We are home safe and sound

team-remit — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:34:05 -0400

We have been home nearly a week now and it has taken me this long to finally get the computer switched on. First and foremost Team REMIT would like to say a very very big thank you to everyone that has given us such positive support through the whole of this crazy event and we must give you all our sincerest apologies for not getting to the finish in UB. Although the brief text that was sent from Maqat in Kazakhstan announcing that we were not going to be able to continue contained the truth, it was not the full story as to what had happened to us. We felt that we were not able to give a full account of that morning until Steve's family had been fully informed first. So for those of you that have been wondering why we called an end to our ride just because we had an alternator fail here is the full story of that last day on the road. We started the day in high spirits as I had finally got Steve's clutch working properly for the first time since Belgium, although on leaving our campsite Steve realised that he no longer had lights or indicators. We scratched our heads for a couple of minutes but having done what checks we could decided that the bike was still producing electricity as the ammeter was not showing a negative discharge, so it must be a duff battery but the alternator must be still working. After about an hour we came across a Brit riding an XTZ 660 heading in the opposite direction. We stopped and had a chat and a smoke with him as he told us that the road we were on literally stopped on the other side of the next town, but it looked like we could be looking at a 4 day detour if we followed him so Team REMIT felt that we could make better time by pushing on regardless. We got to Maqat and found that the other biker was not exagerating as to the state of the road, it was just big pot holes. But our luck was still holding and a local appeared on a Ural and showed us the way to the good road to Aktobe, a really good smooth sand track. It was on this that Steve's bike cut out at about 30 mph. I was close enough to see him and the bike step sideways and then drop into shallow ditch. When I finally got to him he had just got out from under the bike and sat straight down again holding his right side. Me being me the first thing I did was check the bike over and it while I was doing this Steve told me that he had caught the handlebars under his ribs in the crash and from his previous experience of broken ribs his self diagnosis was that either one or two of them were cracked. This was a bit of a shock as we were about 15 - 20 km from the last town and it didn't look like the road we were on was that well travelled. So the first thing to do was to get the bike back on its wheels and see if there was any damage. It turned out that my crash bar system worked perfectly and there was no damage at all but the bike refused to start. No spark!!!! Fresh plug, no spark. So I swapped the batteries and it fired up second kick, at least we know knew that the alterator had packed up, not the battery. Now for the big talk, what do we do? Riding the bikes and swapping batteries every day was obviously not a problem but Steve's injury was, so we decided that all we could do was get both the bikes and ourselves back to Maqat and see what we could do there. My plan was to try and contact a bloke I knew in Aktobe that was involved in a childrens charity there and see if we could get the bikes on a train and donate them to him and get home from there. Unfortunately when I finally spoke to him he was in Almaty and everyone else he worked with that had ties to the charity were out of the country. So our only options were to ditch the bikes as soon as we could and make our way to Almaty international airport.

Team REMIT

This text is 3 days old, had phone issues.

team-remit — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:38:10 -0400

This text is 3 days old, had phone issues. - So here we are, barely 1 day into our 2 day train journey to Almaty. We are literally in cattle class. No air con & just the remnants of our camping kit to sleep on. No one seems to speak English but the staff now seem to understand we are not here illegally. - Have made it to Almaty, you will have to wait for the full story of how we got here but are on a flight to Heathrow tomorrow.

Team REMIT

It is end of exercise for Team REMIT.

team-remit — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:10:47 -0400

It is end of exercise for Team REMIT. Total loss of charging on Steve's bike and the battery seems to be US too. Bikes being got rid of and train to nearest airport. More details on our return. But both gutted.

Team REMIT

Finally managed to get local cash but they wouldn't take $5 & $10 notes!

team-remit — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:28:19 -0400

Finally managed to get local cash but they wouldn't take $5 & $10 notes! Roads not as bad as they seemed last night and have ridden till nearly dark. Chaz had a moment when he hit some pot holes at 50, huge tank slapper followed but some how kept it all upright & the Russian spokes held up to the punishment. Heading for Aktobe tomorrow but roads are poor and are hammering the bikes. Now against the clock with Russian visa.

Team REMIT

We are in Kaz!

team-remit — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 00:55:24 -0400

We are in Kaz! About 40km in. Border crossing took over 5 hours and we had to ride in the dark again, not recommended. Ended up in a small motel at about 12am local time. Now trying to change some cash but the banks don't seem keen! So far don't really like this country and the roads seem rough.

Team REMIT

While our time in Volgograd has been great and the owner of Bikecity has bent over backwards to make us comfortable it was great

team-remit — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 14:11:05 -0400

While our time in Volgograd has been great and the owner of Bikecity has bent over backwards to make us comfortable it was great to finally hit the road again today at 6pm after nearly 5 days lost and a repair bill of about £70 + uncounted costs for food and beds. We are now going to head straight across Kaz, there is no time to follow the original route. Hope to be very close to the Kaz border tomorrow. Not doing a night crossing though.

Team REMIT

Now really disappointed.

team-remit — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 03:03:21 -0400

Now really disappointed. Bikes have been in the shop since Friday afternoon and we have lost 3 days in Volgograd. Been picked up this morning expecting Chaz's bike to be all fixed with new spokes. This has not happened, the bike has not been touched. Have no idea on how long. They say maybe today? GOD !!!

Team REMIT

OK.

team-remit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:14:55 -0400

OK. So here we are in rainy Volgograd. Another busted spoke!! The bikes are now sat in a place called Motorcycle City and the problem child is having her arse completely re-laced with new Ural spokes. We have no idea of cost yet but will be happy to know the bugger is fixed once and for all.

Team REMIT

Well after a really well needed sleep we woke feeling ready for the day.

team-remit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:25:26 -0400

Well after a really well needed sleep we woke feeling ready for the day. Having got everything ready to pack the bikes we did our spanner checks. We've now lost 3 hours putting 2 more spokes in Chaz's rear wheel. This is getting tedious. We are going to have to find some more spokes from somewhere.

Team REMIT

Feel as tho we have had a good day.

team-remit — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:26:57 -0400

Feel as tho we have had a good day. If we can keep the pace up we may make the Kaz border tomorrow, pending more mechanical issues. Altho we will not do a night crossing again. Not sure when this message will actually get out as the Russian network will not let up dial home on any of the phones.

Team REMIT