AN ARMENIAN MAKES AN EXTREME BIKE RIDE FROM YAKUTSK TO YEREVAN
Aysor
Dec 23 2009
Armenia
After more than an hour-long waiting for cyclist Arthur Oganian in
the cold at thirty degrees below zero in Petropavlovsk’s square,
journalists thought that Roman Arakelov, a director of the
Ethno-Cultural Kentron Foundation, had made fun of them. Indeed,
who will believe that a sunlit country’s resident can make more than
an eleven thousand kilometers bike ride through taiga, in the cold,
cold weather?
Arthur Oganian, a builder from Armenia, two years on goes to Russian
north to earn money. Last summer, along-side with dozen of other
nationalities, he worked at the restoration of Evangelical Church in
Yakutsk. It was such a friendly and marvelous team, that Arthur made
a decision to dedicate a bike ride to peoples’ friendship.
"After all, neither Armenian has ever done such a ride. I was hoping,
my countrymen would be proud of me. I want to show all nations I’ll
meet on my way, that Armenians are courageous, risky, and honest
people," Arthur told journalists.
Arthur has been riding three and a half months on his way home, leaving
behind Neryungri, Irkutsk, Chita, Kemerovo, Omsk. And everywhere
he met warm and friendly people, who wished him a happy way home,
whether those were Armenian communities, which bought a new cycle
for Arthur and provided him with a food, or a hunter in taiga near
Aldan, who was greatly surprised to meet a single man in taiga and
took Arthur to his place for supper and overnight, or dozens of others.