Max Karginov: how the world gravel, Traka and bicycle trends work
Title of the issue: "How to win a grav race//Max Karginov//Muur Cycling Club"
Max Karginov came to cycling through a Moscow fix-party, and now from Girona he tells the Russian-speaking audience about what is happening in world cycling. With Ilya, they figure out why Traka has become a European Unbound, how the formats of gravel races differ and what kind of rubber to put on them. In the second half — the trends of road and gravel bikes and an honest conversation about earnings in cycling blogging.
Guest
The author of the Muur Cycling Club telegram channel is a Muscovite who has been living in Girona since 2020, works in marketing and rides on highways and gravel.
Useful from the issue
- Book accommodation on Traka in advance
Thousands of people come to Girona for the race week, and there are also holidays and a flower festival nearby. Housing should be sought from December, otherwise only neighboring cities will remain.
- The width of the rubber under the coating
The worse the coating, the more wide rubber wins. Max considers 45-50 mm optimal for Traka, 40 mm is enough for fast races.
- Wide tires compensate for the technique
If the frame allows, put the rubber wider: she forgives mistakes and makes driving through difficult sections easier.
- On a long race, it's not just speed that decides
Quickly repair a puncture, eat right and distribute forces for many hours is more important than peak power.
- On-track support saves minutes
Even a friend with a bottle at the food point saves unnecessary stops. For top teams, a pit stop takes less than a minute.
- 200-250 km is a distance for a strong amateur
You can prepare for it and drive it with pleasure, and 300+ km is more of an elite story that requires special skills.
- Big star — for the sake of the chain line
Large front stars for professionals are needed not to turn the 11th star from behind, but to ride on the average stars of the cassette with less losses.
- On someone else's highway, follow the local rules
Speed limits, prohibition signs and pedestrian zones also apply to cyclists. It is precisely because of violations that local residents are dissatisfied.
From fix in Moscow to Girona
Max says that Muur in Flemish means a steep wall, and you can pronounce the name as you like - they will understand everywhere. The bike has been with him since childhood, but he returned to it seriously in his twenties through the komyut and the Moscow fix subculture: he bought the first fix on the forum for eight thousand rubles and collected with friends from what was. Then there were racing fix-projects, criteria, track, highway, and after moving to Spain it was tightened by gravel.
Max and his wife moved to Girona in the spring of 2020, a week before the lockdown, with a remote job in marketing. The city was chosen for the climate, the nature nearby and the opportunity to go on endless routes in 15 minutes. In the same place, in lockdown, on the advice of his wife, he started a telegram channel to talk about bicycles in simple words. The channel is growing almost without advertising, and Max is not looking at the number of subscribers, but at how the materials respond and diverge.
Where does the information and plans on YouTube come from
Max calls Girona the European cycling hub: professionals and people from the cycling industry live there, so you can see a lot right on the street or learn from friends who ride for brands. At the same time, brands are careful with leaks, and releases usually become known on the day of release. For a while he worked in a bicycle project in Girona, which gave access to prototypes and insiders.
Max launched his YouTube channel recently and plans to release a video magazine once a month: what happened during the month, races, technical innovations and some personal stories. The pace is not fast yet: the family is expecting their first child, and because of this, he is skipping Traka this year.
Traka — European Unbound
Traka has grown from a meeting for 120 people into one of the largest gravel events in Europe: this year there are about 4,800 registered at distances of 100, 200, 360 and 560 km. There is not enough accommodation in a small Girona for a race week, so Max advises booking back in December. The race is held by a local company that makes off-road events and the Gravel Earth Series; according to him, this is gravel, where it is more important to make an event that you want to return to than to gather professionals for a photo. Separately, the organizers monitor garbage and ecology.
Officially, Traka does not call itself a race: for this, according to local laws, the entire route would have to be blocked, which would cost a lot of money. Therefore, the roads are open and participants are required to comply with the rules, but there is a protocol, a podium and prize money. Ilya notices that the "Tsar Grader" is arranged in the same way. The main distance has now become 360 km: all tops go there. Max is looking for favorites among those who ride long races all season — the ability to repair a puncture in half a minute, eat and distribute forces for 11 hours is more important here than pure speed.
He speaks calmly about local residents: there are no conflicts if visitors follow the rules — speed limits, "bricks" and pedestrian zones also apply to cyclists.
