Minor crisis. On the last afternoon before entering Russia, whilst oiling the chain (an utterly easy and standard procedure), the bike rolled forward off its centre stand, fell on its side and bent the handlebars. Poop. Really poop.
Cue some mad rushing around the town of Sumy (Ukraine). A big thanks to the guys at Aleksandr Motorcycles in Sumy, and a big booooo to the bank. That was a hell of a time for my bank card to stop working! ATM says no! When traveling to Ukraine (I suspect this will be true in Russia too) always carry emergency US Dollars. That got me out of a hole nicely.
Anyway, I’m not messing around with the bike now – I’ll squeeze every last mile out of this rear tyre before swapping it out in about 1,000 more time. It’s my last evening before Russia and I’m at a nice motel in the country about 30 miles from tomorrow’s border crossing. A couple of glasses of pivo and then an early night, ready for the next big leg of the journey. Internet is broken here so I’ll probably have to post this in Russia anyway.
“Good Life!”, as they say here.