Alexander Apolosov: broken collarbone, Time trial layout and a bet on breakaways

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Useful from the issue

1. Do not pass the beginning on the time trial

   On a flat time trial, Alexander specially rides the first half a little easier: the second is always heavier, and you can always add at the end. His reference points are feelings, pulse and time of rivals, watts are secondary.

2. Hold on to the steering wheel until the end

   In the fall on the descent, according to Alexander, he was saved by the fact that he did not let go of the steering wheel until the last.

3. Disc brakes for mountains

   After falling on rim brakes on a steep descent, he switched to disc brakes and believes that they cannot be compared even with the best rim brakes.

4. Check the validity of the insurance

   His travel insurance didn't work: it was valid only for the first weeks of his stay in the country, and he lived in Turkey for longer than a month.

5. Ask about the fixed plate

   In Dubna, he was given a plate fixed with screws: he had to pay for it, but you can move with it the day after the operation, without a cast.

6. Learn descents with a trainer

   Fear on the slopes, according to Alexander's experience, does not go away by itself: you need a person who will show the technique, otherwise it's better to just drive carefully.

7. Without a sprint— only a breakaway

   If you don't win at the finish line, you need to break away, and if the first one didn't work out, create the second and third.

8. Club tactics: do no harm

   When a teammate is separated, the main thing is not to pull the pack behind him. Alexander considers complex team tactics in amateur races to be non-working.

9. Do not believe only the numbers

   Even after a perfect eyeliner on the day of the race, there may be empty legs, so he makes decisions at a distance based on his pulse and well-being.

How it all started and the experience of the commentator

Alexander rode his first 60 km race in 2019 on an old bicycle, and after meeting on the ferry between Dubna and Konakovo with a fellow traveler who crashed when his Soviet bicycle refused from old age, he decided to buy a normal highway. On New Year's holidays, he gave himself a carbon highway bike on Shimano 105 for 55 thousand rubles and in the first hundred with the Dubna guys was amazed at how easy it was to go in the draft. He calls the roads behind the ferry ideal: few cars, good asphalt and the ability to draw a circle for any distance — and invites everyone to come for a ride.

Having broken his collarbone in front of the Garden Ring, Alexander spent part of the season as an expert on CyclingRace broadcasts. Commenting turned out to be a separate art: in the studio you get lost when the camera turns on, and on a four-hour race it becomes painful to fill the air. He himself admits that he likes writing more than talking, so his channel is almost entirely textual.

Falling on the descent and recovery

At the Turkish race, after 35 km of flat and long ascent, the descent to the finish line begins. Ten minutes after the start of the descent, Alexander did not have enough brakes or skills: in a series of turns, he did not dare to lay down at high speed, began to slow down with rim brakes, the wheels skidded, and he crashed into a stone. It helped, according to him, that he stayed behind the wheel until the last. There was only a scratch on the helmet, but the collarbone was broken with displacement and shrapnel. The ambulance had to wait about forty minutes, that day many riders fell on the descent.

Turkish doctors offered painkillers and a bandage, but in the new surgical center in Dubna, he was given a fixable plate — he had to pay for it himself, but he could move almost immediately. The insurance didn't work: it covered only the first weeks of stay in the country, and he was in Turkey longer. Despite the recommendations, after a couple of weeks on the trainer, he went outside. The plate should really be removed, and Alexander plans to do it after the season.

Fear of descents

Alexander admits that even before the fall he was with the descents on you, and after that he became even more careful. He tried to keep the trajectory for experienced racers, but every time he is afraid that he will tear off the wheel, although friends convince him that a good tire holds. Technical work in the pack is also hard for him: in the first season he was constantly being criticized. He believes that without a person who will show and explain, it is impossible to cope with this, and is ready to take paid descent lessons.

The practical conclusion from the fall is the transition to disc brakes: after them, Alexander says, even good rims cannot be compared. And on the slopes, he will now slow down once again and change the pads once again, just to stay intact.

