Pic and a story

[black_labb]

Great story black_labb, shame the photos aren't working

Seem to be working for me, anyone else have the issue?

 

[spog]

Yep no photos showing here either.

 

[black_labb]

edit: will try again at home

 

[black_labb]

Fixed below. Using links to images elsewhere seems problematic.

2 linked stories with separate photos. This one is probably a bit long.

Last year I did a 3 month pushbike trip alone in Siberia following some very rough tracks (BAM Road and the "110" east of lake Baikal). The 110 is basically the holy grail of 4wd tracks in Russia and is very challenging due for just about every reason you could think of, mainly river crossings, mud and a section of river covered with big boulders that doubles as the the road for a while.

The only other vehicle I met aside from the rangers on the first day was a 4wd with 5 Russian guys in it. I had caught up to them and passed them the day before when they were resting and the next day they passed me. About 20 minutes after them passing me I saw this.



Bear Tracks. The tracks were going in the same direction as me and I started to make some noise including singing (would scare anything away if you heard me). It wasn't long before I noticed that the tracks from the bear were on top of the 4wd tracks... I wasn't any more than 30 minutes behind the 4wd and the bear is somewhere between us. I decided to slow my progress down further and get louder. When I saw the 4wd had ditched their trailer in a boggy puddle I was worried. They obviously hadn't been going too quickly if they had ditched the trailer. I was getting worried as it was about 10pm and I only had about 1-2 hours before dark. I didn't feel very comfortable cooking the much needed dinner so close to a bear and felt very uncomfortable sleeping in a tent afterwards even if I did cook away from the tent.

I've been woken by a bear in Romania while trying to sleep in a tent and it was pretty terrifying and led to basically no sleep and a lot of stress. I didn't want a repeat and Siberian bears are much bigger and potentially more aggressive.

While Collecting water from a river I was looking at the collapsing bridge next to me. The 110 (or zimnik 110)was built during a warm winter in the mid 70's. Lake Baikal wasn't frozen solid enough for the trucks to drive on to transport materials for the construction of the BAM railway. They built this track as a link to the railway. The track has been decaying since the late 70's. This bridge next to me was from then and was built for the trucks to supply the railway. The Steel frame was still intact and some of the sleepers for the roadway were still in place but very soft. Unfortunately the ramp on and off had all but disappeared.

Instead of complaining about another river crossing I saw an opportunity. I threw my bags up on to the top of the remaining platform of the bridge and climbed up the steel frame. Once up there I pitched my tent including driving the pegs into the rotting timber. I cooked dinner hoping to draw the bear closer with the smell of the food so I could get a close look at him. I didn't see him but I slept great.



I met and passed the guys on the 4wd again on the track the next day when they were stuck in a bog. They passed me when the track improved the next day on the way to a town. We had a few beers in the town as we were staying at the same place. I kept going as they had a lot of things to deal with - their 4wd was fucked every way possible including a seriously warped chasis. They gave me a carved bear from Chariaite, a semiprecious stone only found near a town of Chara where they were going. They had "mined" the stone themselves and one of them had carved it before giving it to me. Probably one of my favorite sentimental possessions.

I had a chance meeting again with the guys a couple weeks later, but that's another story.

 

[Florian]

man, those bear tracks are huge! That would seriously freak me out.

didn't you have a link to a blog you wrote, or was that someone elses blog? would love to read that.

 

[black_labb]

Might as well do part 2 of the story now while I've got your attention and have the photos at hand.



2 weeks after the above story I was riding along the Bam road which is again a very rough track, but this section wasn't too bad. I hadn't seen anyone for a couple days but I heard a big diesel approaching from behind as I went up a hill. As the Ural (old 6wd go anywhere Soviet military truck) approached I moved off into the bushes to let it pass as the track was very narrow. As I suspected they stopped ahead of me and got out to meet me and offer me wine and started talking. While I was talking I heard some guys above me in the tray get all excited and start calling out. I tried to focus on the 2 men from the cab of the truck as my Russian left much to be desired. They were offering me a lift. I initially declined but the day before I had zero energy and thought maybe a bit of time to recover would be nice. When I glanced up into the tray I recognised someone. I realised that the 5 guys from the 4wd on the 110 were in the back. I smiled as I recognised that they had been calling out my name the whole time. I accepted the ride as they hoisted my bike nearly 3m up into the tray sitting it next to a dog.



