Magadan Motorcycle Adventure Episode 2

Motorcycle Adventure Dirt Bike TV is proudly supported by Adventure Spec in England, Rally Raid Products, Giant Loop in the United States and Adventure Moto in Australia. The city of Nizhny Tagil has a long history of iron ore production that goes back to 1696. It was one of the centres of Russian industrialisation and is the largest main battle tank manufacturer in the world. The very modern T-72 and T-90 tanks are produced here but Renard has taken me to the tank museum for a different reason. He used to drive a T-34 and he wanted to get reacquainted with his old friend. The first challenge is getting into the thing. The T-34 was regarded as a very effective design, highly manoeuvrable, heavy firepower and difficult to stop. Despite the T-34 being his old friend, Renard couldn't help but take a closer look at the mighty T-72. For the next couple of days we were punching out close to 1000km per day. And if you've got to do big kilometres on the blacktop, there's nothing better than having the slowly setting sun on your back. But once that sun goes down, Russia has a nasty surprise. One of the challenges of riding in Russia is mosquitoes and insects. The evening or twilight here goes for hours and hours and hours and the mosquitoes just smash you. Get a load of this. If the bugs would let us, we were heading to the stunning city of Tobolsk, a very special place for Russians, as it is considered the historic capital of Siberia. Its history stretches back to the 1500s, a rich city fuelled by activity of merchants who used the confluence of two large rivers to ply their trade. It is one of the few cities in Russia which has a standing stone Kremlin, a 17th century stone walled fortress that surrounds the majestic Cathedral of Saint Sophia, built in the 16th century, as well as many other palatial buildings. This Kremlin is spectacularly set on a high riverbank. In 1917, Tsar Nicholas II and his family, the last royal family of Russia, were taken to this residence, where they stayed until the spring of 1918, when they were moved further west by the Bolsheviks, and later executed. Back on the road and heading to the Altai Mountains, but first we have to deal with the Stans, that huge flat grassland that seemingly goes on forever. We had dropped south east from the city of Muzhny Tagil, the Kazakhstan border was now just a couple of kilometres to our right. It's so bloody hot. Like in the desert. Like in the desert, yes I agree with that. Finally, after riding those flat, bloody Stans for days, the Altai Mountains were in sight. Soon it would be time to up the tempo and get into the twisty black top and flowing gravel trails, and take in some mountain views. We're not in Russia, we're in Austria or Europe somewhere. This is crazy. Beautiful. As we left this stunning lake village, Renat did a really bad thing that drove me nuts for the rest of the trip. He introduced me to this tune that I just couldn't get out of my head. 150 kilometres out of Irkutsk. I was close. Our next goal was to ride around the base of Lake Baikal and up its eastern side. Lake Baikal, the largest lake in the world, and we're going to spend the next couple of hundred kilometres running along its eastern coast. Hello David, from Australia. That's New Zealand, right? No, I'm Australian, not New Zealand. Where are you from? I am from Slovenia. Slovenia? You're riding a Russian bike? Yes. I stole it. This song is shit, but the locals like it. They say I'm talented and I should be famous. The crowd is already at the entrance to the Beaver Cafe. Everyone is waiting for me. Everyone is cheering for me. The owner of the Beaver Cafe is happy. The money is flowing like a river. He fired the sissy singer. He gave me a raise. He says, only Vasya sings. Vasya sings. We started selling my song on Ringtones. People come to the concerts in their carriages. Magadan sounds over the Black Sea coast. I really got up. I'm a real guy. I'm going to Magadan. To Magadan. To our table again. Magadan. I couldn't say it was the sandiest beach I've been on. From the map, it doesn't look much in the vast Russian landscape. But it is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world. And contains roughly 20% of the world's unfrozen water. It also holds other records. World's deepest lake at 5400 feet. And the world's oldest lake at 25 million years. I'll show you how that's done in a minute. Back on the bikes. While I get down to editing the next episode of the Russian Magadan motorcycle adventure. Here are a couple of links to other adventures that will get you revved up. And motivated to get on that bike and go for it. And remember, the world isn't half as scary as the nightly news would have you believe.