Everywhere Virtually

The Sibirsky Extreme Project was finally under way. Walter had made his way from London to Ystradgynlais on the Friday afternoon but due to work commitments I had to leave early on the Saturday.

Well I finally got under way and left Cheshire at 6am. I rode west and then took the A49 south towards Shropshire and beyond. I had put a predetermined route into the sat nav and enjoyed the twisties all the way down to Touratech. It was a day of sunshine and showers and generally very enjoyable riding weather with the odd rainbow thrown in. I arrived just before lunch and the usual suspects were there. Friends from UKgser, people I’d met at last years event and the staff at Touratech.

I got the camcorder and camera setup for Walters talk on the Sibirsky Extreme project. I had intended to do one of the Touratech off road rides but I arrived a bit late and had other duties to perform. By mid afternoon something had dawned on me. I had unknowingly made a sacrificial offering to the road gods… Somewhere between Cheshire and Ystradgynlais I had lost a bag. It was a dry bag on top of my right pannier. It had my tarp, one man tent and my Andystrapz in it. Not expensive kit but a pain in the arse nonetheless. I was hell bent on travelling light and so this meant I would have to go home and get my big tent (home being 200 miles north) I could have purchased a cheap tent but I had other things to sort out.

Because we have taken on the Sibirsky Extreme Project we have automatically become more manly, more attractive to the opposite sex, capable of amazing feats of endurance and able to withstand the extremes that mother nature can throw at us… So after a fine evenings entertainment from legendary raconteur and local man of mystery Austin Vince we stepped into the sub zero temperatures of Ystradgynlais took a deep breath and decided, “bollox to it we’ll stay inside for the night”.

Austin had also managed to gain access to Fortress Touratech for the evening. If you’ve never slept amongst a boozed up bunch of middle aged men farting and grunting their way through the night I can assure you its not a pleasant thing! Austin was up at 5am and had nipped out for a ciggy. Trouble was Touratech has self locking doors so my first sight of the morning is of Austin banging on the door in his undies trying to get back in. It was -3c in South Wales that morning and I’m not sure how long he’d been out there but he was very grateful that I had stirred and let him back in.

After a very tasty breakfast and some tea we were ready for the off. The cameras were rolling and with Billy (www.biketruck.com) and Austin on the mic it was the finest send off anyone could ask for. It was a great feeling and something that doesn’t happen every day.

Les Wassell from www.HID50.com joined us on the ride out and he accompanied me all the way back to Cheshire. We stopped to have a brief chat with Walter and I said I’d see him tomorrow morning. I have this thing about photographing funny signs on my travels and South Wales didn’t disappoint!

As Walter forged on alone to London myself and Les found found an even more appropriate sign. Walter reckoned that his ancestors originated here so we slapped on the Sibirsky sign of approval.

So the first day ended with Myself and Walter at opposite ends of the country because with all best laid plans they often change. Walter needed some documents from a storage unit and I needed some promotional material that I’d also forgotten. It was a good opportunity to test the gear, the bikes and our setup and I certainly benefited from reworking my setup.

Some old friends in the crowd	Ready to part company
Surely not us :)	Myself and Les