Anthony Jackson is on a mammoth journey across all sorts of terrain to the capital of Mongolia, on a Chinese-built Sinnis Apache 125, all in the aid of Leukemia Research. So far, he's ridden all the way from Goodwood in England, travelling through 7,000 miles and 11 different countries on his way to Mongolia, all without a support vehicle.
At the start of the week, Anthony and the Apache had made it to Barnaul, his last city in Russia before reaching the Mongolian border, taking in plenty of sights along the way, “I travelled across France, Belgium, Germany then into Czech Republic, through Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, then Poland… Ukraine and now Russia“.
Riding as much as 14 hours in a day and covering as much as 2,500 miles in just 4 days both bike and rider are being tested to the limit, but it's not just physical strain Jackson has had to put up with. He's been chased away from campsites and forced to wait at borders for days as he chose not to pay the $1,000 to $2,000 fines for apparent 'invalid paperwork' but he's kept his nerve and made it through to Mongolia.
“Russia has been tough, hot, dirty, smoggy & literally thousands of trucks trying to push you out of the way! Police everywhere, there's nowhere to buy food just filling stations… I'm coughing up black dirt! I've covered most of southern Russia in a few days, am very tired but the bike's been great!”
The only issue he's had with the bike, apart from the school boy error of running out of fuel in Germany, has been with a fork leg. Anthony managed to damage it when servicing the bike in a car park, but was fortunate enough to find a replacement part from a local dealer in the Ukraine.
Life isn't going to get any easier though, “Unfortunately the border I’m registered with has very bad roads… i.e. none.”, so this is when the challenge steps up a gear!” added Jackson.
Anthony is providing updates on his journey via his page www.facebook.com/anthonysadventure and you can support his cause at www.justgiving.com/antjack55 to help raise money for Leukemia Research.
