Valentin Kushnarev: skiing childhood, discipline and cycling in exile
Release name: "Valentin Kushnarev"
Valentin Kushnarev started skating seriously only in 2018, but quickly became one of the strongest fans of the northwest. Ilya asks him where the discipline of getting up before dawn for a long workout comes from, how childhood skiing helps on the slopes and what he learned from moving to Georgia — from local group races to the history of medical insurance.
Guest
An amateur cyclist from Petrozavodsk, originally from Apatity, a former alpine skier; at the time of recording, he trains and rides in Tbilisi.
Useful from the issue
- A bet on discipline, not inspiration
Motivation is a short push, and regular workouts give the result. Valentin continued to train even when the racing season was canceled.
- Train while the family is sleeping
With a small child, Valentin put training sessions in the early morning so that they would not take time away from the family.
- Compare yourself with yourself
The strong should be imitated, but their level can be demotivating. Valentin advises you to track your own progress and enjoy small achievements — for example, improved time on the segment.
- Cycle three plus one
After an illness from overtraining, Valentin returned to the plan: three weeks with a growing volume, then a week of rest. He now considers stress and travel as a burden.
- Maltodextrin is cheaper than gels
The basis of most gels is maltodextrin. It can be bought separately and diluted in a flask; the second flask should be left with water to wash down the sweet.
- Dry bars are for volume
Homemade oatmeal and dried fruit bars are good on a quiet long trip, but on an intense race they are difficult to swallow.
- Power in winter helps on shaking
Barbell, pull-ups and push-ups in winter, according to Valentin's experience, noticeably facilitated the heavy shaking race, where many hands fail.
- Check the insurance conditions in advance
The insurance company refused Valentin, citing a chronic illness. You can defend the payment, but the translation of documents and a lawyer can cost almost as much as the treatment.
- In Turkey — slower in turns
Slippery asphalt and loose crumbs in the corners there bring down even experienced riders. Turns are better to pass with a margin.
From Apatity to Petrozavodsk
Valentin was born in the Arctic Circle, in Apatity, and moved to Petrozavodsk in 2014. I had a bicycle in my childhood: with my father, they drove along a dirt road for seven kilometers to a spring for water, and interest in endurance sports, Valentin believes, went from there.
He started riding constantly in August 2018 - a familiar Petrozavodsk cyclist Max Kravtsov helped choose the first bike, a lightweight aluminum hybrid with a ram and wings. Later, Valentin learned about Anton Davydov's cross-country races in St. Petersburg and began to prepare for big starts.
Ski base
In the second grade, Valentin was enrolled in the ski section on a gentle urban slope, then there was the Olympic reserve school in Kirovsk: trampolines, flips, stretching, a lot of falls and high speeds — once the clock showed 94 km/h. The coach was very tough as a child, and Valentin says bluntly that you can't treat children like that.
According to him, this base is still working: strong hips, the ability to group and keep balance, a calm attitude to speed. Hence, a well—staged sprint - ski descent is a few minutes of work at the limit. But he is still learning to keep high power for a long time. At school, he did everything in a row and once took sixth place at the All-Russian Physical education Olympiad.
After school came a period that Valentin calls gray: ten years almost without sports. I returned his bike, and with it the habit of the regime.
Motivation and discipline
Ilya notices that according to Strava, Valentin gives the impression of a man of iron discipline: he gets up at five in the morning to have a long workout. Valentin explains that he trained so early that classes would not take time away from the family — at the end of 2019, his son was born.
Motivation, according to him, is a short kick, but discipline works. In 2022, he lost his job, and the racing season was given up, but he continued to train. His motivation is not to overtake someone: to go higher, further, to see more, to improve his time on the segment. He calls sport the core on which the rest of his life is strung, and he wants to instill this love in his son.
Last fall, amid relocation and stress, Valentin overtrained and dropped out for almost a month and a half due to illness. Now he takes care of himself and trains about 10 hours a week, and builds a plan in cycles: three weeks with an increase in volume, a week of rest.
