The Crimson Trail kicked off last Thursday and after three days and 900 km of slab we crossed the border to Ukraine in perfect weather.

Many thanks to Rafal Gorski for hosting us in Warsaw and for organizing the service parts with Duust. I wish you could have joined us on your 450 EXC!

We rode my track from 2015 and connected with the legendary Sibirsky Extreme trail. Walter likes it fast so plenty of rally action on the trail plus some nice forest mayhem on the way. All in all it was much dryer and faster than in 2015 on the 690.

We ended up not riding into the exclusion area but instead snooped around the abandoned villages further south. Many thanks to Max the Desert Rat for the tracks!

Yesterday, after three days and 800 km, we arrived in Kiev for our first service break. We immediately dropped off our bikes to Ktm service. It was about time too; my ignition switch and 12V and 5V outlets were gone, along with rear indicator and a bent front brake disk.

Today was all about recovery, and we enjoyed strolling around Kiev with Iurii Konstantinov, many thanks for hosting us brother! We’ll hit the trails together next time!

Many thanks to Ricky, Vitali and everyone else at KTM Kiev for taking care of our bikes and organizing accommodation. A top crew indeed who put us right into the action again!

And finally, extra special thanks to Klim for setting us up with the first sets of the 2018 all new Dakar ITB pants and Jerseys. They are lighter than before with outstanding ventilation and fit. We’ll put them through an endurance test for sure.

That’s it for now, we roll out towards the Carpathians tomorrow. Keep rolling, keep safe y’all!