Uralistan. A Glimpse Inside The Minds Of Two 'Uralers'.
/Rolling along the Pamir Highway with Uralistan.
Ural motorcycle riders are known for being adventurous, free-spirited beings.
They are happiest when rolling along on their three-wheelers through some of the most beautiful and remote locations our planet has to offer.
With the luxury of the internet, I am able to follow some of these "Uralers" adventures, and one of them stood out above all: Uralistan.
Two adventurers. A Ural three-wheeler. Eighteen months. Twenty-one countries. More than 40,000 K’s!
Not a journey for the faint-hearted by any means! I wanted to find out more!
Currently they are somewhere on the Pamir Highway, part the legendary Silk Road traversing the Pamir Mountains through Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
During a couple of rest days, I got to ask them some questions about their trip.
In a former life in France, Marion used to be an architect and Jérémy was an electrical engineer, specializing in fibre optic networks. Come 2016, they felt the need to experience something different. So they decided to move to Laos, south-east Asia. For four years, they worked in a small local tourism agency offering off-the-beaten-tracks tours. They were involved in many different aspects, communication, marketing, sales, tour design and accompanying customers. Whether it was about hiking or enduro riding, the aim was the same: explore the remote places and meet isolated tribes.
March 2020, they returned to France to start their big road trip. And then, a worldwide pandemic occurred. Instead of exploring the Mongolian steppes, they were stuck in France.
At this moment a famous French publishing house contacted them asking if they were up to write a book about the best motorbike itineraries in France. They had to think for at least 2 seconds before accepting! A year later, their travel guide is published: ‘Weekends à Moto, 50 Itinéraires Insolites en France’.
Now, Jérémy and Marion have embarked on an ambitious journey from France to Mongolia. I was interested to find out what inspired them to undertake a trip of such magnitude.
Why did we make this trip? Good question. There is no easy answer. I think it all started back in 2016. We thought that reaching Laos by land would be badass. However, we didn't feel ready for that. In 2020, we had the idea again. "Why not go back and do some overlanding in France?". However, it was a pain to buy a vehicle and get the proper papers in this part of the world (Laos). Thus, we decided to start from France and make a loop.
Why now? Well, we have no kids, no credit, no house, no proper job, it's just the perfect opportunity for us do a long-term trip of this kind. Moreover, you don't know what life will bring you, so why wait?
I was curious about why they chose a Ural sidecar for their Eurasian tour. Especially as I found out later, they had never even ridden one before! Surely it wasn’t for its speed?
To other people, our choice to ride a Ural sounded like the most irrational decision ever. But, in fact, it was very logical. First of all, we needed a sidecar because Marion doesn't ride and going off-road with an overloaded 2-wheeler doesn't make sense. Also, we were looking for a rig that was still in production, so we wouldn't have trouble getting spare parts. It was also very important for us that it was originally a side-car and not a "shed-made" vehicle. Therefore, it would be so much more complicated. All ad hoc creations are unique (the model of the bike, the make of the sidecar, the choice of subframe, everything...). And finally, we were looking for an outfit with decent ground clearance and simple mechanical design (which means very easy to fix!). With all these criteria, choosing Ural was the best decision.
I couldn't stop wondering why they chose these windswept roads, specifically, what encouraged them wander around these more remote locations?
Mongolia has been on our minds for years. For us it is the quintessence of the nomadic spirit. Thus, exploring theses steppes on our own motorbike was really a dream. The Pamir area was also legendary for us with its high mountains and all the myths around it. Overall, we really wanted to discover the relatively unexplored "stan" countries.
Moreover, all these places are reachable by land from France. It didn't really make sense to ship a bike in a boat or a plane. Needless to say, riding a Ural in these former soviet countries has made the trip magical.
Why Europe? Well, after 4 years of exploring the most isolated areas of Laos, we became addicted to it. Why? Are we sociopaths? No! Or at least, not completely. It's just that we really like to get off-the-beaten track, meet people that are not used to tourism, we feel that's it's more authentic. That's why we decided to explore Croatia and Bosnia almost exclusively riding on the trails of the TET. What a blast!
I know from the many trips I have taken; I usually learn something new every time. Taking a trip of this magnitude, I wanted to find out what their biggest lessons have been?
Enjoying simplicity. For this kind of road trip, you can only carry the most essential things. And in the long term, we ended up appreciating living with so few things. Is it the same in life? We think yes. Well, we're not saying that we will live like hobos for the rest of our existence, but keeping it simple for sure.
Taking our time. It took us few months, but we figured out that slow-travelling was the only way to achieve a 16-month adventure. You can't rush for that amount of time, right? For us, that means riding for about 100 to 150km a day average or spending 4 or 5 days at the same spot when we feel to rest (and if the place is cheap).
Being outside in our daily life is essential for us. I mean, we absolutely love living in cities, but we figured out that spending time in the nature is also much needed.
In a more general aspect – and I think, this is the very point of travelling – we enjoyed discovering new ways of living, housing, co-existing or eating. All these different cultures made us re-evaluate our own (in a good way). This is not about a specific point, but more like we've been shown alternative ways to do certain things, and from now on we can choose rather to stick to our western traditions or to pick in other ones.
Last but not least. We realised how much we love motorbiking and the solidarity it offers. We have obviously experienced it before in Europe; however, it took another dimension in the 'stan' countries. This was especially the case in Kazakhstan where the warmth and friendliness shown to us by the locals was incredible. Moreover, riding a Ural sidecar motorbike triggered so many nice encounters! We really enjoyed the bike Mongolia where the Ural created an instantaneous bond with the Mongolian shepherds
With such a gruelling journey, on the road for days and weeks on end, each kilometre must be a challenge. I wondered what their biggest challenge had been?
Well, mechanically, we haven't had any major issue. Of course, we had many small things to fix, but overall, nothing unmanageable.
I think that the real challenge was to keep our enthusiasm. It can be hard to understand from a outside, but motorbike riding and discovering new places everyday can be very exhausting. And in the long term - we've been on the road for 14 months - our appreciation for travelling started to wane.
The solution to prevent that? Make long stops., we "broke-up" with our Ural for 4 months in Ozurgeti, Georgia. No riding at all. No moving. Nothing. Only after this time had passed, did we get the pleasure and urge to explore again.
I dream of one day following in the footsteps of Jérémy and Marion, to ride along the mystic Pamir Highway and Silk Road on a Ural. I couldn't miss this opportunity to gain some insight as to what it takes to undertake a trip of this magnitude. What advice could they give me?
Go for it! Don't hesitate! A Ural sidecar is an incredibly robust bike, easy to fix and it has a built-in good vibes generator. But! Learn the basic servicing of your bike. How to drain oil, wash the air filter, clean the carbs, swap rims, etc... I think this advice stands for every bike: know your vehicle. You can't dive into a 50.000km trip and expect your bike to run straight with absolutely no issue.
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In the end it seems that it all boils down to two things, desire and attitude. Mechanical and technical skills can be learnt. Machines can be fixed. But if someone hasn't got the desire, or the attitude to step out of their comfort zone and say, "I'm gonna do it", no amount of mechanical or technical know-how will take you on adventure.
It was a pleasure to get a small insight into the minds of a couple of "Uralers", and I have no doubt that many more incredible unforgettable moments along the track.
Thanks. Bon voyage.
