open air cafe where I met who I think is the "Mafia Don" of the city. He and a few other guys were all sitting around eating BBQ chicken and they invited me to join them. One guy was from Chechnya, one guy frommTajikstan, another from Georgia, and so on. But every once in a while someone would drive up and hand the bosses assistant a wad of cash. Then very deferentially back up go to their car and drive off. Anyway I have a vivid imagination so this is what I have come up with in my mind. These guys offered to put me up for the night, offered a "Good Russian Woman", Vodka, and anything else I wanted. I hated to be un-cooperative with them, so I just sat with them for about 2 hours before I worked up the nerve to ask them to leave. Then when I got back to my dorm room my dorm-mate is from Uzbeckistan. So we traded small notes of currency and name cards. I'm invited to visit his city next year if I'm up to it. This morning I got an early start, no breakfast and no shower, for Omsk. It's 600+ kms and it takes me exactly 12 hours to make it. This is a really nice looking city settled on a large river. Today is the frist warm day since I landed in Germany about 4 weeks ago. So the river's beaches are packed with sun bathers. I again hire a taxi to find me a hotel but the hotel, which is on the river bank and is huge says they are completely full. I find this unbelievable but there is no arguing with the big women in charge. I ask if there is another hotel in town and she just says "NYET!". I'm guessing being covered in bug splatter and wearing full leathers and a motorcycle helmet doesn't help my case. But outside there is another taxi and he agrees to lead me to another hotel, and it's a good one this time. There is vacancy but not much. There is a graduation party going on for I guess a college as the women look far to mature to be high school seniors. But they are all dressed in formal evening gowns. Really beautiful. And to make it even more interesting there is an oval dirt race track next door. I'm told they race motorcycles there, but unfortunately there is no racing tonight. Tomorrow I'll have another long days ride over 700 kms so I'll need to get an even earlier start. But today's roads were pretty good. There was one 80 km stretch I had to take in 1st and 2nd gear but the rest of the way was in 5th at about 80 kmh. I fixed my tail light and brake light yesterday, but today's rough section burst both lightbulbs and now the lense is also missing. One more reason for no night riding. Plus I only got stopped once today and the cop spoke English. I was so surprised I gave him a bear hug. Now they really think I'm crazy. I met two Englishmen today riding their bicycles across Europe to Ulan-Bataar. Now that's brave! Their bikes pull small trailers and they average 140 kms per day in the flat (Siberian) lands. I gave them my 2 bottles of water and said goodbye. I can't imagine doing what they are doing! I gotta go, as I've got a long day in the saddle tomorrow, but once I get to Novosibirsk, I may take an extra day to rest up and do some preventative maintainance on the bike. She's been awfully good to me so far.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004340/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004340/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004340/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:01:54 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasia 2005 Part 6 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Ekaterinburg- I think I left off I was leaving Moscow. I did ride out to the Bike Fest and it was a lot of fun. Picture Crazy Horse Campground at Daytona only crazier. Thousands of bikes, probably just as many cars, a stage with live music, and beer everywhere. I felt like a movie star while I was there as everyone wanted to get their picture taken with me on my bike. I tried leaving to look around for over an hour and couldn't get away from the people or the bike. I'd like to come back next year during the daylight to get a better look at the place and hopefully there won't be so many drunk people at an earlier hour. But maybe not. I left Moscow closer to noon on Saturday as I was still waiting for my laundry to finish. The hotel allowed me to park my bike right at the entrance up on the sidewalk for the 3 nights I was there. The taxi drivers mostly got a kick out of it and me I suppose. When I finally loaded up on Saturday I "hired" a taxi to lead me the way out of town onto the M7 headed for Kazan. This hiway is just like any other hiway. Just boring. Because of my late start I only got as far as Novgorod before I found a hotel/casino to spend the night. There are a lot of casinos in Russia by the way. In the morning I was surprised by another American in the same hotel. A couple were there from Missouri to adopt 2 boys. Anyway I left headed for Kazan at 9:30. By 9:45 I was sitting in a police booth at the river crossing. The road split into a fork and I stopped to ask for directions to a cop who was pulling over another car. He motioned me to wait a minute, and then when he finished the other guy he asked for my papers. I handed them over and then he mentioned for me to step into his booth. There he and his colleague told me I had to pay them US$ 500.00 or they would confiscate my bike and keep my passport. Nice guys. I started out very polite but as time was passing I got firmer and firmer. Finally, they "let me off" with just 1,000 Rouples (about US$ 40.00). That and a wasted hour and a half. Now I'm nervous at just the sight of a cop and there will be plenty of them in the days to come. I reached Kazan without any further incident, but I'm so bored with the hiway which isn't in very good condition anyways, I decided to get off and try some back roads for a change. It looks from the map there is a shortcut from Kazan to Pyerm by just heading Northeast. So I take this road and it immediately lifts my spirits which have been down since this mornings encounter with the dirty cops. I finally decide to look for a room for the night in a small town called Kykmop. These are the English spellings