The Road of Bones

A long stretch of road in Eastern Russia has captured the imaginations of motorcyclists seeking adventure. The famed “Road of Bones” is a challenge for riders looking to test their chops and endurance. The bike of choice for these brave souls is your modern adventure bike, machines that can move through the kind of treacherous terrain that would make a Road King tremble.

Russia is a country known for it's extremities and its grimly titled highway is no exception. You have to be a little insane to think you can beat this road, or that it won't beat you. Half of the rivers are topped with deformed bridges left barely standing after decades of weathering, while the other half don't have bridges at all. In the inhospitable Russian wilderness, there's no choice but to enter the frigid waters and cross these rivers putting your bike at risk of getting waterlogged. Through and through, It's a very dangerous ride and most expeditions that attempt it bring support teams. Being stranded and alone on the not-oft traveled road surely wouldn't end well.

A wooden bridge on the road of bones

It's construction took place during a darker time in Russian history. Starting in the 1920's, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin pulled workers from his gulag prisons and threw twenty years worth of grueling labor at the permafrost land to build the road. The name "Road of Bones" is actually intended to be literal; legend has it that the estimated millions who died building the road had their bodies paved into it as digging graves in the frozen ground was impossible.

The daring motorcyclists that have tackled this road are relatively few but none have put it on the map, so to speak, like Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman through their 2004 documentary-series The Long Way Round. In the series, the road of bones was the climax of a long motorcycle journey that circumnavigated the globe, going East, starting from London and ending in New York. It's easy for celebrities to drop twenty grand on an adventure bike but not many will take them on a road trip around the world crossing some of the most dangerous and exciting roads that cover it.

In Magadan, Russia, at the end of the road, there is a 50 foot monument sitting on a hill—The Mask of Sorrow. An angular, concrete face with streaming tears taking the shape of smaller faces in anguish. The statue was built to commemorate the lives lost in the gulag camps in the early half of the 20 ^th century during Stalin's rule.

The Mask of Sorrow in Magadan, Russia

For those that have endured the once in a lifetime journey, the statue signals the end of their trip. Along the way there is much to learn about life, history, and survival. It's needless to say that you have to dig deep to cross the miles and miles of challenging roads. In more recent years, efforts have been made to improve the road conditions, and maybe one day it will be like any another lovely stretch of asphalt complete with structurally sound bridges and all. But I digress. The Road of Bones isn't just a path for traveling one place to another, it's a phenomenon that gets embedded into the memories of the riders who've crossed it as a life changing experience.