Road of Bones.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R504_Kolyma_Highway
The area is extremely cold during the winter. The town of
Oymyakon, approximately 100 km from the highway, is believed to be the
coldest inhabited place on earth.[SUP]
[6][/SUP] The average temperature in Oymyakon in January is −50 °C.[SUP]
[7][/SUP]
While the highway itself is generally excellent, with a surface of compacted gravel or clay, the Old Summer Road is in a state of disrepair and is a challenging 4WD track, with washed-out bridges and sections of road reclaimed by streams in summer. During winter, frozen rivers may assist river crossings.
The Old Summer Road has become
a challenge for adventure motorcyclists. After the
fall of the Soviet government, the road was first traversed by Western motorcyclists in summer 1995, when the British Mondo Enduro team completed a crossing from Yakutsk to Magadan. Shortly afterwards a Norwegian wanderer
Helge Pedersen also completed the road, starting from Magadan.
Subsequent notable traverses by motorcycle include
Ewan McGregor and
Charley Boorman's round-the-world motorcycle journey in 2004, made into a popular television series, book and DVD, all named
Long Way Round. However, due to the timing of the journey and the condition of the road, it was not possible for them and their support crew to complete the traverse unassisted. They instead joined a Russian freight convoy, whose trucks were able to ford the still swollen rivers.
Simon Milward completed the road in 2001 by motorbike and it was cycled in the 2004 winter by
Alastair Humphreys and
Rob Lilwall, followed on foot by
Rosie Swale-Pope in 2005 and ridden solo on motorcycle by both Adrian Scott and by Russian woman Sasha Teplyakova (via the Old Summer Road) the same year. In 2007 the Polish Motosyberia team completed the Old Summer Road. In 2009 Walter Colebatch and Tony Pettie on the Sibirsky Extreme Project completed the new road, from Yakutsk to Magadan via
Ust-Nera, in three and a half days. In 2010 Walter Colebatch returned to host the first commercial motorcycle tour on the Road, in which Sherri-Jo Wilkins became the first foreign female rider to ride the road. In September 2010, Paul and Dean Martinello together with Barton Churchill, completed the Old Summer Road into Magadan, and remain the latest motorcycle arrival to Magadan - the 30th of September. In summer 2012, Sean Ardley of California cycled the road from Magadan to the Lena River in 16 days, 12 hours. In June 2013, Nikolaos J. Kavouras member of Motorcycle Club of Kozani, was the first Greek biker who made the new road (via Ust-Nera) in four days, completed his "mongolia2magadan" effort. Commercial trips for small numbers of motorcycles are available. The very first attempt to ride a motorcycle in winter condition was made by Dan Popescu, motorbiker, the Romanian Motorcyclists Association (AMR) president in late March 2012. He rode one Aprilia Pegaso 650 IE on the distance between Yakutsk to near Kyubeme in few days, including night time riding, the coldest temperature down to −35 °C, helped by a back up team in two 4×4s including an ambulance.