as I can't type the Russian characters. The hotel is disgusting as I imagined, but in a small town what can you expect. I head down the street to a restaurant/casino for dinner. It's about 10:30 PM but still light out. At dinner, I ask the owner for directions to my next destination, Pyerm. He and his daughters write them out for me but they have me headed back south to get back on the M7 hiway. So I head off for my room and a nights rest. At sometime after midnight I get wakened by knocking on my door. I answer the door to be met by 4 cops! They instruct me to get dressed and come with them. Now I'm really nervous. But all they wanted was for me to park my bike in their impound lot so they could make sure nobody steals it. They were very friendly and worried about my welfare at the same time. They also gave me a ride back to the hotel. Now I try and get back to sleep, and at 3:30 my cell phone rings. It's someone from Beijing who didn't know I was out of town. The sun set at about 11:30 PM and it was already risen by 3:30 AM. The bathroom in the hotel is just too gross to take a shower, so I get dressed and decide to get an early start today. So, ignoring the directions I was given last night I head off in what looks to be Northeast. I ride for about an hour when the road turns to a dead end. So no choice now but to ride back to Kykmop, cursing myself the whole way for being stupid and then follow the instructions. But by the time I get back to Kykmop it is raining. I finally get to test my new Nelson Riggs rain suit and it seems to be up to the task of keeping me dry. But I do get lucky, in that after about 2 hours of riding I find a sign that points towards Pyerm and it's not the M7. So it's still raining, but I'm on a nice 2 lane road, fairly smooth, and passing through villages and farms on my way to Pyerm. As the road starts to rise towards the foothills of the Urals the road turns into a smooth twisty ribbon. I catch up to a really well driven car and we are racing each other for about an hour. He is clipping every apex and I'm about 10 feet off his bumper. Lots of fun, no cops, and I'm now making pretty good time. But finally my road turns off and my racing buddy goes on straight ahead. Now I'm about half way to Pyerm and from this point until I get to Pyerm I get stopped 6 times. That's in just about 200 kilometers. That must be some kind of record. Most of the stops were not for speeding as far as I can tell, they just want to see my papers. I am about the only motorcycle on the road, and I am loaded down pretty heavily so I must stick out to them. One stop was for speeding apparantly because the cop showed me his radar gun readout which showed 58 kmh (in a 50 kmh speed zone). But I don't get a ticket or a fine all day and everyone just wished me well and waved me on. I passed some city, maybe Glazov where it looks like they make Ladas. The road leading into Pyerm is the worst condition road to date. I have to use just 1st and 2nd gear only to dodge frost heaves and potholes. A couple times at roundabouts, where there were no signs I get sidetracked, but asking for directions puts me back on track. I get into Pyerm about 9:00 PM and it's still plenty of daylight. Pyerm is a well to do city, as on the outskirts there are huge single family mansions that would look at home in any upscale neighborhood in the U.S. and there are upscale car dealerships for Mercedes Benz, BMW, Volvo, Audi, and a few other makes. I find a nice hotel for a change, courtesy of a couple of kids in a Mazda. Get to eat in the hotel and a nice hot shower and a good nights sleep. Again I get to park my bike right at the hotel entrance where it will be watched all night. In the morning I find an internet cafe to answer some e-mails and it's off to Ekaterinburg which according to the map is a big city. I'll be riding from the west side of the Urals to the East side so I'm thinking it will be a nice mountain road. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Urals, at least between Pyerm and Ekaterinburg is nothing but some large hills. No mountains that I can see, no switchbacks either. But this road is now the worst road I've ridden so far. The distance is only 400 kms (about 240 miles) and it takes me 8 hours to complete that distance. I have to use 1st and 2nd gear probably more than half way. There are brand new paved sections which abruptly drop off to a moonscape. I am one sore old man by the time I get to Ekaterinburg. I decide to splurge though and I'm in the best hotel in town which is equivalent to any Hilton or Hyatt in the world. Expensive as all getout though at about US$ 250.00 per night. As I have a number of $10.00-$20.00 per night hotels in my travel so far, though so I rationalize this won't break my budget, just raise my average stay a bit. I've now heard from Scott and Sjaak who are telling me the conditions of the roads from the Mongolian border to Ulaan-Bataar. I can't imagine they would be worse than todays roads, even if it's just a cow path. But I've got 3 maybe 4 days to think about it before I hit Novosibirsk where I have to head either Southeast or Northeast depending upon which route I choose to enter Mongolia. Tomorrow morning, I'll look for a shop where I can change my oil and filter, look over the spark plugs, and try to fasten down any trim bits that are falling off. I've already given up on the sidecar as every bit of trim on it has fallen off already. But the bike is very reliable, except the starter is working only intermittently, luckily it starts easy enough with a bump start and the rear tail light has given up completely. Funny when you're riding alone on a boring road what goes through your mind for hours on end. For myself, I can't get "Back in the USSR" song from the Beatles out of my head. If anyone else is contemplating this kind of ride, I would suggest a bike with a very good suspension. My bike, which I love dearly, has state of theart suspension for 1969 which is pretty rough on the back with these roads. My next stop is Tyumen whch looks to be a small town, so my next internet connection will either be in Omsk or Novosibirsk.
]]> http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004220/tpod.html http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004220/tpod.html#comment Travel Blogs http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jimbosidecar/trans-eurasia_2/1195004220/tpod.html Wed, 14 Nov 2007 02:01:04 +0000 Second leg of my round the world ride. This is from the Isle of Man to Beijing in the summer of 2005

Trans-Eurasoa 2005 part 5 - Beijing, China

Beijing, China

Greetings from Moscow! I finally did get my bike at Bremerhaven on Friday (seems like a month ago!) June 16th(?). But it was missing the license plate. Nobody seems to know where the plate went. There were another 6 or 7 bikes came off the same ship and not a license plate to be found. The shipper says somebody must have stolen it! Never use MOL for shipping a bike overseas. By a stroke of luck I do have a Chinese plate and registration in my bag so I attach that and head off from the port. It is threatening rain so to make sure it doesn't rain I put on my brand new Nelson Riggs rain suit. I haven't been rained on since England! I have a friend who works in Germany who is also from China, so I'll be riding to Ahrensburg to see him. I planned to take the scenic route but Friday is a half work day for alot of Germans so I need to get there quick. I take the Autobahn through Bremen and Hamburg which wasn't as bad as I thought. With a 36 year old bike loaded down with probably 100 kgs of packs including a sidecar I thought I would be too slow for the hiways in Germany. Not so, I'm comfortably cruising at about 100 kph and staying with the right lane traffic. By the time I get to AShrensburg it is early afternoon so plan B is to ride to my friends home which is near Grevesmuhlen in the former East Germany. This place is really something. My friend lives in an old converted schoolhouse with his wife and 2 boys. The town population is 72 and everybody knows everybody in town. Ideal location to raise a family I think. We ride down to the next town where there is a free music festival put on by a radio station. The buildings, the landscape, and the people are really very, very nice. The next morning I'm off early for points east. I stop off at the seaport town of Rostok and it is another picturebook setting. Amazing how clean everything is. The driving is first rate, the roads are smooth, and the scenery is outstanding. After lunch I continue east towards Poland. I'm riding with the Baltic Sea to my left towards Poland. I thought I could cross into Poland at the town of Swinoujscie (SP) but it is not to be. Here the border guards turn me away as this is a restricted zone. But this is on a peninsula so I have to backtrack about 100-200 kms to the next southward border crossing. Lucky for me as it turns out because along the way there is a sign for a Froh Market which I take to mean a Flea market. But it is at the Zweirad Museum which I know has somenthing to do with motorcycles so I make another detour to see what that's all about. It turns out there is a show today for old East Bloc vehicles. My bike was quite a hit as I rolled in among all kinds of east Bloc motorcycles, cars, and trucks. In the center was what looked like a 50's era Zil, quite a few Ural/Dneprs, Trablants, Borzois, and even a beautiful Tatra. Under a tent they are calling off numbers which I don't understand anyway, so after an hour or so I continue towards Poland, finally crossing the border at near Szczecin. This is the biggest city I've been in all the time I've been in Europe. The streets are in poor condition and the traffic signs are almost non-existant. I get out of town as fast as I can and end up in a smaller town of Goleniow. The further I get away from the big city the smoother the roads become. Once in Goleniow, I stop to ask for directions to a hotel. There is only one and they have a room available. Poland is in the EU so I thought I could use my Euros. Not so. I have to find Zlotys but everything is closed. The sun is still shining but it's after 10:00 PM. Everything is closed except a bar. The bar has food but they don"t accept credit cards nor Euros. But a customer in the Bar, Patrick, grabs my arm and drags me across the street to his house. There he cooks up a meal of chicken, dumplings, potatos, and carrots. Really good. His son is playing games on his computer and his wife is asleep. Really nice people. After I've had my fill I head off for my hotel and Patrick insists to have me over for breakfast at 10:00 AM. I have to leave before that though, so I hope he understood me. He has not one word of English and me not one word of Polish. The bike does my talking for me. The next morning I'm off early for points eastward. I head back up north towards the Baltic so I can follow it. I turn southward at Eiblag and head towards Olsztyn which looks to have a nice road and a lot of lakes. I met some Polish Bikers along the way who are very friendly. We stop, shake hands, take pictures, and then ride off on separate ways. In Germany, you see very few Harleys, but in Poland I'm seeing alot more. The road from Olsztyn to