Day 1
3.8.2018 Kuopio-Värtsilä-Vytegra 730km, 12h
First on the video is the arrival to the FIN-RU border. Then riding on the 40 km long roadwork. Mainly the road is new asphalt but every now and then there is gravel sections. Sometimes (0:21) there is actually some work ongoing. Road next to lake Ladoga (0:57) was nice, though there was some more used roads (1:15) as well. Mika tells (1:47, in finnish) how the day has been so far. Worse roads (2:52) before reaching the hotel (3:58).
Day 2
4.8.2018 Vytegra-Vologda-Sharya 780km, 10h
First you can see the hotel yard and ride through the town. Roads were good and we got well into speed. However, we had to fill from the canisters (0:54) to make it to the gas station. There were several roadworks (1:18), but they did not slow us down much. In Vologda there were many kinds of vehicles on the road (1:50) and finding place for lunch was not too easy (2:01, in finnish). On the latter part of the video (2:39) there is many kinds of roads and some villages (2:57, 3:38). After rain (3:50) we refueled the bikes on a very weird gas station (that was not allowed to take photos) and to return to main road we had to take a tunnel (4:00). Daily distances were ambitious and we kept the speeds up regardless of the road conditions (4:16). No wonder the bikes had hard time…
Day 3
5.8.2018 Sharya-Kirov-Perm 780km, 10h
First ride past Kirov and right after that some feelings of the rainy weather (0:12). Sun did shine some times and the road was good. Sometimes it is hard to find your place in the traffic (1:32). In Perm the bridge had 6 lanes (2:03). Arrival to the city (2:22), it seems a lot smaller than it actually is.
Day 4
6.8.2018: Perm-Yekaterinburg-Tyumen 700km, 8,5h
Easily out of the city and soon started 6-lane motorway. Then we got filmed by the traffic cameras (1:02). In the morning it was a bit of traffic but that caused us no problems. Arrival (2:20) to the border of Europe and Asia was done adventure style offroad 🙂
After passing by the border of the continents again (4:13) we continued on good quality motorway. Naturally there were some villages on the way. During the trip we crossed railways many times and even though the queues were very long sometimes, we did not need to wait much (4:46). We arrived to Tyumen (6:08) on good roads.
Day 5
7.8.2018 Tyumen-Omsk-Tatarsk 830km, 10h
Fast exit from the city and to fast roads. There was plenty of fields (0:53) and in the middle of nowhere a 10km stretch of motorway (1:10). We reached a russian motorcyclist on a roadwork and rode with him for a while. Quite a good speed he had…
Quite often we saw dead birch trees standing by the roads, quite weird (2:22). On the villages the cows are free to move as they like (2:32). Arrival to Tatarsk and to hotel (3:24), the hotel was not easy to find…
Day 6
8.8.2018 Tatarsk-(Novosibirsk-)Barnaul 700km, 10h
Depart from the hotel and Sami’s comments. Roads were good and we made good progress even though Novosibirsk (1:21) did slow us down a bit. There is always room for 2-wheeler (1:46) in normal russian traffic. In novosibirsk we rode over a big dam (2:15). Sometimes the roads were straight for long distance and sometimes we had to use the side of the road to pass the queues. Arrived to Barnaul over a bridge with great view to the city (3:29), then rode through the city. The road seemed a bit sketchy in the end but we found the right place (5:27).
Day 7
9.8.2018 Barnaul 0km
We spent the day with Evgenia, Seryoga and Denis touring in the city and and even took a try on a roller coaster.
Day 8
10.8.2018 Barnaul-Katyn-Aktach 600km, 12h
We started from Seryogas and Evgenias place guided by Seryoga through the city avoiding morning traffic. Soon after leaving Barnaul behind us the scenery starts to become more mountaneous and then we reach two Russian couples with fully loaded bikes (0:36). We had lunch next to a river on a smaller road (1:01). Soon after lunch we faced some technical problems (interview, in Finnish, 1:29). During the trip we met horses many times by the road (3:47). Sometimes we climbed the mountains and then came down (4:04). When the sceneries became stunning we took a break (interview, in Finnish, 4:57). The roads from Barnaul all the way to Mongolian border are excellent but we took some detours and then we had to lower the speeds a bit (5:47 and 6:24). Some parts (7:47) are quite exiting and neither of us would ride on the edge (8:05). The sceneries on our way to Aktach were amazing, it seems impossible to capture how great they are. Nice feeling to ride between a river and a mountain (8:40).
