Wednesday 29 June 2016

Day 46, to Usharal, Kazakhstan 140km , 3751km to date,  679m up, 763m end

Another hard day, wind behind for the first 40 km, then against for the rest of the ride. Pavement a bit better, but still lots of potholes.  The country side is very flat, it's hard to find interesting things when it is like this..





Into the town of Usharal, a two hotel town. Not much to say for it.   We have a rest day tomorrow.

Checking into the hotel, we are used to getting a room key, but in this case checking in also provided other necessities:

Day 45, to Taskesken Junction, Kazakhstan 99km , 3850km to date,  445m up, 743m end


A reasonable day, wind neutral, fairly rough pavement/gravel. 


Starting to see the Muslim influence, e.g. mosques and some of the graveyards:



Day 44, to Ayagoz, Kazakhstan 146km , 3751km to date,  679m up, 763m end

Another hard day, wind against and very rough pavement/gravel.  My butt is very unimpressed with the very rough riding….

One of the small disasters we have had to live with is that after Mongolia we have not been able to find peanut butter - our Russian support person, and now our Kazakhstan support person have never had peanut butter - looks like we will be without this basic necessity until Iran.

One of the guys on the ride, Steve, is a Geography Prof from U. Washington.  Each day just before dinner he is giving us a 5 minute lecture, todays lecture was on the rivers of central/northern Asia.  An interesting fact for you:  Most of the rivers in central Russia flow into the Artic, they also thaw from the south to the north - so yes that means flooding as part of the spring breakup.

A good pic of me leaving camp at sunrise:




Only one other pic from today as the the landscape was really simple - flat Steppe(prairie) that didn’t change.  The road was very straight - 50km without a turn.  We commonly saw hearts of horses like this, I didn't see any markings so have assumed they are wild, they definitely didn't like you getting anywhere close to them.



Day 43, to Karaul, Kazakhstan 132km , 3605km to date,  764m up, 764m end

A long day on rough pavement, somewhat uphill, hot and with a headwind strong at times.  The full day was 188km, but I rode the truck after 132km - if I’d gone any longer I was worried I’d be really breaking myself.  

Something that adds to the “feel good” about this wander through strange countries is that one’s belief in the human race is strongly reinforced, two examples:

Whilst riding I always either nod or wave to people, it is very rare that they don’t more than respond.  At one point on the previous ride day I passed a policeman that had just finished dealing with a truck, when he saw me, a big wave which I returned, then as I rode past him, he snapped to attention and saluted me.

A second example:  after we crossed into Kazakhstan some of the riders had no local currency nor Russian rubles left, two of the guys (Mike/Frieder) stopped at a small store hoping to buy a coke using a charge card, but the store couldn’t accept a charge card.  Mike was down about that as he really needed a cold drink.  Then a young man appeared and gave him a coke that he had bought for them simply as a gift.

As you know, it is important to eat on trips like this and eat a lot!  We commonly refer to first lunch and second lunch etc., So for dinner last night it was a salad starter, then a large bowl of pasta with 1st beer, then each of us had a pizza with 2nd beer, then desert (pic below), and on the walk back to the hotel, a 2nd ice cream.





There were only two “corner stores” on the route today, this was at the second one:







pic outside rest.:

Saturday 25 June 2016

Day 42, in Semey

The city of Semey is famous to Westerners for two reasons; i) it was where Dostoevsky was exiled to and ii) as the base for the Russian Nuclear bomb test/research centre.

Fyodor Dostoevsky was exiled here in the185o’s and where he began his most famous novel, The Brothers Karamazov.  Much of the novel is based on settings around Semey.  In the West being exiled to Siberia has an awful sound to it.  In Canadian terms it would be like being exiled to Calgary, although a bit hotter the summer and a bit colder in the winter.  The city I am in is a bit run down, but clearly has had a glorious past.  

Semey used to be known as Semipalatinsk but was changed to Semey after 1991 due to its nuclear history.  Some 460 nuclear tests were conducted in the Polygon area about 150km west of Semey, both above and below ground.

A positive result from the collection of scientists during the nuclear testing period was that Semey became a centre of eloquence and intellect, amongst other things Semey has a very large and well known teaching and research hospital.

There are extensive squares and “active” parks in the city, by active I mean full of people and kids eating, playing, walking, sitting and drinking etc.,  with lots of food/drink/ice cream vendors.  We don't have enough of this at home in Victoria.

