in the UK: stay off the brakes on loose stuff or they’ll lock up and you’ll slide. Keep your hands and grip relaxed. Stay loose. Aggres- sion and speed are key. My 1100 GS squirmed unhappily under-


neath me, my new TKC80 tires scrambling for traction in the loose dirt. As the bike slid, only controlled “blips” of the throttle were keeping the GS upright. Three miles later, as I looked back in my rear-view mir- ror, I saw Lisa’s front tire diving into a large pocket of dust and sand and sliding out from underneath her as she hit the dirt. Two oncoming trucks screeched to a halt, their route blocked by Lisa and her downed motorcycle. It was the first real spill of our long journey. Lisa was lucky to come away with only bruises and cuts, her confidence shaken but fine. It was a tough introduction to Russia but


nothing like the “big off” I would have in Africa months later, dislocating my shoul- der and cracking ribs. Such spills are part of the deal, I guess. I remembered what a good friend of mine once said, “If you ride a bike and never fall, you’re simply not riding hard enough.”


A Russian Education Our journey through Russia was an educa- tion with a steep learning curve. We left Murmansk to cheers and waves of those who’d seen our UK number plates and stared in disbelief as we rode past Nickel, a town described by our Lonely Planet guide as “Hell on Earth.” Over the years, strip mining has torn up the land around Nickel, releasing enormous amounts of sulphur- dioxide into the environment and killing off everything. Unchecked brush fires killed everything within 35 miles around the town. If I was a film director shooting a film about a post-apocalyptic world, Nickel would be my location of choice. It took two weeks before the acrid stench


of Nickel finally left our nostrils as we arrived in Moscow. Moscow is a country all to itself with its own rules (or lack of rules), depending on how connected or wealthy you are. The cliché about the Russian mafia running the place is threateningly accurate, and one could spend a lifetime here and still


February 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS 53


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www.cardosystems.com


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