Formats of gravel races and what kind of tires to put
Traka and American Unbound are close in dates, so it's difficult to combine them: American racers usually bet on Unbound, which is part of the prestigious Lifetime Grand Prix series. According to Max's observation, few people are specially brought to the UCI Gravel World Championships. His favorite format is the Belgian Waffle Ride in San Diego, where half of the distance goes on asphalt, and half on dirt and singletreks: the idea is that the perfect bike does not exist.
The Grinduro series are tougher routes with stones, where tires in inches or hard MTB are appropriate. On Traka, Max considers the optimal width to be 45-50 mm, and 40 mm will be enough for fast Baltic stages. There are UCI races on absolutely flat fields in Belgium and the Netherlands, mountain starts around Girona and ultra-distances in the Pyrenees.
The finishes are different: on Unbound there were sprints in groups of nine to ten people, and on Traka 360 riders usually come alone. Support plays a huge role: for top teams, a pit stop resembles Formula 1, and even a friend who will serve a bottle to an amateur saves time at stops.
Why does gravel grow so much
Max explains the phenomenon of gravel simply: adults are increasingly coming to the bike, and many are afraid to ride next to cars. Gravel allows you to stay away from traffic, be in nature, and falls from the side seem less traumatic. The gravel pit is versatile and all-season, you can ride it to work with wings and participate in races, and MTB requires more skills.
Racing gravel, in his opinion, will continue to grow for a long time, including in Russia, where five to six races per summer have appeared within reach of Moscow and St. Petersburg for several years. He considers the distance of 200-250 km ideal for a strong amateur: you can prepare for it and drive it with pleasure. Ilya says that the cash prize for 250 km "Tsar Grader" from one of the bloggers lured several strong riders to a long distance.
Money in blogging and what to read
Whether there is money in cycling, according to Max, depends on whether you know how to bring an audience and sell yourself. Cycling brands don't pay the most: a blogger can work with hotels, airlines and other partners if his stories include trips and life around racing. He gives examples of European authors for whom content has become a full-fledged job. Separately, Max explains his principled position against the sale and purchase of bicycles of dubious origin: his professional friends in Girona have repeatedly been left without bicycles due to thefts.
He himself reads the independent bike edition of Escape Collective and advises his subscription, watches videos of experienced bike journalists and local authors from Girona, follows Russian-speaking bloggers, including Misha the Athlete.
Road and gravel trends
About the new Colnago Y1Rs, Max says that this is a tool for a specific best racer in the world: it was made as fast as possible in the air tube, beauty is secondary here. On the highway, according to his observation, after the era of universal bicycles, there is again a division into ultralight and aerodynamic. Then there will be more gears, an electronic transmission in all price segments, 28-30 mm tires as the norm and large front stars — not to turn a heavy gear, but for the sake of a straight chain line on the working stars. His favorite road racer is the Cannondale SuperSix.
In gravel, the main trends are wide rubber and wide rims: on a poor coating, MTB tires turn out to be faster than gravel tires, and on a smooth one the difference is small. Bicycles are divided into racing, adventure and universal, and Max calls the third trend cushioning, including special gravel forks with a small stroke. He himself drives a Santa Cruz Stigmata, where a very wide rubber fits, and considers it the best way to compensate for the lack of equipment. In the SRAM and Shimano dispute, he is for SRAM: he admits that Shimano works a little better on the highway, but appreciates the compatibility of SRAM components between MTB, gravel and highway.
Timestamps
- 00:00Are you ready?
- 00:35Who is Max
- 01:47What does Muur mean
- 02:56How it all started
- 08:54Where does the information come from
- 19:49Transfer to Girona
- 25:19Fuss around Traka
- 27:52How Traka is organized
- 38:09The phenomenon of gravel
- 43:20Traka and Unbound favorites
- 50:17Formats of gravel races and how to ride them
- 55:54Finishes and support teams
- 1:10:00Is there money in cycling blogging
- 1:20:23Highway trends
- 1:32:40Gravel trends and a personal bike
Mentioned in this episode
Traka · Unbound · Belgian Waffle Ride · Grinduro · Gravel Earth Series · Lifetime Grand Prix · Tsar Grader · Escape Collective · Colnago Y1Rs · Santa Cruz Stigmata · SRAM · Shimano