Again, it may be a few days before I am able to post again.

Some pics from around Semey:

A dog picture for Keith and Kathleen:


Dostoevsky and Shokan Ualikhanov (Chokan Valikhanov))

No idea what this is:


Yes, from the "kitchen" where we had lunch...


An interesting collection of statues from the communist days, yes that is Lenin(2nd pic down):



There are a lot of buildings like this:

Friday 24 June 2016

Day 41, to Semey, Kazakhstan 158km , 3473km to date,  301m up, 378m end

A longish day on rough pavement with a border crossing thrown in.

The exit side from Russia of the border crossing was very quick - 10 minutes.  But, the entry side into Kazakhstan was slow, took us about two hours - it seemed to be mainly due to a very slow computer system.  Other than slow it was uneventful.

On the ride today I noticed railway tracks, I realized there have been no tracks since we left Ulaan Bataar - I suspect the route we have taken is somewhat off the “beaten trail”.


More re how expensive cellphone service is at home:  in Kazakhstan, I bought a SIM card for $3 CDN, then bought 15 gig of data for another $3CDN.

Some pics (More on Semey in the next post):



I like the simple symbol for the track crossing:

Day 40, to Rubtsovsk 156km , 3315km to date,  1024m up, 397m end

A long day with headwinds in the morning, but an easy afternoon.  Interesting how I now consider 156km a harder but reasonable day.

Country side is flat prairie.  Talking to one of the riders who is a geography prof at the U. of Washington, the country side is considered steppe (grassland) as apposed to tiaga which is northern boreal forest.

Today is our last full day in Russia.  Russia has been wonderful, as is the norm everywhere, the people have been very friendly and welcoming, proud of their country, there have been recreation areas in the mountain varying to very flat prairie.  I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this is not the Siberia I had envisioned.

One of the more interesting stops today was the village of Ku’ria, this is the home of Kalashnikov the famous Russian rifle.  Unfortunately the museum was not open when we were there. 

Some Pics:





Day 39, to River Camp 130km , 3159km to date,  1265m up, 427m end

Another fairly easy day, although some sections of rough gravel.

The small villages we have been going through are very similar to the small towns on the prairies, mostly older people with only a few young kids.  Effectively all the houses have the full yard under cultivation - I feel like I am visiting my grandparents.


I expect a lot of the farms are leftover from the Soviet Collective farm days, however there is a lot of land under cultivation.

A few pics:




Day 38, to Mosquito Camp 102km , 3029km to date,  530m up, 175m end

Again an easy 100km day, into camp by 13:00.


A few pics:


I like how they post the grade on their hill signs:

I believe this is essentially a grave marker, these very well tended sites are quite common:

Yes, it is rather flat around here:

Day 37, to Smolenskoye  106km , 2927km to date,  277m up, 225m end

An easy ride today, essentially flat, no wind, overcast and threatening to rain, but no rain yet.  Just before the end of the day, we passed the most northern spot of the tour, 52deg 20 min N.

We are going through open essentially flat farmland.

In Gorno, I noticed that many of the busses were powered by compressed natural gas (they had about 6 or 7 cylinders on top of the bus.

I’ve also noticed some heavy vehicles having an odd exhaust smell, I’m told it is because they are using rapeseed oil.

In camp again tonight.  In the last several camps, I’ve been entertained by all the song birds waking me in the morning - the racket has been impressive, something we seem to have lost at home.  Yes, we continue to hear the cuckoo birds all day and all night - I think they are trying to tell us something…

From my earlier posts you will know that I found the Mongolian sections of this ride incredible tough - the TDA guys say that section was the hardest of any of the TDA tours.  I guess I can take some pride in that.

In case any of you aren’t aware how expensive cellphone service is at home:  in Russia, I bought a SIM card for $3 CDN, then bought 2 gig of data for another $3CDN - so for $6 I am set till the 2 gig run out.  I will be out of the country by then,

Some pics from Gorno Altaysk:





From todays ride:  Open farmland:





My tent in the planted forest:




Saturday 18 June 2016

Day 35, to Gorno Altaysk  94km , 2821km to date,  410m up, 340m end

We are now in Gorno Altysak, Siberia, Russia. We have a rest day tomorrow, after 7 riding days in a row.  Sounds hard but was really fairly easy going, all the roads in Russia have been excellent.  