Augustow was one of the best roads I've been on in Europe. The roads are narrow, zig-zagging between lake after lake. There is no traffic (I think it's Sunday but I'm not counting) and the views are terrific. I stop for gas in Olsztyn and after filling up my tank I push my bike out of the way to a corner so it won"t be in anyones way. When I come out, there are 2 taxi drivers examining my bike opretty closely. It turns out one of them backed into my bike! But there is no damage thankfully so no harm done and I'm back on my way. I see another car ram into the steel rail that protects the gas pumps, so I make a mental note to watch out for the driving here. Still it's about 1,000 times better than Beijing driving. I vowed to myself before the trip to not ride at night no matter what. I'm about to break that rule as there are no hotels among these lakes. In fact there are no houses, no cars, a whole lot of nothing but pristine lakes, smooth curvy roads, and trees. I make it into Augustow at about midnight, it finally gets dark here around 10:30-11:00 PM. As I rode into town a cop in front of me pulls me over. It turns out he was looking at his mirror and thought I was a car with a headlight out. Instead I'm a sidecar rig with a missing light on the sidecar fender. He warns me to get it fixed and points me in the direction of the Warszawa Hotel which is pretty nice. This time I have Zlotys so I'm all set. They even let me park my bike right near the entrance. Next day up late, looking for a store to replace my gloves which somehow went missing. No luck here so I head off northward for Lithuania. Crossing the Lithuania border is easy and the guards got a laugh (again) at either me or my bike. Either way I'm waved across and continue northward towards Kaunus. Here the roads are fairly smooth but straight over rolling hills of farmland. Boring. I stop for lunch at a gas station and then continue northward for Daugavpils (sounds like Dog ****?). Passing through Daugavpils, my rear fender (the back part) falls off the bike. The hinge pin fell out and the nuts on the sides of the fender are now missing as well. Nothing some cable ties can"t fix. So after a few minutes securing the fender, I'm back on my way. I finally arrive in the last big city of Rezekne, Latvia before the Russian border. The hotel (there is only one) is in a bank building. Again although Luithuania and Latvia are both in the EU, like Poland they have their own currency and don't accept Euros or Zlotys which I've accumulated quite a few of. The Lithuania money is about half the value of a Euro if my math is correct but the Latvia currency is worth much more than Euros. There is a however, an italian restaurant in town above a casino. I stop by for a Pizza which I'll regret later. Back to the hotel and leave a wake-up call for 6:30 AM. And at 6:30 next morning the hotel manager is banging on my door. I think I'm less than an hour from the Russian Border and I've kinda been dreading crossing the border because of the warning I got back at the Russian Embassy in Beijing when they issued my visa. I was told my visa was not valid except to arrive by air. Anyway I heard from others on the internet this is nonsense and that any visa is good to enter by any means. Leaving Rezekne I am told to head north 7 kms and there is a road to take me to the Russian border. I gas up which is another experience here. You have to put in the exact amout of paper currency you want in a machine, pick your grade of fuel and then pump. I watch a few cars do this before I try it. Of course I get it wrong and only gas up half a tank. But I'm carrying a 5 gallon tank of gas in th sidecar so I head off for Russia. The road that should take me through Ludza to the border ends at a dead end. And it is literally a dead end, ending at the entrance to a cemetary. So I take the only other road which seems to be taking me northwards a long ways before I finally see the Russian border station. It's now 10:00 AM and there is no line in front of me. I work my way through the procedures walking the bike from one building to another. I think there were 8 small buildings that I had to stop at, fill out some papers, and move on. Everyone got a big laugh at my bike and my destination but they were very helpful, even getting me into the back door of the bank to exchange Euros for Rubles. They even warned me not to change too many Euros because I'll get a better rate in Moscow. At this point I still assume I'm at the border crossing at Sebezh. It's opnly much later that i realize that because of the dead end road, I actually crossed much further north at Ostrov. The reason I now know this is because before I reached the border I saw a sign for Mockba (Moscow) that said 665 kms. But after crossing the border and riding a while I saw another sign saying Mockba 772 kms. It took 2 hours to finish all the procedures and get waved through to Russia. Amazing! I grew up in the 1960s when Russia was what we were all afraid of. I remember the nucear shelters and the loud alarms every Saturday morning when we had to find a Nuclear fallout shelter which were