“The beginning of the trip was much harder than we had anticipated. We struggled for 3 days just to reach the lake.”

On the morning of February 25 we hauled all of our bikes and panniers down 5 flights of a narrow staircase out into the courtyard of the Baikaler Hostel in Irkutsk, Russia to begin what we hoped would be the first ever human-powered winter circumnavigation of Lake Baikal. Opening the door to the outside was just like entering a walk-in freezer. The cold air looked like smoke as it poured through the rusted steel frame of the entry way and crept along the seams of the walls like a hungry phantom. It is safe to speculate that questions arose in all of our heads at that moment regarding the rationality of our proposed plan. There were many unknowns: the amount snow on the lake, the condition of the ice, the reliability of our equipment, and above all – the effect of sustained cold temperatures [Read more →]

Day 37 — Listvyanka to Irkutsk by bus
In Listvyanka we stay in the same guest house and get up early in the morning to catch the bus that will take us to Irkutsk. Turns out that we had some confusion about the departure time of the bus and have an extra couple of hours to get organized. We need it as we look a bit haggard from the past week and short night of sleep. Among those is a plan for leaving the dogs behind. Much as we would love to bring them home, the dogs are not going beyond Listvyanka with us. Being self-sufficient, they’ll likely hop on board another expedition going north and end up back in Khushir. Nonetheless, we’re concerned about finding a place for them or at least a way to keep them from following us to the bus. We end leaving them behind the fence at the guest house as we head off. Fifteen minutes later [Read more →]

Day 36 — Bolshoy Goloustnoe to Listvyanka; Completion!
We get an escort out of town from the MCHZ guy — great guy — and he explains what he knows of the conditions from there to Listvyanka.
On the whole, I think the balance of the day favored riding over pushing, but it was close. We make what proved to be a good decision to head directly towards shore, rather than continuing to angle towards Listvyanka, in search of an auto route on the ice. Sure enough, we find a track just 50 yards offshore. It is still tough going as the banks of snow catch the panniers at times and occasional piles of unconsolidated snow send the front wheel careening to the side. That said, we do actually ride into town. Similar to the previous days, we have a mix of strong wind, cloudy skies, flurries in the air, and stretches of partial clearing. However as the evening approaches and Listvyanka comes into view, we’ve ridden through the stormy weather. The setting for our finish into Listvyanka could not have been better — the sky cleared up and we rode towards the setting sun perched just above the Sayan foothills.
Holy smokes, we rode around the lake!