Day 9
11.8.2018 Aktach-Teletskoye-Aktach 360km, 11,5h
The mountains and gravel road was only few minutes away through the village. Almost right away we rode through the Red Gate (0:19). Sometimes there was a bit of tarmac but most of the day was gravel and sand. Samis bikes footpeg needed some roadside fixing since the pin had fallen off (1:01). On the way to lake Teletskoye there are some small villages (1:12). Mikas bag fell off and needed to be reattached to the bike (1:19). We took a offroad trail (3:08) to a picturesque spot to take some photos. To reach Katun valley you need to descent 1,5 kilometers on a gravel/sand serpentine road (3:24). Not everyone was able to make it back up without some help (4:42). In the valley the road was next to the river and the road had many kinds of ruts and bumps and rocks (5:07) Sometimes road is a wide creature (6:00) and sometimes the soft sand can be a bit challenging (6:25). We did couple of watercrossings during the day (6:50 and 7:56). After lunch Sami gives an update about the day so far (interview in Finnish 7:03). On the videos from the way back (7:48) you can see that Mikas bikes ”nose” is somehow loose and not long after we had to do some temporary fixes to it (interview in Finnish 8:54) on great scenery. Going upwards was a bit easier (9:51) than going downwards on steep serpentine road. We were forced to take a bit longer break on our way back, Sami explaining why (in Finnish 10:28), you can see from his face that it has been a tough day already. The final stretch was ridden in the darkness, luckily we have proper lights on the bikes (12:27).
Day 10
12.8.2018 Aktach-Mongolian border-Aktach 400km, 6h
Before starting the riding, we had to do some maintenance to Samis bike (interview in Finnish). The road to Mongolian border crossing (0:54) was good paved road passing through some villages and with some very long straights (1:26) in open landscape. We had to turn around at the border (interview in Finnish, 2:01). On the way back we met a herd of sheeps (2:58). We visited Altai Mars, with great gravel/sand road from main highway (3:10). Back to hihgway Mika (3:40) and Sami (4:05) riding on the nice road. The main highway is in very good condition and also has some nice curves (5:09).
Day 11
13.8.2018 Aktach-Krasnoshchekovo 600km, 11h
After the roadworks in the beginning, we got to ride on great roads until lunch and then moved to quite a bit worse roads (1:41). Today we also managed to film some sunflower fields (2:38). Then we had to do some fixes to Mikas sidecase attachments (Interview in Finnish, poor audio, 3:40). In the evening we enjoyed the greatest sunset (6:07). Feelings from the days destination, whatever place that was (interview in Finnish, 6:25).
Day 12
14.8.2018 Krasnoshchekovo-Cemey 300km, 5,5h
The day started on good roads in open landscape and we stopped in Rubtsovsk (0:26) where it was easy to see that Mikas bikes rear shock absorber was not working properly anymore (1:06). We reached Kazakhstan border that could be easily missed (1:15). The roads in Kazakhstan were not so much different compared to Russia (1:28). In Cemey we followed Tolik to a motorcycle shop (1:49) and then Sergey (2:15) to his carage to start repairing Mikas bike (2:37).
Day 13
15.8.2018 Cemey 0km, 0h
Video consists of Mikas update of the maintenance day (interview in Finnish).