labelled in black and yellow signs. And now here I am! Anyway the terrain is much like New England with 2 lane road, old farm houses, older cars sitting in the "back 40". The difference is the road condition is really terrible. I have to pluck along in 1st and 2nd gear for alot of the way and every time I get up into 4th I have to brake for a deep hole in the road. There is not much car traffic but alot of big trucks. I was told at the border I can only stay in a hotel that caters to foreigners and I must get my visa registered at the hotel. Seeing how there are no big towns between here and Moscow, I need to haul ass to get to Moscow before too long. The road from Latvia to Moscow as I say is in terrible condition. And along the way there are lots of cops with radar guns. I get pulled over for speeding which I know I'm not. But when the cops try to talk to me and realize I don't understand a word and I show my American passport, I'm waved along with a warning to keep it under 60 kms.I finally get to Moscow at about 1:00 AM and it is asleep. I stop at several gas stations asking for directions to a hotel but nobody seems to know where there is a hotel in Moscow. It's now getting to be 2:00 AM and still no hotel. I finally find a cop that has pulled over a car so I roll up behind the pulled over car. This spooks the cops who point an AK 47 in my direction. I raised up my hands and smile which calms them down. I then make pantomime of wanting to find a hotel. Lucky day for the pulled over car as they left him in his tracks and told me to follow them. My first time in Russia and I'm riding through the streets of Moscow running every red light we come across. We stop at 2 hotels with no rooms before they find a 3rd hotel that has a room. It is the worst hotel I've stayed at for some time and I'm from China! No water, no phone, very dirty. But it's a bed, it's now 3:30 AM, and I'm tired. The next morning I call someone I met over the internet who has a bike and has ridden it all over Africa, Europe, and China. His name is Roman and he is a life saver. He invites me to his house to clean up with a hot shower, and then takes me to his garage to wrench on my bike. He then finds me a nice hotel just off Red Square and the Kremlin. He belongs to a motorcycle club and they meet every Wednesday which is tonight. The streets of Moscow are very wide, smooth, and traffic moves here, unlike Beijing. To get to the bike meeting we have to circle around Moscow. That takes an hour and we are doing about 100 kph the entire time. I meet another 20 or so bikers mainly riding Japanese sport bikes althoug there is a big fat trike, powered by a turbo Smart motor, and a 1949 Russian bike. We eat at an outdoor cafe and most everybody is smoking apple tobacco from a Hookah. After we eat we move on to another spot where bikers gather every night. This is just outside Moscow University which is a building you have to see to believe. But there is a park on one side and a big wide street on the other. So every kind of bike is doing drag runs up and down the street. My kind of place. The Moscovite bikers could not be friendlier. And the women are slim, beautiful, and fashionable. I'm in motorcycle heaven! Roman, my "host" is in the pyrotechnics business which is probably my 2nd favorite thing after motorcycles. Last night we rode out to a park where he is putting on a fireworks show for some local area on a large man-made pond. Another fine night in Moscow. Today there starts a big motorcycle festival about 170 kms south of Moscow. I think it's like Sturgis or Daytona Bikeweek but I'll know for sure after we get there. So I'll head for that tonight and tomorrow morning leave Moscow for points eastward. Funny thing happened last night at my hotel. You don't actually get a key at the front desk. You get a card which you then present to the floor lady on your floor and she exchanges it for your key. I went out to watch the fireworks with some other bikers and when I got back, the front desk showed me that I had the wrong card for my room. They issued me a new card and told me to take care of the problem with the old card. I went up to the 10th floor (I'm in room 183 go figure) and told the floor lady my problem. She gets all ****** off and insists I came back at 6:00 PM and gave her the wrong card. Now she does not have my key and I haven't even been in the hotel since 4:00 PM. It finally does get straightened out, but with my imagination, I was wondering if the KGB needed more time to search through all my belongings in my room? But this city is spectacular. Too bad it's so difficult to get to because it definately rates an A+ for motorcycle friendliness. I saw a racing Ducati 999 the other night, no plates, no sidestand, running on the streets. I'm off to Kazan as my next stop tomorrow morning. I've already stayed 2 days longer than I planned and the club members are asking me to stay through the weekend to take in fully the BikeFest. But I do have a home to get to so I'm off. I hope this story is interesting to read as it is to ride.
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