Ulan Ude to Vlad Day 4 Roads suddenly improve some dirt but only in road works the rest is brand new tarmac hardly used. I get a video of "Ze Count" doing the ton BACKWARDS down the first set of good tarmac, beat that Dom Hah!. It's also getting warmer and the mosquitoes and midges are in serious attack mode you can't stop without using your head net and don't dare take off your gloves, my head, arms and hands all have bites to say nothing about my b...

Ulan Ude to Vlad Day 3 The morning ride is very difficult on dirt road all the way and riding in heavy mist. The mist is so bad it condenses immediately on our visors so we have to run with them open, leaving eyes exposed to grit and insects, nasty! It's been raining too so there's plenty of muddy sections, luckily the sun comes out in the afternoon so all is transformed, plenty of fast good quality dirt - even I enjoy it until I get my second puncture, same a...

Ulan Ude to Vlad Day 2 On the road again the first main dirt sections today several in the region of 20 kilometres long, there are not particularly difficult although some mud and deep gravel. For the first time you get a feeling for how wild this place is when you get a view of the surroundings there is nothing there except pine forest stretching off into the distance. It's reminiscent of Canada but with a sharp edge, no RVs, no comfy hotels or cafes in fact ...

Ulan Ude to Vlad Day 1 A few quiet riders this morning! Ah well off to Vlad should take about 6 days of wild camping running along the Russian side of the Chinese border.Pretty quiet but long day on tarmac to the first wild camp, to be honest a bit boring, on the good side Kev and his bike are ok although of course his confidence is a little dented. Hit some small dirt sections but only really the odd roadwork. The camp site was in a field along side some stan...

Ulan Ude rest day Luckily for Kev today's a rest day so he's set about trying to get the bike fixed. Unbelievably he's managed to find an alloy welder - an alloy wheel repair company, a good tip for the future. The weld looks fine so they've replaced the engine casing, and fired it up everything looks ok. He's a lucky guy. Spent the rest of the day wandering round Ulan good spot found an Internet Café that had reasonable access and spent a couple of hours upl...