Insurance history
The question from the listener is about the hospital in Georgia. Valentin bought Russian travel insurance online, and a couple of weeks later, against the background of weakened immunity, he began to have a severe skin reaction with damage to the mucous membranes. The insurance company itself sent him to the hospital, where he spent about a week under ivs.
On the day of discharge, a refusal came: the insurance company considered the disease chronic, and even before the result of the key analysis came, and it turned out to be negative. Valentin found a lawyer from Petrozavodsk who won a similar case, but calculated that the treatment cost about 43 thousand rubles, and the notarial translation of documents and legal services cost even more than 30 thousand without guarantees, with a separate court for reimbursement of expenses. His conclusion: insurance companies seem to expect that few will fight.
Racing, team and coach
Since the end of 2021, Valentin has been working with a coach and preparing for the 2022 season, intending to race a mountain bike: he no longer had enough rivals in cross-country, and the strongest riders of the northwest perform in MTB. Due to the loss of his job, the season did not take place, but he managed, together with his partner, to win the gravel category at the Michurinsky Bike Marathon.
For some time he played for the Petrozavodsk triathlon team: a friend who led it called him to assemble the rider's bicycle part, although he does not run or swim. He calls the marathon the hardest race in his life, where he once came third: the muscles of his arms and legs were reduced to the end. Winter barbell exercises, push-ups and pull-ups, according to him, noticeably helped to endure the shaking.
His longest trip is about 230 km, a dirt log in Karelia. He has been keeping Everesting in his head for a long time: he has already ridden half of Everesting alone, but he needs an assistant for the full one and a point with food.
Nutrition during training and racing
Once in the first season, Valentin was severely hungry for a hundred and since then he has always been thinking about food. Now he takes only a drink during training until three o'clock, and before morning training on weekdays he does not have breakfast; before a long Saturday trip he always eats.
For the first races, he made homemade bars from oatmeal, dried fruits and honey, but on an intense race they are too dry — so good for volume and touring. After studying the composition of the gels, he realized that the basis of the majority was maltodextrin, and began to buy it separately and dilute it in a flask. At the race, one flask is with maltodextrin, the second with water to wash down the sweetness.
Cycling in Georgia and Turkey
In Turkey, the climbs are warmer and steeper, but the asphalt is slippery, and there are loose crumbs in turns — almost everyone fell there, according to Valentin. Turns have to pass noticeably slower. There is a high concentration of strong riders with whom it is impossible to drive quietly.
The Tbilisi community he describes as more relaxed and very large: announcements with pace are published in the general chat, about 14 people came for the ride after the New Year, they divided into flat and mountain groups, they go to beautiful places on weekends, and in the middle of the week a slow social ride from the coffee shop is organized. Riding in the city is not easy: car doors open directly onto the roadway, turn signals are not used, there are traffic jams. In Turkey, drivers, according to both, are slower and more predictable.
Of the trips, this is the only tour in Finland in 2019, with tents that were never needed: the entire route fit into Finnish forest shelters-lava. Ilya remembers how he drove through Finland in the same way in 2018.
Timestamps
- 00:00Acquaintance: from Apatity to Petrozavodsk
- 01:37Childhood and the first bike
- 04:13Petrozavodsk Cycling Community
- 09:58Ski past
- 21:26Motivation of a bicycle enthusiast
- 26:18Hospital in Georgia and insurance failure
- 38:39Plans and races in Georgia
- 43:36Coach and racing in 2022
- 48:32Triathlon team
- 52:45Everesting and long distances
- 57:45Tour of Finland
- 1:01:53Nutrition during training and racing
- 1:07:36Turkey vs. Georgia
- 1:13:24Driving around Tbilisi
- 1:19:06The philosophy of the bicycle
Mentioned in this episode
Strava · Michurinsky Bike Marathon · Baltic Star · Everesting