Trans-Siberian Hwy - Tayshet to Tulun
 

Back story is that my husband and I were on a motorcycle trip from Inagh (in the West of Ireland) to China, when I took an awkward tumble on a gravel road in Western Russia and broke my left fibula. I flew home from Moscow and John is continuing the ride.

The leg was re-xrayed when I got home and doc gave me an orthopaedic boot, rather than a plaster and I'm healing up fast. The plan is to go back and collect my bike in Moscow in July and ride out to meet John in Ulanbaatar and ride home with him. Risky, I know, but my understanding is that the Trans-Siberian Hwy and the main road from Ulan Ude to Ulanbaatar is tarmac ...

However, I'm looking at the Reise map for Central and Eastern Russia and I'm concerned about stretch between Tayshet and Tulun (west of Irkutsk). Looks as if it may be unsurfaced? Can anyone confirm road condition?

2 years ago it was all paved.

Except at the parts with roadwork.

Actually:

the whole street from Moskau over Ufa, Omsk to Irkutsk and Ulaan Baatar you can drive with a Harley....

As Klaus says, the road is paved. Road conditions vary between excellent and decent with large potholes thrown in on a regular basis, other than sometimes rather lengthy construction zones, were the you're detoured offroad through gravel/dirt. Just keep your wits about you and you should be fine.

If you'll be by yourself, you might consider spending most nights in the cities along the way rather than wild camping or staying in the seedy truck stops along the way. 99% of the Russians you'll encounter will be incredibly helpful and nice, but in my experience you're more likely to encounter the other 1% (usually drunk, with a couple of drunk friends) in the little villages and truck stops.

It's also possible to ship via train or truck from Moscow to Ulan Ude, which you might consider; frankly the ride from Moscow to there is rather tedious.

Thanks both. That's very reassuring.

Yeah, 6,000+ miles is a long hawl, to be sure. I did wonder about the train, but I understand the prices are much higher from West to East, owing to the large amount of freight travelling in that direction. Also, trains are fairly slow and I think I just might go a little mad cooped up for days and days in a rail car.

I tried to break the journey down as far as possible into 400km legs, adjusting where necessary for decent overnight accommodation. My first rough draft looks like this:

Moscow - 0km
Nizhniy Novgorod - 417
Kazan - 396
Naberezhnye Chelny - 236
Yuryuzan - 490
Kurgan - 516
Omsk - 654
Kuybyshev - 362
Novosibirsk - 329
Achinsk - 626
Kansk - 389
Tulun - 431
Irkutsk - 404
Ulan-Ude - 458
Khyagt, Mongolia border - 236
Ulanbaatar - 354

Any comments as to suitability or better suggestions greatly appreciated.

You don't have to ride on the train with the bike, you could put the bike on a train, spend several enjoyable days in Moscow, and then fly to Ulan Ude.

I guess it depends on how much you like to ride, but some of your legs look rather short to me. For instance, Ulan Ude-Ulan Bataar is doable in one (long) day, and if you want to break it into two days you might be better off staying in Darkhan.

Also, you're missing some rather nice cities along the way; you can ride:
-Moscow
-Nizhny Novgorod (nice)
-Kazan (nice)
-Ekaterinburg (nice)
-Tyumen (meh)
-Omsk (nice)
-Krasnoyarsk (nice)
-Tulun (bleh)
-Irkutsk (nice)
-Ulan-Ude (nice)

in nine days, or take a day in some of the cities if you want a break. It will be light until very late, so you can cover serious miles per day even at a leisurely pace as long as you don't mind long hours in the saddle. The one downside to staying in cities is that sometimes you can pull in right at evening rush hour, which is kind of a pain, but not too bad in most cities.

Thanks again. Yes, I do realise that Ulan Ude to Ulanbaatar in two hops might look a bit mad, but I wasn't sure how long to allow for the border crossing. I've heard odd reports of people getting stuck there for hours.

I've plumbed your route into Google Maps (keep meaning to load up the street maps for Basecamp, but Google will do for planning purposes) and it looks good. I'm being cautious about leg lengths, as I'll be on my own with a newly healed leg, and my priority is to arrive in Ulanbaatar on schedule to meet up with my husband. We are both perfectly used to riding very long days in Western Europe - so I may well be able to push on a bit, but I'm being a bit wary of unknown road conditions from my sick bed here in the UK.

On the other hand, since we won't be riding back across Mongolia, if there are nice cities that I've missed on the way out, we can always visit them together on the way home. :biggrin:

I think the only people that get stuck at the Mongol border for hours are the mongol rally people, who have issues that you won't (ie, they are leaving their vehicles there).

But also note that at least some of the boder crossing into Mongolia are closed on weekends--so either triple check about the khyakta crossing or arrive during the week. IIRC when I looked at this issue a few years ago, that border point is open on weekends, but I'm not 100% sure.

One other thing: I can't really recommend hotels in most of the cities along the way, but in Ulan Ude I highly recommend the Baikal Plaza, where I've stayed several times. It is in the center, just across from the giant Lenin head, near a nice square and pedestrian zone, and a few minutes walk from Bochka, a decent restaurant with a big outdoor terrace. Ulan Ude is a surprisingly nice city, enjoy!