Lesha Chepenko: how a team of friends makes Gravel Instinct

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Useful from the issue

1. Choose rubber according to photo intelligence

   The organizers of Instinct upload photos from reconnaissance to the channel. Use them to decide: fast gravel rubber is about 48 mm, with dirt it is angrier, and it is better not to take narrow tires.

2. On race day — one role per person

   Everyone can prepare the race a little bit, but on the day itself everyone should be responsible for one direction. The combination of two or three cases leads to the fact that they do not have time anywhere.

3. Have a backup plan for the water

   If the contractor carries the water, keep a backup option and check the delivery in advance. Instinct was saved by the fact that the crash happened the day before, and not on the day of the race.

4. The markup is removed — check it

   Tapes on important turns disappear even after checking the day before. Participants should always go with a GPS track, and the organizers should think about how to protect the markup.

5. Reconnaissance changes the distance

   The track on the map and the actual road differ: deep sand can make a section impassable. Before promising a distance, you need to ride it.

6. Sprinting machines require maintenance

   Roller machines are loose under powerful racers. Before each sprint, basic maintenance is needed, and eventually a complete bulkhead.

7. Divide the work chat into branches

   Separate branches for the route, merch, partners, design and finance plus fludilka help a team of twenty people not to lose what is important.

Sprints on machines in the bar

The latest event of the team is Sprint Instinct, the annual winter machine race at the Punk Fiction bar, which Lyosha has been helping to do for the third year. Two fixes with the same frames, outriggers and saddles are placed on Sprintik roller machines, about 80 participants ride along the tournament grid, the rest come to hang out — in winter everyone missed each other.

This time there were four technical breakdowns and the software fell off, so the team decided to fully service the machines or make new ones: the participants are more powerful every year, and the machines are loosening up more. Not every bicycle gets up on such machines: you need a fork for a regular axle, so they use simple steel fixings.

Gravel Instinct-2026: route, distances and rubber

The race traditionally takes place in mid-July with a start at 10 am. The region is still being chosen — somewhere near Moscow, with a pond, a convenient clearing for a camp and a minimum of intersections with major highways. Most likely, there will be two laps: about 100 km for the "hummingbird" without restrictions on bicycles and 150-200 km for the "swifts"; fixers ride in the "capercaillie" category. The names appeared when the first route was planned to lead to the Cockerels.

The distances of the team always change in the course of exploration: once the scouts got bogged down on the fifth kilometer in the thirty-centimeter sand of Meshchera and turned around, and 160 km was reduced to 120. In another year, the track, on the contrary, was inflated. There is no large set on Instinct, so it's realistic to drive 200 km. Lesha advises you to focus on tires based on photos from reconnaissance in the channel: he would take a quick gravel rubber about 48 mm wide, and in case of dirt — something more cruel. If Thunder Burt 2.1 fits into the frame, this is an almost win—win option. He would not take narrow tires: it is not known whether there will be a swamp and a ford.

Explorers and hidden Frames

The original part of the Instinct is hunting for frames from partners. In 2024, the keys to the locks with which the frames were fastened to the tree were hidden along the route, but no one found them — but the organizers, hiding the keys in the morning before the start, lost the car key.

In 2025, they made a full-fledged category of researchers: more than a dozen points of interest were put on the map, and the one who collected everything got a chance to win the frame. Several people deliberately abandoned the race for the sake of hunting. Volodya Alexandrov came first, the second frame was taken by two girls who collected points together and finished together. The team is ready to repeat the format if there are partners with frames.

How the team works

There are about twenty people and tens of thousands of messages in the organizers' working chat. The chat is divided into branches: a route with all tracks and photos from exploration, merch, sponsors, design, finance and a separate fludilka. Of the eight people in the first squad, no one left, and the team has almost tripled. Among them are people from the fixers' community with experience in organizing, designers who draw posters, numbers and a frog-the symbol of the race, and the main route, known for one-day 200 km races in the Moscow region.

Everyone is doing a little preparation, but on the day of the race the roles should be strictly distributed. The main lesson of 2025 is that when one person is responsible for two or three things, he does not have time anywhere. In 2026, the rule is simple — one person, one direction. The team is open to volunteers and partners: you can write to the channel or to any organizer.

Shoals on which to learn

In 2025, the delivery of water failed: the contractor's driver did not find the clearing, and on the eve of the race the team had to buy five-liter bottles in supermarkets. On the day of the race, Lyosha once again went to the store for water 15 km from the food point, realizing that there was not enough stock.

The second problem is markup. It was installed in a week, checked the day before, but it became clear from the video of the participants that in many important turns of the tape the locals took it off. In addition, at the beginning of the race, many people lost their GPS track, and the stragglers had to navigate by the remnants of the marking. The team is still thinking about how to protect the markup.

Tsar Grader, series and highway

Ilya explains why the Tsar Grader became circular: a legal race with a lap of about 40 km from Batetsky is the most realistic option, half asphalt, half a good grader. There will be no chocolate area — it is far from the circle. About 30 people handed over slots after the format change, and Ilya hopes that fans of the long epic will be picked up by Instinct.

Lesha proposes to develop the Russian Gravel Series as a common community: participants go from race to race, in 2025 at least one stage was driven by about 1200 people. He considers the team competition difficult — only a few teams travel the entire series — but you can try. Lyosha also remembers the Tour de Selishchi with gadflies, from which he was saved by a pack that caught up with him. Ilya replies that he no longer does road races without overlapping, but for 2027 he is thinking about a legal road race — perhaps in Veliky Novgorod itself.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Introduction and Frog T-shirt
2. 01:35How Gravel Instinct began
3. 02:25Sprint Instinct on machines
4. 05:41Who makes the routes
5. 08:54Lyosha's new bike
6. 10:33Which tires to take on Instinct
7. 12:12Distances and categories 2026
8. 16:16The new Tsar Grader format
9. 18:39Glade and camp
10. 20:15How is Instinct different from other races
11. 22:41Category of researchers
12. 26:46Gravel rating
13. 27:35The organizing team
14. 35:41Promo videos and content
15. 38:06Shoals: water, markings, GPS
16. 44:33Where does the name come from
17. 46:12Team standings of the series
18. 47:49Tour de Selishchi and road plans
19. 53:29Telegram Blocking and Spring Plans

Mentioned in this episode

Gravel Instinct · Sprint Instinct · Russian Gravel Series · Tsar Grader · Pokrova · Tour de Selishchi · Punk Fiction · Sprintik · Shulz · Onlyfix · Schwalbe Thunder Burt · MyRace