At the China/Russia border we no longer had to convoy. China is strict about tours and we had a great Chinese tour guide, Yu Xinmin (Sim) that kept us reasonably under control. Once we got into Siberia things started to take on a more natural order. Friendships put two or three riders in a group, the need to ride with someone as conservative as you (that means slow most of the time) or as aggressive as you are (means faster most of the time) dictates with whom you might choose to ride. We have two members that ride alone most of the time, one is the most adventurous of the lot and the other the most conservative. There is one other factor and that is your choice of a route and the level of risk with which you are comfortable.

We are all using GPS, (Global Positioning System technology) and properly set up and understood it makes a rider more adventurous in this land of incredible width and breadth. However do not, do not believe all of the world maps available from Garmin, the GPS manufacturer. There are roads in Russia that are not on their disk and there are roads on their disk that do not exist. It makes for some interesting side trips.

Hans Muellers and I team up most of the time and we think it is because we think and ride a great deal alike. We tend to move like fish in a school wherein any movement by the lead bike is repeated in fractions of a second by number 2 and neither of us are ever concerned about the space between us. However thinking alike and depending on the GPS can lead to some interesting situations. Traveling from Kemerova to Novosibirsk we choose the road less traveled, probably secretly feeling we would be one beer up in N'birsk before the rest arrived. It went from regularly bad and broken pavement to gravel and potholes to mud and navel-orange sized rocks and mud. We stopped to reconsider once and Hans pointed out that the potholes had weeds growing in them, bad sign. It was to late to turn around so we continued until a power line crossed our --"path") At that point we turned left into a 10,000, (no exaggeration) acre potato field with dirt, mud and water filled depressions heading for wherever. Hans squirted the 85 HP throttle of his GS a little hard and changed direction and attitude. A TourATech bag popped off and Hans did a somersault. He was on his feet in seconds suffering lacerations of the cheek from jammed sunglasses and a bloody nose. The guy is industructable. We ended up at a rail line but in some farmers barnyard with very unhappy large dog. After some more muddy searching we found a place to cross the rail line and rejoin Siberia. Hans heals fast .

Nine hundred miles later we settled into the best hotel in Orbit, (oh boy) for a short town visit, a tour of the Ural Motorcycle Factory, a visit to the Irbit Motorcycle Museum and an evening of good food, good dancing, neat people with motorcycle and partying interests and probably more but some of it has faded. I lost my "BackRoads Motorcycling" tee shirt but I now have an "Irbit - Ural 2002 Rally" shirt that will be everybodys envy if they can read Russian. Brian and Shira, (Backroads) any chance for a replacement?

The history of Ural goes way back. I have heard and passed on many versions of when URAL began to build the BMW look-alike and how eventually China got the tooling that is still used today. Here is the story from the plant manager.

Just before WW2 became very very serious, Ural bought a complete production line, (from BMW) for the horizontally opposed twin that had been built by BMW since 1923. It was of  750cc capacity and produced 45 HP. The original Ural factory was inadequate and they annexed a brewery expanding their production to handle military orders to fight the very country that sold them the production line. During the following 65 years they produced 3 1/2 million motorcycles with a high percentage of them being sidecar assemblies. Today they are producing about 2000 per year and trying to get their sales up to 2,800 units. 95% are sidecar assemblies with 70% having a driven sidecar wheel as an option. Their transmission, now 4 speed will soon go to a five speed box. They produce a 650cc and a 750cc engine presently but there are 900 and 1,000cc engines under development. The 750cc unit also has a three wheeled truck version that is rated at 500 and 600 kilogram capacity and we saw quite a few of them in service in the area.

The present factory manager, Mr. Sergey Ziryanov stated that the original tooling, (and that had to be for the 750cc flathead engine) was sold to China in 1959. I think that's accurate as when I first went into China in 1989 I saw what appeared to be newly produced motorcycles with the same flat head design. We also saw many of them at the beginning of this trip, Shanghai to Manzhouli.

They opened their Historic Motorcycle Museum for our benefit and an ex-Ural motorcross racer gave us the tour. The factory manager, Mr. Sergey Ziryanov and [unknown] Mr, [unknown] had both been very successful racers and their pictures and medals are displayed. I sat on an experimental Ural model on display and was told that President Vladimir Putin had also mounted but I don't think it changed my mind about citizenship.

In Ekaterinburg we had a good city tour and a visit to the church built to commemorate the murder of Tsar Romanov and his entire family, - Sara Lee G. and Jean D., do you remember Dr. Zhivago?

On to Ufa and Samara, oil derricks pumping on both sides of the road and then refineries to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil and aspalt paving material to fill pot holes. They are way behind on filling pot holes. The route intersects the Volga at Balakova and we followed the river into Saratov. Sand beaches on the West bank are covered with white bodies trying to bronze after the long winter. In the evening the river bank and it's cafes are an attraction for everyone to stroll, listen to music and enjoy food and drinks.

Into Volgograd, formerly Stalingrad.  We stayed two days and absorbed the 
history of their seige and the final Russian victory. It was 1942 and Hitler's theory held  that a victory over the Volga River city of Stalingrad would bring Russia to her knees and end the Eastern campagne. Aircraft and artillery leveled the city except for one multi story flour mill but the Russians continued to pour in supplies from the East bank. One small commercial fishing craft that had crossed hundreds of times under fire is now on display and has more than 3,000 bullet holes through it's superstructure. The river is wide and deep at this point and carries big freighters from.

There were 1,200,000. Germans and Russians involved and most of them died in their causes. At one point the German general in charge recognized that he was doomed to defeat because of the length of his supply lines and he petitioned Hitler to surrender and save thousands of German lives. Hitler refused and they went on to have massive losses and surrender none the less. Out of over 100,000 Germans capturered only 6,000 finally reached home and not until the mid 1950s.

Considering that the city was totally destroyed, restoration has been remarkable. A battlefield memorial has been constructed on a hill north of town with a 1,500 foot tall statue of Mother Russia and their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and eternal flame. It is very impressive. Back at the Hotel Volvograd that evening we celebrated Dennis Bishop's 44th birthday with a cake and a song. The next day,(6/14) we were off for our second last destination in Russia, Rostov on Don.        

Regards,
Norm

Back to the Beginning of Norm's Adventure

1st Journal Entry - Beijing China
2nd Journal Entry - Shenyang China
3rd Journal Entry - Towards Russia
4th Journal Entry - In Siberia Russia
5th Journal Entry - Continues through Russia
6th Journal Entry - Marches on through Russia
7th Journal Entry - The Great Potato Field of Russia
8th Journal Entry - Russia Final (next Poland)
9th Journal Entry - Motorcycle Accident in Russia
10th Journal Entry - The Crimea - Ukraine
11th Journal Entry - We have Crossed the Finish Line
12th Journal Entry - Update on injuries
13th Journal Entry - Poland, Czech Rep.
14th Journal Entry - Returning Home