Mark Suslik (who also goes by “The White Wolf”), is a Polish rider who has a tremendous amount of experience riding in freezing temperature. Two days ago, he left on a trip to the “coldest village on earth” – Oymyakon, Siberia – where he expects to see AVERAGE temperatures of -46°C (-50.8°F). His mount? A 1987 Honda XL600. Oh, and once he hits Yakutsk, he needs to ride for approximately 1,860 miles without ever shutting off the engine because it probably won’t fire up again in that cold.
I like to think that I ride in challenging conditions every once in a while, but this guy makes me look like a child. Some of these quotes are ridiculous:
“I’m facing a 680 (1,100km) stretch of the journey where there won’t be a single living soul. At the end of that leg there is only one small town to stop at… and I’m not even sure they’ll have petrol there! I will have to carry enough fuel to last the entire leg of the journey as a back-up.”
“The plan is to travel approximately 1,860 miles (3,000km) from Yakutsk without switching off the engine. The bike’s engine must stay running for that entire stretch. It’s a trick all the local people in the area use during winter and it works for them, so I hope it works for me too.”
“The most challenging thing about sleeping will be keeping an eye – or should I say an ear – on the motorbike to make sure the engine doesn’t stop running overnight.”
Check out this post on Mad or Nomad for an introduction to the bike and the route, and follow Mark on Google Maps, Facebook or Instagram!