Sibirsky Extreme Project DVD

Join prolific adventure motorcyclist and Siberia aficionado Walter Colebatch and his friends on a ride of discovery into Central Asia and the darkest depths of Siberia.

Sibirsky Extreme was the journey that pioneered new routes across Siberia, including the legendary BAM Road.

This journey also features the Tuva Track, Vilyuisky Trakt and the Road of Bones.

Full of interactions with locals, as well as stunning scenery. If you ever dreamt of exploring Siberia on two wheels, this is the DVD for you!

Enjoy the main feature and then feast on the fantastic extras that really give you a feel for life on the road (and off it) in some of the most remote parts of the World

Main Feature: 31min

Walter’s Extras (people, places, lots of river crossings, the ups, the downs and the girls!): 73min

NTSC Version For North American customers & PAL for Europe & the rest of the world

Click here to Buy PAL version or click here to but the NTSC version

The relentless procession of doom laden news is never ending. Whether it is the suppression of peoples rights, stock market crashes, job losses or natural disasters it really is enough to give anyone a permanent case of the blues. If you have your health though and can appreciate the birds singing as I can whilst I write here at 4am then it ain’t all bad.

I am currently self unemployed shall we say at the moment but as Charlie Sheen said last week “you can’t fire a man with plans” and I have plans. In true Gemini fashion I think I have too many plans all going off at once. You all know about the DRZ plan. I had an idea about that or should I say an evolution on the initial idea. It’s my 40th Birthday next year and according to some 2012 is also the end of the world. Some would say hitting 40 is the end of the world but we shall see. So I got to thinking that maybe I should ride my bike “to” the end of the world as in Tiego Del Fuego. The thing is these days I am struggling to identify the reasons for doing such a thing. It has been done many times before and has been well documented in print and film. Am I doing it for ego or to escape the rat race? Is the pull stronger than the push? I still haven’t found the answer or the motivation yet.

What I have done though is committed to a second bike. Or perhaps it is the first bike as the DRZ is not in my possession yet? Anyway I have been selling bits and bobs on ebay in order to raise some cash for a road trip across Europe in just over a week. I had a projector screen I wanted to get rid of. It was surplus to requirements and in the end it was just annoying me due to the space it was taking up. So I sold it to a guy who ran an Air Cadet Squadron. “Great”, I thought, I used to be a cadet so I felt I was giving something back. I met the guy and did the deal and we had a coffee and a chat. As we parted he said you could do worse than have an R1100GS or perhaps an R850GS if you can find one.

I didn’t think much of it until later when I did a quick search on Google. I find a thread on a blog that is advertising the rarer 850. Not only that but it belongs to a friend and he’s been trying to sell it since October last year! NO WAY! So I make a few enquiries, pull a few strings and before I know it I have laid claim to another GS. I can tell you now I don’t have the money for it yet and I won’t borrow the money. Thankfully my friend is not in a hurry and all being well the hand over will be at the Horizons Unlimited event in May.

It’s funny how things work out. All I need to do now is work like a madman, somewhere, anywhere, anyhow.

I decided to leave Lindsay and Delilah to do their own thing today as I’m sure they wanted to plan the next leg of the route, blog a little, have some rest etc. I had a chat with my friend Greg who is currently playing doctor to his girlfriend who has just come out of hospital after a gall bladder operation.

We met at the “shed”. Not in the British sense of a wooden structure at the end of a garden but a workshop full of manly, sharp and dangerous tools . Without burdening him too much I needed some of his skills in order to bash a few things into place after yesterdays spill. He also kindly made my muffler a bit more legal after initially making it sound very illegal LOL

With some flat black paint he also restored the bike back to it’s stealthy origins. So I have a lot to thank Greg for. He’s a good guy.

After some bashing, spraying and welding we got down to the important stuff of helping Lindsay and Delilah decide on where would be a good next stop before nightfall. Naturally all this planning was done on the saddle of an original XT500.

I rode with them out of town and had intended to ride with them to the lakes but my recent ailments and the increasingly persistent rain were telling me to save it for another day and head home. So with a wave and a thumbs up I bid farewell to these intrepid adventurers as they traversed Austria en route to Italy and ultimately Africa.

