Photographs by BRMF & Sherman Nazareth
As we landed in St. Petersburg, the summer air was crisp and cool, and we were eager with anticipation. Our entry into this city was as charming as always. The fascinating architecture from centuries ago, and the deep culture and history this place is renowned for is something I never tire of experiencing. My wife, Polina, and my friend, JP Singh, and I were on our way to the Baltic Rally Motorcycle Festival.
We made our first stop at my friend Arseniy’s restaurant called, of all things, ‘Oh, Mumbai’. While an Indian restaurant is the last place I’d want to go to in the motherland, the quirky décor and authentic food was something I wasn’t expecting. The feni bottle I’d suggested to Arseniy back in Goa stood proudly on the bar shelf. And it turned out the tandoori food tasted even better in Russia thanks to the chicken being of a higher quality. Who would’ve thought?
But our main destination was still to come. We made our way to the train station where we’d catch the Lastochka; a high-speed intercity Russian/ German train that would ferry us to the coastal town of Vyborg. Interestingly, all the high-speed intercity trains that run through Russia are named after birds; this one meant ‘swallow’. The Moscow to St. Petersburg train we took the last time is called Sapsan, which translates to ‘peregrine falcon’. While the Sapsan cruised at 250 kph, the Lastochka held a more modest 155 kph. And with a meagre 140 km to cover, we reached in just over an hour including stops.
When I saw the Baltic Sea and the anchored sailboats in the harbour, I knew we were getting close. Arseniy, being the great host that he is, came to the railway station to pick us up. We were finally ready for the Baltic Rally Motorcycle Festival. To be honest, after experiencing the motorcycle festivals in India, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. Boy, was I early to judge.
When we got to the venue, there was zero chaos, and I was beyond intrigued. The magnificent 13th century Vyborg castle towered over the main stage. It was the second day of the festival and things were already in full swing. Aside from the music, we weren’t greeted by deafening sounds of engines hitting their respective limiters, and no traffic jams, either. Everybody was perfectly calm and cheer was in the air. There were some stupendously good-looking motorcycles parked all over the place. But before I could satiate my curiosity, Arseniy whisked us off to the conference room.
That’s where we got to hear out the individuals that were part of the festival and how they all came together to pull this off. Thank heavens Polina was around for all the translating. Later, even I was invited on stage to speak briefly about my previous ride in Karelia and the upcoming one in the Altai mountains. Post the conference we had a quick coffee on the terrace with Igor Shcherbakov, the director of the Baltic Rally Motorcycle Festival.
When we were finally done with the press stuff, it was time to partake in the festival. This is an event that takes over Vyborg for the duration of the event; it literally has five different venues spread out all over the town. I simply couldn’t imagine something like this happening in India without all sorts of chaos breaking out with every passing minute.
But it was foolish to make comparisons and time to actually experience the festival that lay in front of me. The abundance of rare motorcycles overwhelmed me. I made my first stop at the Ducati stall. Casually standing beside the super exotic Panigale 1199 Superleggera was a Desmosedici RR, the first I’d ever seen in the flesh. This road-legal MotoGP bike is one I’ve revered ever since it was first crafted in 2008. As I got chatting with the owner, he just casually mentioned that they’ve actually got two more Desmosedicis and a whole friggin’ Ducati Museum in St. Petersburg!
With my head still in the clouds, we wafted over to the Royal Enfield stall. I was proud to see our very own homegrown machines holding their own amongst a sea of incredible machines from all corners of the world. The number of immaculately maintained vintage motorcycles just casually hanging around the venue was a testament to the trust and lack of vandalism amongst the Russian folk. Later that day I had a lovely chat with Trofimov Semyon, a rather distinguished gentleman who is the curator and director of three whole vintage bike museums in St. Petersburg! Each museum is era based and he invited me to visit, an offer I definitely intend to take him up on soon.
This was turning out to be more of a motorcyclist’s nirvana than I expected. Everything was supremely well organised, too. The band and performer choice were just phenomenal. The stage hosted everything from Viking musical performances to a rock vocalist who sounded eerily like Klaus Meine from the Scorpions to even a beauty contest. I don’t think I need to elaborate on the general beauty of Russian women.