HBFS: Club, team and "do no harm" tactics

HBFS, Alexander explains, is both a club and a team: a racing team rides in a white uniform, and the club includes former athletes-coaches and people who just got on a bike. The club gives you a uniform, joint training sessions and support, but does not require anything — neither to train with their coaches, nor to go racing, nor to take seats.

They have one team tactic: do not harm your own if he left in a breakaway. According to Alexander, it is pointless to build a game around one leader, as in professional cycling, in amateur races: the levels are too different, the coaches are noticeably stronger than the amateurs, and the team gets nothing for the victory of a teammate. The team standings consist of the results of the top five, so everyone just tries to get as high as possible. Because of this test, he decided to stay in Group A, although he was called to the elite.

Time trial according to feelings and bet on separation

Alexander's strengths are mountains and time trial, and a ragged group ride with a constant "gas brake," he says, turns it off. On time trial, it has not been following the watt layout for a long time: he looks first at the sensations, then at the pulse and speed, and last of all at the power. Starting one of the last, he knows the time of the rivals. The main rule is: on a flat time trial, do not pass the first half, because you can always add it. On his charts, the first half is always weaker than the second, and the coach likes it very much.

Alexander does not have a sprint: while he picks up the gear, the rivals are already ahead. Therefore, his path to victory is only a breakaway, and if the first one does not work out, you need to create a second and a third. Finishes from the group after three hours in the pack are not interesting to him. According to the same logic, he says that even the perfect eyeliner does not guarantee legs on the day of the start, and therefore focuses on the pulse and well-being, and not on numbers.

Plans, work and attitude to racing

A few weeks before the recording, Alexander thought about not racing at all, but a fresh successful result at the race and the noise around him cheered him up. The plan is a CyclingRace season with a minimum of passes and a victory in the team competition, perhaps a race in Belarus and a multi—stage tour to Mari El. The Turkish amateur team invited him to join them, but the agreement did not work out. He is not going to Tsar Grader yet — there is no gravel bike, and MTB is too technical for him. But he dreams of a bicycle for time trial and will get on it from the same fitter who made the highway bike fit.

At work, Alexander is engaged in managing the reputation of brands and individuals: search results, reviews, removal of false information — remotely, which allows you to train a lot. Of the professionals, he likes Remko Evenepul, Alexander Vlasov and Mathieu van der Poole, and when it's not Pogachar who wins, he rejoices. He speaks cautiously about doping: they catch him in professional sports, so he exists, but he doesn't understand what the point of it is for an amateur.

Food, alcohol and the thrill of the process

Alexander's diet is simple: oatmeal with bananas and berries and eggs in the morning, salad, side dish and meat for lunch, granola with Greek yogurt for a snack, side dish with protein in the evening, cottage cheese and kiwi for the night. He loves sweets and chips, does not refuse beer on weekends, but tries to eat less fast food and fatty. In the winter, he noticed that he could train without difficulty after drinking, and saw this as a problem, so now he is limited to one or two cans of beer.

Intervals on the street do not bring him pleasure, on a machine with music is another matter, but the race itself charges him. As a child, he sang for almost twenty years at the boys' choir school in Dubna, but has no plans to return. The main idea of the release is to get high from the process: without pleasure, according to him, nothing will come.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Introduction
2. 01:29Sports and cycling commentary
3. 03:02The first steps in cycling
4. 11:18Injury and recovery
5. 13:03Dangerous descent and fall
6. 24:29Treatment and insurance
7. 27:21Psychological consequences of the fall
8. 33:22HBFS Club
9. 38:23Team tactics in amateur racing
10. 41:49Work and cycling
11. 48:23How to pass the TIME trial
12. 54:14Plans for the season
13. 1:04:41Favorite racers
14. 1:14:50Breaks and sprints
15. 1:20:35Food and alcohol

Mentioned in this episode

HBFS · CyclingRace · Garden Ring · Gran Fondo · Tsar Grader · Eurosport · Intervals.icu · Remko Evenepul · Tadei Pogachar · Mathieu van der Poole