Riders: Gareth Morgan, Jo Morgan, Dave Wallace, Brendan Keogh, Tony Armstrong, Chris Stephens
Motorcycles: Suzuki DR650
Distance: 9,000km
Countries: Russia, North Korea, South Korea
Trip description:
Starting at Magadan in the Russian Far East, the city founded in 1929 as the centre of Stalin’s forced labour system, once we complete all three sections of this ride we will ultimately end up – 9 months of riding and 40,000 kms later – down in NZ. It’s a long ride that we’ll do in three stages, so Part One of The Long Drop will have us first traverse Stalin’s 2,00km Road of Bones west across the Siberian mountains to Yakutsk then southeast and around the border with China to Vladivostok before we ride into North Korea. Our mission is to ride the whole of the Korean Peninsula from Mt Paekdu in the north through the DMZ to Mt Halla on Cheju Island off the south of the South. For 4,000 years Korea was one society, for just 60 it’s been crudely separated. 25 million people in the North, 50 million in the South –our ride is to celebrate the Korea’s unifying Baekdudaegan mountain range and the long history of its people.
After a day of enormous roadworks and riding through more mud and slosh, Gareth pulls out his business card and a Russian shopkeeper goes ballistic! Also Jo’s got the responsibility of finding somewhere dry for the night but that task is turning into an absolute nightmare. Back on the road or at least river to […]
No Mud, No Rain, No Bikes, No washers and No Gareth. Jo and Dave meet a traditional Yakutsan Queen and check out a fantastic Cryogenic Museum. Would you like ice with your Mammoth Sir? Rest day in Yakutsk. Me to do email catchups and photo processing, the others to do a little sightseeing – courtesy […]
Gareth, Jo and Dave get up at dawn so they can make the Ferry that will take them across a huge river called the Aldan. But through the dust and 8k’s into today’s ride they come face to face with a terrible tragedy. A horribly sad sight that will stay with them all for the […]
315 kms to Khandyga and the team is caught up in huge roadworks that cause the bikes grief. Jo gets almost to the end of the day and has a crushing accident!. And a Russian woman takes control and leads Gareth and Dave by the hand to sort them out. 315 kms to Khandyga, 2 river […]
No rain today and the team get a bit of scenic relief with heaps of lakes, meadows, pines and lychen-covered, tundra-like slopes. Now this is more like the Yukon or Alaska! It’s the first night of camping and Gareth decides to pitch his tent next to a bunch of Russian mountaineers and their 26 wheel […]
The team are up and into it at 6am but with pouring rain and atrocious road conditions it’s not going to be much fun. The 3 drowned rats get some help from a Russian gateman and Gareth’s bike gets totally flooded and won’t start. Frozen and stuffed, they must reach Ust Nera for the night. […]
40 kms south of Susuman and Gareth’s premonition of a huge bear encounter comes true much to his dismay. The team have to search high and low for accommodation after hotel or Gastronista had no vacancies. Thankfully a very basic establishment looking out over the M56 is found. No comforts of home here but a […]
In this episode we explore a city which appears to be deserted. Bunk down in a creepy apartment building. And we learn a little bit about the political prisoners of the Stalin regime and the Road of Bones.
It’s our first day and there is a flat battery on Jo’s bike. Dave’s lack of Russian is an issue already. I have an anxiety attack on day one about being eaten by a bear. Let the adventure begin. This year we are doing some podcasting. Fell free to listen below or read a summary below. […]
Here is a bit of video overview of our upcoming long drop trip from Russia, via North Korea, the DMZ and into South Korea.