Tomorrow or should I say today some friends of mine arrive from the Czech Republic. They are a 3 strong team but only two of them have set off in advance of the third who is sorting out visas back in the UK.

They are part of the 2010 London to Cape Town team. Riding two F800GS’s and one F650GS the length of Europe and Africa. When I heard they were in Berlin and in no real hurry to reach the port in Italy I thought it would be good to arrange a meeting. Berlin and Prague are almost exactly due North of my current location, so plans were made at the beginning of the week for a rendezvous.

They took this photo in Český Krumlov which is a very beautiful Bohemian town just a few clicks north of the Czech/Austrian border.

Český Krumlov is a UNESCO world heritage site and really worth a visit if you are in the area.

The last time I met Lindsay,  Delilah and Andre was back in April when I had to give my 800 back. Back then I got to see the plans for their trip which were inspiring. They are also doing the trip in aid of charity. Links to follow after the jump.

The planned route through Africa

doppelgänger’s

When in London they laid on a fantastic South African Brai (BBQ)

These are good guys.

You can follow them on:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/uk2za

Twitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/uk2za

Blog: http://uk2za2010.blogspot.com

I’ll post some new photos tomorrow. Not sure of the plans as yet if I will join them for a ride or they will stay put. They only have an hours ride tomorrow which is not enough in anyones book.

For those that are thinking whaaaat? How come everywherevirtually has stickers on the Russian/Mongolian border sign first let me explain. I would like to say yes I put them there, but sadly no. Well not yet anyway. My friend, fellow adventurer and motorcycling doppelgänger Simon Johnston from www.awayfromhere.org fame placed them there on his recent trip to Mongolia and the Altai region of Russia.

I had originally donated them so that he could pass them onto two friends in Russia but the plans changed as did the route and he did the next best thing. Stick them on a magnificent landmark in the middle of nowhere. Should I find the time, money and wherewithal to get out there myself I shall look forward to being reunited with these stickers. I won’t say “one day” as those words are often spoken by people that have no intention of doing what they say and stare into open space and say “oneeee daaaaay”

So thats the story.

It's tough being an adventure motorcyclist

Sibirsky Extreme 2010 is underway. I have known for some time that it was going ahead in July when I met Walter in the UK last month at the Horizons Unlimited event. His bike had been upgraded in many areas from his original suppliers.

It's tough being an adventure motorcyclist

Who is corrupting whom?

I had also learned that Sherri Jo Wilkins would be joining Walter on the road West from Magadan to Yakutsk on her KTM.

Sherri Jo Wilkins enjoying Russian hospitality

Ian at Gatley signs was producing T-shirts and stickers while I gave the Sibirsky Extreme website a spring clean and setup a Facebook fan group last week.

At the same time I am receiving text messages from Simon Johnston in Mongolia with content to update the blog. Simon’s main objective was Mongolia and perhaps lake Baikal. While he is the captain of his own destiny it could make for a nice meeting if both the Sibirsky Extreme project 2010 and awayfromhere.org could meet Bolot Bochkarev in Yakutsk. For those that do not know Bolot is a journalist and the main man when it comes to networking with adventurer’s of all kinds passing through Siberia.

I wish them all well and look forward to the coming weeks adventures.

As we trip into the wee small hours of the morning I remembered that I should log two highlights that happened to me yesterday. The first being the arrival of Austin Vince & Lois Pryce’s DVD.

As the embryonic components of a hack are beginning to take shape in a secret Austrian garage I have to say this is a very welcome and timely arrival. I saw Austin last week and he gave me the jewel case of the DVD as the actual DVD’s had not arrived from the guy putting them together. Myself and others wrote our addresses out on sticky labels and so as of today I was reunited with my label and a shiny shiny new adventure DVD.

The second momentous event was that of Si Johnston calling me on Skype from Volgograd. I was beginning to wonder if he would ever make it to Russia as the Ukrainian cops were bleeding him dry. I wondered if it had put him off the Ukraine but what at the beginning was a negative had turned into a positive namely because of the generosity and friendliness of the people he had met.

