Valeria Vornik: how the resident doctor did the Pokrov gravel race

Guest

Useful from the issue

1. Check the route in recent days

   The field on the route was plowed a couple of days before the start, and we learned about it from the participant. The control passage should be done as close as possible to the race, especially on agricultural land.

2. Narrow passages through settlements are dangerous

   The passage, which is quietly tolerated on reconnaissance, can cause a conflict when dozens of riders are riding there. It is better to coordinate or bypass sections through the co-op and private territories.

3. Camp and race are different tasks

   Lera divided the training into a camp and a race. Entertainment for those who do not go, you need to prepare in advance, otherwise they will be forgotten in the hustle and bustle.

4. Look for help nearby

   The first race is easier to do where there are people of their own: Lera's parents drove the team, looked at the points and helped at the start. Local reliance simplifies the entire organization.

5. Choose a logistics location

   Vladimir was chosen because it is convenient to get there from Moscow, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod, and dachas, highways and closed facilities interfere with the Moscow region.

6. Do not put the race close to the next one

   The participants complained of fatigue when the "Cover" went right after the Tsar Grader. Post dates with other organizers so that people have time for both races.

7. A beginner needs a safe place to ask questions

   Women's races, according to Lera's experience, give newcomers the opportunity to ask anything without toxic answers. This keeps people in the bike.

A bike for a thrill

In winter, Lera hardly rides: the machine is assembled behind the chest of drawers, but in its place is now a Christmas tree, and this, according to her, is more important. She goes to the gym, sometimes rides around the area on a city bike and honestly admits that every spring she comes to the season with the question of how to drive 50 km at all. The opening of the last season turned out to be harsh: instead of Greece, the friends went to Abkhazia and immediately followed the broken road, after which it was painful to get on the saddle the next morning.

Lera has been riding seriously since 2019: she bought a single, a helmet and a lock, and then she and her friend drove it to Vladimir in ordinary sneakers and with a backpack. There was a period when she drove more than a hundred kilometers in the morning with a triathlete friend and thought about competitions, but the interest in volumes has gone, and now she rides for fun and trips. The plans are to change the highway to a gravel road, to which she has been going since 2021, because she is tired of constantly rearranging the saddle on the fraternal bike.

"Reverse" as a reference point

Lera got to the last "Reverse" spontaneously, on a carbon gravel with wide tires borrowed from a friend: on it, she says, she flew like a swallow. It was right after the state exams at the medical school, and the race felt like a way out of a dark cave into a bright world: mutual assistance, discussions after the finish, a party until the morning and a whole city of tents, which then disappears in a few hours, leaving only trees.

Ilya recalls that after the Tsar Grader, several people also stayed in the forest until Monday. Lera confirms: after the "Covers", the family with the children stayed in their parking lot until Wednesday. She did not want to copy the "Reverse", but admits that any event somehow borrows successful ideas from others.

The camp and the race are two different projects

Lera divides the "Cover" into two parts: the camp and the race. The main goal was just to gather friends and acquaintances to hang out together, so the emphasis was on entertainment. Many of the plans — games and competitions for those who do not go to the race — were forgotten in the rush, but according to reviews on social networks, everyone is happy with the atmosphere.

Lera herself was able to rest only by nine in the evening, when she finally sat down on a folding chair and sat on it until two in the morning — ate, looked at the sky, danced a little. Ilya confirms a familiar feeling: the organizer's brain is busy with other processes, and he hardly sees his own event. On Sunday, by four o'clock, everything was dismantled, the garbage was collected, and an empty clearing in the rain, according to Lera, had an existential crisis.

The plowed field and the defenders of the SNT

Expectations and reality did not completely coincide with the race, and Lera does not deny organizational blunders. The last control passage of the route was at the beginning of the week, and on Friday the participant who went to ride the route reported that the field had been plowed over. It turned out that in the chernozem areas the field is left for several years, and then plowed without any public schedule — judging by the freshness of the chernozem, on Wednesday. The race videographer, however, was glad of such action.

The second nuisance is the area between the two parts of the half—abandoned SNT. The exit to the highway without a curb was considered more dangerous, so the route went along an unattended road through a makeshift barrier and a bridge. When two or three people passed there on reconnaissance, no one objected, but on the day of the race, the locals first shouted, and then began to beat the participants with a chain from the barrier. One of the riders persuaded them with a story about the support of the sport from above, but Lera still considers this section dangerous.

Who does the first race

The backbone of the organizers is five or six friends in a general chat, who enthusiastically took on the main tasks. There are dozens of assistants around: someone made a website, someone brought to the artist for inscriptions and merch, someone brought a motorhome, someone gave out numbers. Lera considers everyone who had a hand, even morally, to be the organizers.

A special role is played by parents who live near Vladimir. They were the first to support the idea, fed and drove the team on reconnaissance, went to see the points for the camp according to the sent geo-positions; Lera counted on their help with initial investments. Vladimir was chosen both because of this and because of logistics: there are too many dachas, highways and closed facilities in the Moscow region, and Vladimir is easily accessible from Moscow by car and train, there is a train from St. Petersburg, not far from Nizhny Novgorod.

Money, social networks and plans

Whether there will be a "Cover" in 2024, Lera does not want to promise: state examinations and accreditation are ahead again, and the first race was one big rush. If they gather, they will most likely move the date closer to August so as not to stand close to the Tsar Grader — last time the participants complained that they were tired after Ilya's race. The sore point is the price of the slot: I just want to go to zero, and with free practice in residency, every trip rests on money.

Both admit that they do not like SMM. Lera deleted Instagram and felt great, but she understands that she will have to drive it for the race or find a person. Ilya was lucky: in 2023, the backbone of the organizers formed around him, and he handed over the social networks to them. He also talks about his plans: the Tour de Selishchi and the Tsar Grader on June 29, as well as the cyclocross series combined with the St. Petersburg guys with points scoring.

Moscow Community and women's races

The Moscow cycling community seems to Lera to be more fragmented than the St. Petersburg one, although she makes a reservation that these are personal feelings. A couple of years ago, according to her, there was a rigid division into clubs, and in some they were greeted by clothes: it was awkward to come to the check-in in a T-shirt instead of a jersey. Now there are a lot of clubs, coffee rides and evening arrivals from bars and coffee shops, and you can come anywhere.

Her own entry into the community is the women's Races: there you can ask any question without condemnation, from how to change the camera to purely feminine — what to do during menstruation and whether you need underwear for bibs. In the general community, you can get an arrogant answer to such questions, after which a person closes up and stops riding. The main thing, Lera reminds, is not to forget what it's all about: to ride, see new places and meet people, and not for the sake of showing off kilometers.

Timestamps

1. 00:00What is the issue about
2. 00:47Jokes from the camp
3. 02:22How are you and what's going on in winter
4. 05:17How long has he been riding
5. 07:44Bike change
6. 09:24Race "Reverse"
7. 14:06Organization of "Covers"
8. 24:24Who helped with the organization
9. 26:51Why Vladimir
10. 30:16Will there be a race this year
11. 31:31Moscow Cycling Community
12. 35:03Women's pokatushki
13. 40:00Trips with a bicycle
14. 43:34Tour de Selishchi and Tsar Grader
15. 47:13Social networks and race dates

Mentioned in this episode

Pokrov · Reverse · Tsar Grader · Tour de Selishchi · Instagram