Day 14
16.8.2018 Cemey-Astana 650km, 14h
We started the day following Sergey to Chagan ghost town that is a really sad sight (0:39). Inside the buildings is no better (1:08). Someone lives here anyways (1:32). The road to abandoned airport was made of concrete blocks (1:49) and we also checked one of the kerosine bunkers (2:26). High-fives on the way back from airport (2:47). We visited Kurchatov (2:56), formerly the city of nuclear scientists. From there, after the railroad, starts the completely straight, concrete-block road to nuclear test site (3:35). Mikas sidepannier fell off again and was attached with zip ties (4:01) so we rode to Astana instead of the nuclear test site. Sometimes the pavement ended suddenly (5:07) and sometimes the trail on the side of the road was better than the actual road (5:24). The landscape was simple and flat with long straight roads (5:38). We refueled the bikes local style (6:06). Wearing rain suits is always fun (6:57)! Also today we got to enjoy sunset (7:07) and arrived to Astana in the dusk (7:39).
Day 15
17.8.2018 Astana-Kostanay 700km, 9h
Astana seemed quite modern also on daylight. Sami almost hit a car on traffic lights and we lifted the bike up together (0:42). Leaving the city we saw traffic control station with first the signs and then later the actual control-point building (1:06). Day was full of alike straight roads with all the ”dangerous” curves properly marked with signs (2:03). There were huge grain silos every 10kms or so (2:28). Good roads led us to Kostanay (2:55).
Day 16
18.8.2018 Kostanay-Ufa 690km, 11h
From Kostanay it was short ride to the border. There we had some issues with migration cards (interview in Finnish, 0:23). On the Russian side the landscape became lusher (2:14). Roads were good and there were some typical villages on the way (2:24, 2:55). During the day we faced quite a bit of roadworks and managed to pass them nicely (3:21). Mikas bikes shock absorber still is not in good shape (3:35). Sometimes we rode high up in the mountains and had nice views even though the video does not show that (4:05). There was quite a bit traffic (4:33) and sometimes it was impossible to overtake (4:47). In Ufa there was not that much traffic, however we did not ride in the very center of the city (5:10).
Day 17
19.8.2018 Ufa-Cheboksary 690km, 8,5h
The exit from the city was smooth and soon the road changed to a bit smaller (0:32). There were many roadworks in different stages and saw some weird buildings (1:26). We were given room for overtakes very nicely also today (2:47), but the locals have some to learn still . This was the last time we saw this Russian biker (3:15). Sometimes there was so much traffic that overtaking was impossible (3:59). Also on the city area we used the side of the road for our benefit (4:17). We arrived quite early today, it was still daytime (4:44).
Day 18
20.8.2018 Cheboksary-Moscow 685km, 10h
The road from the hotel was a bit odd but soon we were on proper roads. Quite a lot of roadworks also today but not much disturbance for us (0:51). Sometimes also cars used the side of the road (2:41). We had to even use the left side of the road in some cases (2:50). The day was basically overtake after overtake until we got closer to Moscow and to the circle road (3:40). All went well and we passed the queues nicely (4:18), even though we had to let the local bikers pass us sometimes. Even changing lanes went well regardless of the fact that Mikas bikes signals are not working (4:40). There was quite a lot of traffic but it was smooth still (4:52).
Day 19
21.8.2018 Moscow 0km, 0h
Warning, this video does not contain motorcycling!
Lot of this video was recorded the night before, first through taxi window around amazing buildings. We are on one of the corners of Kreml, the red towers are of Kreml (1:26). Local bikers might exceed the speed limit of 40 km/h slightly… River moscow (2:04) views. St. Vasili cathedral (2:30) and historical museum next to Red Square and Kreml (2:48). Shopping mall Gum with lot of lights. The museum again (3:10), next to it Kazan cathedral. Shopping mall dedicated to children (3:40) and active traffic spot. Bolshoi-theatre on daylight.
Day 20
22.8.2018 Moskow-St. Petersburg 700km, 9h
We got out of Moscow city center quickly and soon we were on the toll roads (0:39). The riding was fast and there was not much to see on the trip. We arrived to St. Petersburg quite early (2:01).
Day 21
23.8.2018 St Peterburg-Imatra-Kuopio 430km, 10h
Exiting St. Petersburg took a bit of effort and time but quite smoothly we got to faster roads (2:07). The road quality was good and we were given space nicely, even the local police let us overtake easily (3:06). In Finland we enjoyed curvy roads both dry and with rain (3:49), and some bigger roads as well (5:17). Last part was motorway (6:11) before the local streets near home (6:21).
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