This corner of Russia is a vacation retreat centre, camping in the mountains, river rafting, Yoga retreats.  Very few, if any fancy hotels, but lots of areas to just pitch a tent.  The common “rental” is a small cabin with fire pit outside and a Banya (sauna) near a cool river.

Five of the riders are leaving at Gorno, so we had a party in camp last night.  Until now things had been too serious, the focus had been on surviving the riding.   Now that we are back on pavement the days are reasonable, so we had a good spread of food, beer, vodka and music.  There seemed to be some pent up energy - some of the wildest dancing ever!  Although the party did end by 8:00, which is late for us.

Major crisis solved..  I brought only one white shirt for riding - it is now worn out - several rips due to the falls and I guess wearing it for 4,300km in China, 7,300km across Canada and most of 3,000km this trip has done it in.  So I now have a new bright white Russian replacement.

The last couple of days we have been riding along the Ob, which I believe is one of the world’s great rivers, 7th longest in fact.  It drains into the arctic .  In many ways reminds me of the Fraser.

We have gone through many small towns and villages.  It is obvious that most Russians have a strong affection for the land, very common to see yards fully planted - I feel like I am visiting my grandparents.


Some pics:

Note the size of the Satellite dish:


A constructions mistake??


And we think the airport crop circles are a challenge...


Into Gorno:

Day 34, to Cherga  116km , 2727km to date,  1246m up, 611m end

Again a nice day riding, a serious climb, but wonderful scenery - just like southern BC - some sections like the Fraser Canyon, some like Maning Park, some like around Nelson and the Kootenay’s. 

A couple thoughts from the day:

I am aware that the Russians have a very strong affection for the land, part of the Mother Russia “thing”.  Most of the small towns/villages we are passing through, all the houses have yards that are fully cultivated, vegetables, potatoes etc., - this is like I am visiting my grandparents.  Although it looks somewhat rough to us, I think it is just different.

Everywhere, people build out of the building materials that are available, locally concrete is the common building material.  One consequence is that “old buildings” don’t rot away gracefully as we are used to in Canada.  Old concrete tends to stay around indefinitely.  Many of the houses are built out of squared logs (about 8x8’s).


One of the riders broke his bike today, he broke the crank arm near the pedal.  This is the TV actor from South Africa, a very strong young man.  He is making a documentary on his ride so he absolutely needs to ride every inch.  So he rode 100km one legged!  Wow!  This included a very serious climb - think twice up the Malahat.  One thing I am learning from this group of riders is a totally new level of grit and determination.  I thought I could be stubborn and “stick to it”, some of the riders on this ride are several orders of magnitude tougher!

Only pic of the day is from breakfast:  the viewing line of the river (there has been some very heavy rain):

Day 33, to Onguday  140km , 2611km to date,  1494m up, 879m end

A good days riding, all on nice pavement, with several small and one serious climb (equivalent of the Malahat).

The countryside is exactly like the Fraser Canyon - if it wasn’t for the Russian signs you would think you are approaching Ashcroft or Lytton. 


I’ve come to expect the odd combination of very old and extremely modern juxtaposition with each other - The bareback horseman herding a flock (of sheep, horses, cattle and camels (in Mongolia) and talking on a cell phone.  This area of Russia seems to be doing very well, it is one of the outdoor vacation destinations, so I’ve been seeing many campsites with collections of small cabins - appears to be very popular.








The artis that created this horse is from the Netherlands and taking it to a major horse festival in Ulaam Batar:


A cow bus stop:


Day 32, to Chibit  94km , 2471km to date,  509m up, 1157m end

Today was an easy ride, mostly downhill, but in heavy rain, for the first 10km it was into strong headwind, and for the first time in a long time, pavement! nice smooth pavement!  I’d almost forgotten what pavement was like.  One of the riders said that the area we are in, is the driest area of Russia, that would explain why the “stream” near the camp is almost overflowing its banks. 

It was great to have time during the day to enjoy ourselves, so we did, bought the best two bottles of Vodka in the town ($6 ea.), along with several units of Russian Sturgeon Caviar (at $0.50 ea.).  It was a celebration both of succeeding in cycling across Mongolia and of now being in Russia.

We are in a sort of campground, complete with small cabins, so tonight rather than being out in my tent in the pouring rain, I am in a small cabin.

The countryside here is very much like BC, could be the Fraser Canyon.

Some pics:














































the town of Aktash:

























Liz was wearing blue leather gloves, now her hands are blue:





















The vodka and Caviar remains: