Watching the race with Palyc: Pogacar, narrow handlebars and an amateur license in Serbia
Title of the issue: "POGACHAR BENT EVERYONE DOWN AGAIN //NARROW STEERING WHEELS SHIT"
This issue is a stream: Ilya and Kostya, together with Palych, who is in touch from Serbia, are watching the spring gravel classic, where Pogachar falls, catches up and leaves alone. Between comments on the race, the conversation turns to technology: why Palych does not recommend narrow handlebars and short connecting rods, how MTB inserts in tires save wheels and how amateur sports in Serbia differs from Russian.
Guests
A bikefitter and trainer who lives in Novi Sad, races on MTB and highways and receives a sports license in Serbia.
Ilya's friend, with whom they rode the Tsar Grader on a tandem; now — FATRACING coach.
Other issues with these guests
Useful from the issue
- Reliability is more important than grams
In a race for survival, a technical meeting negates any weight savings. For the sake of reliability, Palych agreed to an extra 50 grams per wheel.
- Inserts in MTB tires
Inserts like the Vittoria Airliner allow you to ride at low pressure without breaking down to the rim, protect carbon wheels and improve grip.
- Short connecting rods are not for everyone
The 165 mm connecting rods are recommended by the bikefiter mainly on cutting and triathlon bikes with limited hip mobility. For an ordinary highway, this is more of a fashion.
- Steering wheel by height, not by fashion
Too narrow steering wheel for a large rider impairs handling in the group. Palych drives about 40 cm on the highway and would put 42 cm on cyclocross.
- The second zone is the foundation
Most of the volume in the second zone forms an aerobic base, on which the intervals already fall. But only zone 2 speed can not be trained.
- Skills are more important than numbers
Instead of endless watt analysis, it is better to learn to own a bike, ride with strong groups and gain racing experience.
- Add a gym and a stretch
Cycling alone rests on the ceiling. To go beyond your limits, you need exercises outside the bike.
Race live
The broadcast is on white dirt sectors. The speakers discuss Pidcock, who now rides for another team, and agree that in interviews he turned out to be a pleasant guy and completely reckless on descents. Pogachar is respected, but his dominance doesn't appeal to them: they want real competition. On one of the turns, Pogachar starts braking too late and flies off the road, but quickly returns, catches up and eventually rides off to victory. Everyone is impressed by his calmness and self-confidence, he is called a historical figure, whose contemporaries they are lucky to be.
Along the way, they discuss new aerodynamic bicycles — according to them, they get used to unusual eye shapes over time, but they still like classic frames more.
Tandem, dog and gravel races
Kostya recalls last year's "Tsar Grader" in tandem with Ilya: the car is heavy, you can't go around any pit, but on asphalt ascents they jokingly attacked the whole group. On the first hard grader in their group, the rider crashed into a dog that ran out, flew over it, but ten minutes later he caught up with the leaders again. All three of them call the tandem a test that everyone should pass.
"Tsar Grader" Palych and Kostya are waiting as the main start of the year. Ilya talks about Fury Road, where after the rain the track was flooded with huge puddles, and about his gravel rating, which should motivate you to go to all gravel races. At the end, he shares his expectations from the Tsar Grader 2025 route: more high—speed sections, sand, quarries, a ford or a suspension bridge - moments where the ability to own a bicycle, not just watts, decides.
Tires, inserts and reliability
Ilya rides a Specialized Crux gravel truck, where he changed part of the transmission, and praises Tufo Thundero gravel tires. Palych says that his last season at MTB largely ended with gatherings because of the wheels: a broken carbon rim, a slashed tire. The solution was the Vittoria Airliner inserts: they add about 50 grams per wheel, but allow you to ride at low pressure without breaking down to the rim and noticeably improve grip.
The conclusion of both is that in the race for survival, reliability is more important than weight. With the insert, according to Palych, the bike begins to forgive a lot, and the loss on the asphalt is minimal.
Bike fit: connecting rods and steering wheel width
As a bikefitter, Palych sees the fashion for short connecting rods and narrow handlebars and is skeptical about it. He recommends connecting rods 165 mm mainly on cutting and triathlon bikes if a person is hampered by hip joint mobility. Very short connecting rods for a rider of normal height, in his opinion, are the marketing of manufacturers: when riding while standing in the lift, the lever does not go anywhere.
He himself rides a steering wheel about 40 cm on the main highway and 38 cm on a criterion bike, for cyclocross he would put 42 cm, there is a wide trail steering wheel on the MTB. He considers the narrow steering wheel of a tall rider dangerous: in a dense group it is difficult to react to a push. He explains fashion by the fact that manufacturers earn money from those who repeat after professionals.
Specialized, painting and assembling dreams
Palych has long preferred Specialized: according to him, this brand has the least controversial solutions, although he has complaints about some of the shock-absorbing units of gravel diggers. He considers the Tarmac SL6 to be the most beautiful bike and tells how much effort it cost to make completely internal wiring on it: there was no way to find a plug for hidden hydraulic lines on free sale, it was taken through friends from London, and then repainted to match the color of the frame.
He does not use Chinese frames and components himself and does not recommend them to anyone. For the soul, he has a fully analog steel bike with rim brakes and heavy gears. About the pedals, his experience is as follows: Look fails, and Shimano works flawlessly.
From amateurs to pros: how it works in Serbia
In Serbia, amateur races are held by the federation, participation is often free, and the transition to the elite is controlled not by the rider himself, but by the club and coach who declare the athlete to start. The team is responsible for violations, and the license may be taken away from it. After a confident victory at the criterion, Palych was offered to go to the professionals. Bureaucracy hinders: the license depends on the residence permit and sports insurance.
He felt the difference at the combined race, where professionals and amateurs were allowed to go together because of the downpour and wind: strong riders rolled the group into the wind from the start, and he, having broken his power records, still could not resist. Separately, he admires the Slovenian cycling school, which the locals consider to be the strongest in the region. But there are almost no underground parties like Russian fix- and gravel movements in Serbia, and he misses it.
How does Palych train
Now Palych does not work systematically with the coach, but he leads several students and often goes to their training sessions. He rides almost every day, in winter mostly on MTB on soils, without a machine. He criticizes the obsession with numbers: instead of comparing yourself by watts, you should learn to own a bike and ride more in a group with strong riders.
In the dispute about "zone 2", the interlocutors agree on a basic approach: to roll most of the volume, about 70-80%, in the second zone, and to build intensive work on the formed base. You can't get fast without high-speed work, and in order to go beyond your limits, you need to add a gym and a stretch to the bike.
Timestamps
- 00:00The beginning of the stream
- 00:53Briefly about the race
- 08:26Pogachar fell
- 11:01Medical minute
- 17:09Cycling races in the Balkans
- 20:09Tandem on Tsar Grader and the story about a dog
- 25:19Fury Road
- 27:58Bicycles and settings of Palych
- 31:59Bike fit: connecting rods and handlebars
- 38:25Why Specialized
- 43:32Internal wiring and Chinese frames
- 56:23From amateurs to pros
- 1:08:59How does Palych train
- 1:28:36Life in Serbia and license
- 1:35:49Insights on the "Tsar Grader" 2025
Mentioned in this episode
Tsar Grader · Fury Road · Specialized Tarmac · Specialized Crux · Tufo Thundero · Vittoria Airliner · Shimano · Look · Pogachar · Pidkok