A few weeks back at the Horizons Unlimited event in Derbyshire I said to a friend of mine if he was ever in Austria to give me a shout and we’d meet up, sample the local cuisine and have a ride around the lakes and mountains to the South West of Linz. I’d met Paddy on a few occasions through the UKGSer forum and in person because I’d sold a few bits from my F800GS.

Little did I think he was only 12 hours behind me on the road. On the Thursday after my arrival I picked up my girlfriend from a meeting she was having with colleagues. I had no clue as I made my way from Leonding towards the Danube that my buddy Paddy was wild camping on the opposite bank.

That night I received an urgent message from another forum member telling me that Paddy didn’t have my mobile number and could I get in touch.

The next day we met up at 8am and headed into Linz for some breakfast at a favourite cafe of mine. We were tempted to swap our bikes for something more suitable around town.

After filling up with some gas we headed down to the lakes around Gmunden and Ebensee

The weather was hot at around 28c, sunny and being a weekday the roads were empty. It was perfect biking weather. All the better for having a biking buddy along to share the experience. Austria is a special place to ride and I never grow tired of it.

Paddy had a Helmet cam so when he gets back to blighty and uploads it to YouTube I’ll post it on here.

Before I write another thing I would like to thank Grant & Susan Johnson and Chris Colling & Dave Lomax at adventure-Spec for making my attendance possible this year. Without them it would not have happened.

the 2010 10th anniversary event was much bigger than previous years. As I rode up the driveway to Lumb Farm I said to myself “Oh Wow”. They had pulled out all the stops. There were more vendors, more bikes, biggest tents, a video screen. It was all together an impressive event.

The campfire was blazing, the road kill cookout was in full swing but most importantly the people made the event special. Old faces, new faces, adventurers to be and adventurers with many years and locations under their belts.

In addition to the great setup the weather was perfect. It was consistently warm and sunny for the entire event. 28C and wall to wall sunshine. You could not have asked for better.

Attendees included Austin Vince and Lois Pryce, Jenny Furneaux, Simon Gandolfi, Walter Colebatch, Jenny Morgen, Peter & Kay Forward and many many more that can be found here

This year I was of course without my F800GS and arrived on my 1994 CB500. I guessed I would be the only attendee on a CB500 but by some strange quirk of the universe two guys arrived on loaded up CB500′s. Not only that but they plan to ride around the world over 80 months on these machines. I was heartened by their story and impressed at their low tech approach to luggage and increasing comfort. They were good guys, with a good sense of humour and I reckon they will go far and I personally will be looking forward to reading their story.

To find more photos of the event have a look here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/everywherevirtually/sets/72157624238859917/with/4736800180/

Or click on the gallery above.

www.awayfromhere.org

I had the pleasure of meeting up with Si Johnston yesterday. He had embarked from Northern Ireland early on in the day, Coleraine to be exact with the today’s destination being Cambridge but ultimately he is headed for Mongolia. That’s quite a ride by anybody’s standards and he had a deadline to meet. The start of the England vs USA World Cup match at 19:30.

I met him at the Windmill pub just off the M6 near Knutsford. A suitable venue I felt considering its geographic position and the fact it is where most GS riders meet once a month. He made some amazing progress but he was late for Cambridge before he even set off. I wanted to escort him on a scenic route through the Peak District but that had to be curtailed due to the time constraints. My thinking was that if we did some of the route he could then cut across to the M1 and then onwards to Cambridge.

After a quick fuel stop we were off. We took the A537 from Knutsford to the Cat & Fiddle pub and up the renowned twisty road that takes on its name. Normally associated with speeding, sports bikes ploughing the fields and putting holes in dry stone walls it is also a very pleasant and scenic ride on a blue sky day which it was today.

We carried on down into Buxton and from there took the A515 Ashbourne road. It’s a fast Roman road with great views of the Derbyshire countryside. By this time it was 6pm and Si had to be in Cambridge for 19:30. I knew he had to blast off so I filmed him jet off near Eaton & Alsop. (video to follow)

View Larger Map

I decided to take the scenic route through Biggin, Longor, Hartington Nether Quarter (sounds rude), Hartington Middle Quarter, Earl Sterndale, Crowdicote, Longnor and then home.

www.awayfromhere.org