Here's an extract from an email I just sent to a few friends. I'll post again (with a few photo's) tomorrow when we move into some accomodation.

"...At 2200 yesterday (Thursday 08/08) we (Pete, Ivan, Yevgenny and I) finally rolled into Magadan after 9 days bushcamping from Yakutsk and promptly camped again.
We encountered the M56 Kolyma Highway closed in seven different places, camped at three of them and waited three days for the Aldan River ferry after crossings were suspended due to the road closures. At the he final closure (25km east of Aldan) we met young Yevgenny, Old Yevgenny and Ivan; all riding to Magadan.
Whilst we waited for 30 trucks to be dispatched from a quarry 200km away to fill the hole in the road and for a bulldozer to work through the night to repair the road, Pete and I were interviewed for the Russian TV channel News 24 who'd sent a crew to the area to cover the unprecedented rain/flooding/road closures.

From approx 50km west of Khandyga the land on either side of the road ranges from waterlogged to flooded. The road is acting as a dam that in places has failed. At the second washout a Nissan 4x4 had been abandoned in water up to the windscreen. Three of the closures were unfordable by Kamaz/Ural trucks.

Ust-Kut issued a flood warning to its population for August 2-4th in which the people were told to keep their documents and children safe. It was clear that the road had been a real mess shortly before our arrival.

Old Summer Road - Unless water levels reduce significantly over the next two weeks I'd be presently surprised if anyone rides it this year. In Khandyga we met two Russians who'd ridden from Magadan and told us the OSR was impossible. In Ust-Kut we met a Spanish cyclist who told us the same. I had a look at the track behind the gas station at the west end of the OSR and found the water began approx 400m from the GPS marked crossing point (I'll post the photo on the HUBB thread asap)..."

For me the Old Summer Road IS the 'Road of Bones'. After 6 years of dreaming about it and 2 years of planning it was a major disappointment to pass it by.

More tomorrow...

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ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

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Adam, as Ust Kut is about 3000 km away from where you are, I am assuming you are referring to Ust Nera

Thanks for update and congrats for getting to Magadan.

Its not meant to be easy

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You are of course right Walter, I did indeed mean Ust Nera...

LOL...As usual it was the delays that made the journey. Without them we wouldn't have met, ridden and camped with old Yevgenny, young Yevgenny and Vladimir (great guys). Nor would we have met Maxim & Natasha who so kindly accommodated us for a night in Magadan whilst we waited for an apartment to become available.
Without them it would have been a pretty dull ride.

Old Summer Road...

As promised, here's a photo looking along the track behind the gas station at the western end of the OSR. Looking at the GPS I'd guestimate it was taken 400m away from the marked crossing point. Having never been there before I have nothing to reference it to. Does it look like excessive water or were we just pussies...???



This is the new bridge across the Kyubeme River, upstream from the 1st photo.



Sunshine was in short supply between Tynda and Magadan. We had two glorious days sitting on the bank of the Aldan River waiting for the ferry then an hour in Ust-NERA and that was it until our final day into Magadan.
Having not ridden the OSR and with the sun finally shining we consoled ourselves by visiting Dneprovski Gulag. What a great ride that was (even if Vlad did drown his bike in one of the puddles!)

It was how I imagine the OSR to be...

Here's a couple of photos...

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ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

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Looking at the pic of the new bridge pylon, it looks uncrossable. The water is filthy ... its normally crystal clear / deep blue when running at normal speeds and depths.

As mentioned in an earlier post, that bridge is meant to be finished by October next year.

The gulag track is something like the OSR ... the OSR being 420 km long has a lot of variety ... the first 160 km to Tomtor is not bad at all. Nothing like the Federal road, but still its maintained as its the only link to Tomtor.

From Tomtor to about 60 km past Tomtor, the road is still widely used and also in decent shape, tho not maintained. The final 50 km to Kadykchan is also used, but not maintained - its about the level of the Gulag track. The other 150 km in between has some pretty challenging bits, tougher than the Dneprovsky Gulag track (which is actually similar to the 50 km before Kadykchan). So the gulag track is tougher than about half the OSR, with the remainder of the OSR split between similar to the gulag track and tougher than it.

Great pics Adam

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I'm in Yakustk now...

Edd SPOT locator

in need of a bike shop or local bike connection, need to add (and or change) fork oil.
seals are good (I think) forks have breather valves on top, and oil has been forced out through them,

the road from Aldan to Yakustk is rough and demanding, and possibly I was going to fast..... ha ha. but it was great fun............

edd

Yakustk

found a good guest house that's needs to be passed on. it's about 5km away from Lenin,

N 61°59.998'
E 129°39.559'

as your driving down the road headed to the location, there is a yellow car wash shop on your left, there will be a dirt road on the left immediately after the wash shop, take the second right, then there will be a small fork in the road, go right, and it is the shiny silver corrugated fence on the right.

secure parking inside the house,
nice modern private rooms (main floor)
inside is quite spacious
they are having wifi put in as I write this,
wash shop close by
small grocery store close by
one of the family members speaks very good English

500 roubles per night.

Well done. Thats a veritable BARGAIN for yakutsk. I will book it.

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