Novgorod racing plans for 2024, tandem on the Tsar Grader and honestly about colonoscopy
Release name: "Cycling and colonoscopy"
Informal release: Ilya and his longtime friend from the Novgorod races Kostya Gavrilov gathered on Friday evening to chat. The conversation is about why you don't want to turn the machine in winter, how the 2024 season will be arranged — from the cyclocross Cup combined with St. Petersburg to the last Tour de Selishchi — and what a colonoscopy without sedation is.
Guest
Novgorod amateur racer, Ilya's long-time racing buddy, for the second time in the podcast after the release about the "bicycle NPC"; now he is a FATRACING coach.
Other issues with this guest
Useful from the issue
- Winter rest is not a sentence
The interlocutors give examples of riders who hardly train in winter, start in March and perform well. Without the machine, the season is not lost, especially if you maintain the base in the hall.
- A separate bike for spring
Ilya bought a simple fix to go out into the spring mud without killing the new main bike. A separate bike for the off-season protects expensive components.
- One rubber on gravel and cross
With a tire tolerance of 38 mm in cyclocross, you can ride the same tires on both gravel and cross-country races.
- A neutral start should be organized
The motorcyclists found on the spot immediately went ahead, and there was no neutral start. Escorts need to be instructed in advance.
- Starting pockets instead of chaos
At the mass start, Ilya plans pockets: strong in front, weak in the back. This reduces the risk of blockages in the first minutes of the race.
- The common cup unites the cities
If you need four stages out of six in two cities to qualify, people start going to each other. This is how the audience of both organizers is growing.
- Colonoscopy: Get ready to prepare
The hardest part is to drink a few liters of solution the day before. It is worth asking about sedation in advance: without it, the procedure can be painful.
Off-season without a machine
Both interlocutors do not want anything cycling in winter. One of them felt better after a video of a famous racer who admitted that he does anything but a bicycle in the off-season and can't stand even an hour on the machine. Another familiar forty-year-old racer, according to Ilya, also hardly trains in winter, rides for a two-suspension skill, starts in March and performs well.
Against this background, those who have been methodically turning the machine all winter seem to them to be cyborgs. They also recall the opinion of a friend: such riders may be greedy and do not rest, so their peak form does not come at the right time. The result of the conversation is a dispute for a thousand rubles about who is faster at the summer MTB race: the one who plows all winter, or the one who is resting.
Bicycles for the new season
Ilya sold his highway bike — he went to St. Petersburg, to the triathlon — and, according to him, almost accidentally ordered a fix with a wide rubber. The idea is to start riding on the street earlier and not go out into the spring mud on a newly assembled main bike. This main one is a cyclocross Specialized Crux of the latest generation with large gaps for wide tires. Ilya would have changed the electric band SRAM: he doesn't understand the cult around it. I am glad that 38 mm rubber is now allowed in cyclocross — some tires are suitable for both gravel and cross-country.
A light frame, Ilya admits, does little with a weight under 90 kg in the off-season, so he is going to reduce the weight. Another plan is to assemble a Chinese carbon hardtail and drive MTB marathons at a full distance of 40 km. The guest remakes his old highway for a flat steering wheel, which means he will go on the "Time trial" without aerobars.
United Cyclocross Cup
Following the example of the Leningrad Cycling Marathon Cup, where different organizers count the total points, Ilya agreed with the St. Petersburg organizers on a joint cyclocross series. There will be six stages, four will be counted, so at least one will have to pass in another city. So Novgorodians will have a reason to go to St. Petersburg, and Petersburgers will have a reason to come to Novgorod. The idea was supported quickly, and Ilya took over the tables and scoring — he likes to do this.
The Novgorod stages are a traditional April classic, a heavy track on a ski slope, where light riders dominate the climbs, and a park. The guest loves cyclocross most of all: an hour is free, there is no asphalt, it doesn't hurt so much to fall. He admits that with age the highway scares more and more.
The last Tour de Selishchi
Ilya repeats that 2024 will be the last year for the Tour de Selishchi in its current form: the race is on public roads without overlap, and if something happens, the prosecutor's office will come to him. Then he wants to walk around the offices and find out if it can be legalized. The alternative is the city criterion, which is also more spectacular for the public. The guest regrets: it was the Tour de Selishchi that once gave him the passion for road racing.
Changes in the regulations: only steering wheel-ram for the sake of safety in the group, categories by age, not by type of bike, normal absolute standings for men and women. Pockets will appear at the start so that the strong will stand in front. Ilya does not like medals for participation. About 150 people signed up for registration, and this time he wants to drive in a car ahead of the race with a walkie-talkie, and not sit all day at the finish line.
Tsar Grader: new route and tandem
The new Tsar Grader route is about 180 km, with a slightly larger share of asphalt and a beautiful alley, start and finish in a clearing. Ilya also thought about the 200-kilometer route from point A to point B, but decided that this was too much. The guest praises last year's track: the balance of gravel and asphalt makes it ideal for a gravel pit, and with solid gravel the chances would be MTB.
Work on mistakes is also being discussed: last year a neutral start did not work out, because the motorcyclists were found right on the spot and immediately went ahead. The guest passed the dangerous bridge on foot — he was still driving at the end of the protocol and did not fight for anything, although he changed cameras twice. This time he will ride on a camera-less car, and together with Ilya they planned to drive a race on a gravel tandem, if they manage to find it for rent or buy it.
Colonoscopy through the patient's eyes
In the middle of a conversation about weight, we are talking about gastroscopy, and then about colonoscopy. One of the interlocutors went through it twice without sedation and tells without embellishment: the preparation is difficult — you need to drink several liters of solution in a limited time, which after the third liter no longer climbs. The procedure itself lasts about twenty minutes, but the bowel bends are very painful and it seems that an hour and a half has passed.
The doctor was positive and joked about sharp turns, and the nurse allowed to swear. The conclusion is simple: the sensations are individual, someone calls the procedure an adventure for twenty minutes, but if the doctor said that it is necessary, you have to go. It is worth asking in advance about sedation.
Track, coach, and doubts
Ilya recently watched the track race for the first time in St. Petersburg, and both are impressed by the speed and the points race. The interlocutors discuss the ideas of the guests for the podcast — from strong fans with incredible watts to colorful characters from deep YouTube — and Ilya's plans to record a series of issues with women. It is more difficult for a guest to listen to such releases: women's races seem to him to be a separate world.
The guest would like a coach, but not from a rigid old school that grinds everyone except the strongest, but one who would provide stable progress relative to oneself. At the same time, he honestly admits: with ten hours of work a day, it will not be possible to train seriously. Both call themselves strange cyclists — not athletes and not tourists, just people who love bikes, and Ilya, for some reason, makes races.
Timestamps
- 00:00Meeting six months later
- 00:48Off-season without a bike
- 03:15New fix and sold highway
- 06:30Races of 2024
- 07:20United Cyclocross Cup
- 09:00Tsar Grader in tandem
- 14:35The last Tour de Selishchi
- 19:27Who should I invite to the podcast
- 24:16Specialized Crux
- 25:52Gastroscopy and colonoscopy
- 29:56Highways, "La Strada" and plans
- 43:52Do I need a coach
- 46:17MTB marathons and bunny hop
- 49:31Track cycling
- 59:15A thousand-dollar bet and a Grader's route
Mentioned in this episode
Tour de Selishchi · Tsar Grader · Time Trial · La Strada · Specialized Crux · SRAM · Strava · Zwift