28 - 07 - 2006
Baikal Shaman bike festival
It was late last night, so I come out of the tent just before noon. It is nice and relaxing; we have breakfast and talk a bit. I still have some work to do on my machine, so I start doing that. I grease the drive shaft splines, check the rear brake, put some more air in the tires, repack the bearing in the front wheel and adjust the front brake. That is all I had to do. My engine has a low idle. Maybe the carbs need resyncing or my air filter is really dirty, but I don't feel like doing that today. Zavtra. That is Russian for tomorrow. Why do today what you can postpone until tomorrow?
After my work is done I ride the 30kms back to Kultuk to get some groceries and call Nadia and Doug. It was good to hear Nadia and she was glad to hear me.
Doug has no knowledge of this bike show either, so I let him know. Apparently his repairs are coming along fine and he might be finished later today or early tomorrow. I sort of explain where the festival is, but an exact location is hard to give as it is in the middle of nowhere.
Back at the festival, the bikers are starting to arrive. This is not a big festival. That's OK for me. Less of a crowd. I meet the president of the local biker club who also organises this festival. I am the only foreigner and everybody is eager to meet me and see my Ural. Vodka is offered to me everywhere, but after my last experience in Krasnojarsk I sort of dislike the drink. I have only a few drinks, just to be polite.
My hosts are great company and we have a lot of laughs. I learn a couple more Russian words. Russians like it when you speak a bit of their language. They also bought a sheep from a local farmer here. They slaughtered the poor thing themselves in the back of a field here. The best cuts are prepared for dinner. It is very good. The rest will be used for soup tomorrow and the day after. That's how they do it here ... it's Russia.
We party until late in the evening.
It was late last night, so I come out of the tent just before noon. It is nice and relaxing; we have breakfast and talk a bit. I still have some work to do on my machine, so I start doing that. I grease the drive shaft splines, check the rear brake, put some more air in the tires, repack the bearing in the front wheel and adjust the front brake. That is all I had to do. My engine has a low idle. Maybe the carbs need resyncing or my air filter is really dirty, but I don't feel like doing that today. Zavtra. That is Russian for tomorrow. Why do today what you can postpone until tomorrow?
After my work is done I ride the 30kms back to Kultuk to get some groceries and call Nadia and Doug. It was good to hear Nadia and she was glad to hear me.
Doug has no knowledge of this bike show either, so I let him know. Apparently his repairs are coming along fine and he might be finished later today or early tomorrow. I sort of explain where the festival is, but an exact location is hard to give as it is in the middle of nowhere.
Back at the festival, the bikers are starting to arrive. This is not a big festival. That's OK for me. Less of a crowd. I meet the president of the local biker club who also organises this festival. I am the only foreigner and everybody is eager to meet me and see my Ural. Vodka is offered to me everywhere, but after my last experience in Krasnojarsk I sort of dislike the drink. I have only a few drinks, just to be polite.
My hosts are great company and we have a lot of laughs. I learn a couple more Russian words. Russians like it when you speak a bit of their language. They also bought a sheep from a local farmer here. They slaughtered the poor thing themselves in the back of a field here. The best cuts are prepared for dinner. It is very good. The rest will be used for soup tomorrow and the day after. That's how they do it here ... it's Russia.
We party until late in the evening.
posted by Anonymous | 5:28 am
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