The 6 of us found space in the tray. 2 people sitting on the seat of a quad bike and the rest of us find spots on top of whaever was in the back there. It wasn't comfortable but it was good to have company. I had no idea what they were carrying but there was a lot of stuff. I found out that they hired the ural driver to drive back to get their trailer they had abandoned and then to drive them to Chara along the Bam road. Their 4wd was out of action for a long time I understood; the sounds of explosions and crushing metal they made while squishing their hands together made that clear.The contents of their 4wd and the trailer were in the Ural but I didn't yet know what the rest of it was as it was all piled on top of each other. We chatted while the truck chugged along the track at 10-20km/hr.

Being nearly 3m up we had a good view of the surrounds. It was really interesting being in the Ural, it makes even the most heavily modified land cruiser/patrol/whatever seem like a toy. 6wd with tyres that are about 1.25-1.5m diameter, tyre pressure controllable by the driver, can climb inclines up to 60 degrees and the ability to ford 2m of fast moving water. It started to rain just before we climbed out of a steep river bed which seemed like a 45 degree angle. The dog jumped out of the back and was hanging from it's harnessed, it got scared by the steep angle. After a couple more tries to get over the slippery rocks at the steep angle we were up on flat. We went to the back of the tray and pulled the dog back in by the rope, it had been hanging there half way between the tray and the ground. Luckily it was harnessed and not on a collar.

We eventually got to the Chara river, just short of the town of Chara which was their destination. Unfortunately the road bridge had burnt down leaving the steel frame only. There was a railway bridge left but that was only really an option for me and the pushbike. We cleared a track to a secion of river which was apparently the best spot to ford. A bit of checking out the river and we thought the river might be low enough to stay under the 2m depth required for the Ural but when the driver had a closer look he decided it was too much of a risk, the bottom of the river was too muddy considering we weren't even sure whether the depth was under 2m. It was at least 75 metres across.

We camped by the river than night going for a swim and enjoying our food. We would tackle the river in the morning. In the morning a tractor with trailer and a rowboat had been organised on the other side for the gear. I helped unload the Ural and found out what was in the tray. There were countless bags of "gear" like tents, fishing stuff, blankets, food etc. There were a fair few spare tyres and other bits. Once that was off I saw that there was a FULL SET OFF TANK TRACKS AND A GEARBOX OUT OF A TANK. With all of us we were able to manoeuvre the transmission onto some planks of wood and slide it down to the ground. Getting it down the steep bank and into the rowboat was a serious challenge. When dealing with the transmission I had suggested a block and tackle incase they had one in with all the stuff they had. They all spoke about it and said great idea but manually moved the transmission. My suggestion of the block and tackle was transformed into a more basic approach for the tank tracks. Tie the tank tracks to the bridge and then drive the Ural in the other direction. After being told by the bridge guard not to do that, pulling down a huge tree and then finally trying on the metal frame of the burnt bridge we eventually got both tracks off the Ural. The pins were knocked out of the tracks cutting them into manageable pieces and they were ferried across along with the rest of the stuff.

Everything was slowly loaded into the rowboat and carted across to the other side leaving the quadbike, the dog and my stuff which was brought over the railway bridge. I was suggested to take the dog with me to stay safe. Apparently they had just found the dog on their way. I loved dogs and this dog seemed like a great companion but I declined. I wouldn't be able to just leave a dog behind when coming home, especially after another 2 months alone with the dog.

We had a well deserved late lunch once it was all on the other side of the river before loading it into the trailer.

 

[black_labb]

man, those bear tracks are huge! That would seriously freak me out.

didn't you have a link to a blog you wrote, or was that someone elses blog? would love to read that.

Yeah, it was pretty unnerving... :unsure:

Yes that's me, blog is here, www.crazyguyonabike.com/bam2013 - hope you enjoy it.

 

[StalkingWilbur]

****! Those were the best non-beer posts I've read on this site.

 

[black_labb]

****! Those were the best non-beer posts I've read on this site.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it.