Since we were probably the first and only Indians at the event, we even met with Aleksander Drozdenko, the governor of the Leningrad region. As it turns out, he’s a biker, too. In fact, he’d actually be leading the ride to the Finland border and back the next day. Hmm, biker-politicians, probably something all motorcyclists look forward to someday.
But Arseniy had more interesting plans for me. It turns out he owns the only registered rickshaw in all of Russia, and he did go through quite a complicated process to make that happen. Being the good friend that he is he actually encouraged me to ride/ drive the rickshaw for the rally. I jumped at the offer. This was a Pakistan-made Sazgar plastered with the most curious posters from Indian cinema all over it. The reaction of one pedestrian said it all, ‘Oh, my God, am I dreaming? Are we in India?!’ she exclaimed as we passed by.
It was a surreal experience — traversing the quaint cobbled streets of Vyborg in a three-wheeler with dazzling LED lights blinking away to glory, all while classic Bollywood music blared from the speakers. It was closer to a simulation than reality. My brain just couldn’t piece the situation together.
The next morning Sergei, Arseniy’s friend, had already positioned the rickshaw amongst the hundreds of bikers all parked and waiting for the rally to kick off. He patiently explained the controls to me. Since I had ridden/ driven a rickshaw before, I was pretty pleased to find out this one actually had a gear lever on the footboard instead of the handlebar-gears we’re used to seeing in India.
As the rally was about the start, I sat there with the nervous excitement you’d expect from riding a completely new motorcycle in a new country that drives on the opposite side of the road. Curiosity gripped the other bikers as they all came in to take a closer look at this queer little contraption with an actual Indian inside it. Thankfully, Sergei was around to do the explaining.
With the governor in the lead, the ride finally kicked off. I was constantly paying attention to the controls of the Sazgar since I wasn’t too keen on stalling and holding up the other riders. As we got towards the festival exit is when I actually looked up and saw the onlookers faces, all heartily cheering on this little rickshaw. They looked as excited as I was. It’s when I got to the main road that the fun began. Ducatis, Harleys and BMWs thundered past me while I was still figuring out the gearing. Their exhaust notes resonated inside the rickshaw and in my chest. The energy level of the ride was high.
As we got further down the road, I learned that this little Sazgar would probably top out at about 70 kph. So, I tried my best to stay out of the way of the other motorcycles. It was once we got to the outskirts of Vyborg and closer to the highway, that Sergei and I decided it wouldn’t be wise doing the whole 20-km ride to the Finland border and back.
We turned back instead and found this quiet little church where I could take some pictures of the rickshaw. As it turned out, The Church of Saints Peter and Paul is the only surviving Lutheran cathedral in Russia that was consecrated in 1799. During its colourful history, it changed hands between the Russians, the Finns and the Swedes. But the stark contrast of this bratty little rickshaw standing in front of stoic Russian Baroque architecture seemed to be quite an oxymoron of an image.
When I got back to the festival, we decided to explore it a bit more. It turns out shopping for trinkets and apparel at a Russian bike festival is more economical than you can imagine. Since the Rupee and Rouble are almost the same value, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Everything was super affordable, but there were no compromises on quality. JP, Polina and I picked up quite a few trinkets for people back home. JP even got some lovely little matryoshkas for his daughter.
By now we were ravenous so we decided to head over to the food court. If you’re a fan of barbecue, or shashlik as they call it in Russia, you’re in for a treat and a half. The assortment and quality of food was astounding. There was everything from five different types of plov (a meat pulao) from different countries, to hundreds of different types of meats and sausages, and even more grilled vegetables to choose from. Needless to say, we had an absolute feast.
It was time to head back to St. Petersburg at this point since we had to travel all the way to the Altai region near the Mongolia border for our next ride. This was by far the best festival experience I’ve had so far. And like I said before, I’m not really a fan of bike festivals in the first place. Yet, you can be certain I’ll be there again this year. Motorcyclists ride all the way from the eastern end of Russia, close to 11,000 km away, and I can clearly see why.
Since I am the festival representative for India, I see the Baltic Rally Motorcycle Festival becoming a permanent fixture on my calendar. It’s going to be happening from the 17th to the 20th of July in 2025 and I do hope to see more Indians there this time around. With the e-visa process being pretty simple and straightforward, I don’t see why you shouldn’t chalk this out on your calendar, too.
