Table stream with Anton Stepanov and Ivan Inozemtsev: tales of St. Petersburg cross-country

Guests

Useful from the issue

1. A difficult track raises racers

   According to Anton's experience, easing the tracks for the sake of mass did not lead people, but complication, on the contrary, gave riders an incentive to learn and attracted newcomers.

2. Narrow tires for gravel in the fall

   Ivan advises to put a cross-country tire on a separate set of wheels and train on it: the transition is difficult, but the equipment is growing, and in the mud narrow rubber sometimes works better.

3. Cyclocross pumps MTB

   Short intense cross-country races teach you to jump off and jump on a bike and ride through sand and mud; Ivan believes that they helped him at the Winter Cup.

4. Start racing with a roll-up

   If you are in doubt whether the track is within your strength, come to the ride, try difficult places and drive fewer laps — you can run a difficult section.

How Ivan got into mountain biking

Ivan Inozemtsev is a tennis coach. The bike came into his life through a veteran of the St. Petersburg MTB Grisha, to whom he was sent to repair the bike. The very first Lembolovsky marathon, where Ivan went in the belief that his form was good, ended up with a place in the two hundredth, and Grisha in the same race results was in the top five. Then there was a break, a new 29-inch bike and fees in Turkey, where, on the advice of friends, Ivan wrote to Anton Stepanov — he initially mistook him for another client.

Ivan remembers the first Turkish trips with pleasure: falling on the rocks due to the fact that he could not get out of the contact pedals, and climbing the classic mountain route, which took more than three hours. Anton tells his version of the acquaintance: when Grisha introduced Ivan to him as a promising newcomer to the Winter Cup, he laughed in his heart — and a couple of seasons later Ivan overtook him at the marathon by five minutes.

Difficult tracks vs. lightweight ones

Anton admits that, having stopped actively racing himself, he followed the lead of amateurs for a long time: he made the tracks easier, hoping to gather more people, and lost the essence of discipline. According to him, over the past three years, Ivan has radically changed the calendar by simply taking and complicating the tracks — and it turned out that there are people who are ready to learn how to jump and train. Ivan himself was initially afraid of the elements on the tracks, fell and broke the helmet, but gradually got used to it.

Pleasure, Anton believes, arises from the contrast when something significant is invested in the result. He calls cross-country a very narrow niche: a hundred participants in a race is already a dream, although in St. Petersburg, according to the speakers, 130–200 people ride regularly. Why they don't come to races is a long debate: Ivan believes that many are afraid or prefer home races on a trainer, although on the track you can ride fewer laps, run a difficult section, and do a pre-ride beforehand.

Jumps, lifts and modern bicycles

According to the interlocutors, it is possible to learn how to jump on the tracks of these races in a few training sessions with a trainer: watch, try small elements, and then get ready and jump. Ivan gives an example of an acquaintance who, after several classes, began to jump a children's series.

Anton tells how, after retiring from the sport in 2010, a modern 29-inch hardtail assembled by a friend brought him back to skating, and then a two-suspension opened the mountains to him. He admits that he despised trolleybuses and drop—offs for a long time, and in Crimea for the first time he used a trolleybus to the pass - and managed to drive trails twice in a day. In Russia, he believes, in recent years the conditions for such skiing have grown enormously.

The history of St. Petersburg MTB

Anton came into mountain biking in 2002 and recalls the days when bikes were assembled from parts bought on foreign websites, and a ready-made bike was considered inferior to a custom-built one. His peak was in 2008–2010, when he won most of the races in St. Petersburg, and in his best form, he was fifth overall in a 25-kilometre MTB time trial. At the same time, after winning the city cross-country and marathon championships, he dropped out of the road cycling championship — and realised that strength on a mountain bike does not automatically translate to the road.

He talks about veterans who received the title of master of sports in mountain biking when it was especially difficult to do so, and about an amateur who, according to Anton, in 2020 beat professionals at the Russian championships in the uphill race, combining training with work and family. Anton dreams that someone will write a book on the history of the St. Petersburg mountain bike while people who remember it are still alive.

Cyclocross and Rubber width

Ivan explains the dispute about the rule of tire width in cyclocross simply: everyone should be on an equal footing, as electric bicycles do not compete with conventional ones. He advises gravel owners to put narrow cross-country tires on a separate set of wheels for the fall and train on it: at first it's hard, then you get used to it, and the skill grows. In his experience, a narrow rubber in mud sometimes works even better than a wide one, because it cuts dirt.

Ivan bought a cross-country bike himself and at first did not understand how to ride it, but he believes that it was the autumn crosses that helped him ride the Winter Cup well. He appreciates Cyclocross for its short intensive format, which does not require huge volumes, and for its skills — jumping off and jumping on a bike, riding on sand and mud. Anton adds that the Winter Cup on slippery ground best teaches you to feel the grip and ride on the edge.

Calendar, gravel and highways in Russia

Ivan believes there are too many races: better six good starts than many races with thirty people, and it's hard for people with families and jobs to compete every weekend. Gravel races, according to the interviewees, should be truly gravel — fast, like road cycling on smooth ground, not tourist hikes or MTB tracks. Anton shares an old idea of a three-stage race from Ladoga to Vyborg with camps, bonfires, and music, and Ilya advises him to team up with St. Petersburg organizers of gravel races.

Towards the end, Anton explains why road cycling is the pinnacle of cycling worldwide but not in Russia: the main obstacle is the lack of safe roads for training and racing, as good roads in Russia are mostly federal highways. Mountain biking is the opposite: in Europe, the land is private and people ride in bike parks, while in Russia, there's freedom in the mountains of Altai, Caucasus, and Crimea, according to him.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Ilya's warning
2. 07:18Who's at the table
3. 08:53Self-assembled bicycles twenty years ago
4. 15:24Track difficulty
5. 17:50How Ivan came to MTB
6. 26:39Winter Cup and first meeting
7. 42:53Why don't racers go to races
8. 52:31Jumping and training
9. 55:43The Return of Anton and the Mountain
10. 1:00:39The best years and history of St. Petersburg MTB
11. 1:15:16Cyclocross and Rubber width
12. 1:26:27New people and an overloaded calendar
13. 1:31:21What should gravel racing be like
14. 1:53:22The idea of the Ladoga — Vyborg race
15. 2:06:17Road vs MTB in Russia

Mentioned in this episode

Inocross · Winter Cup · MTB School · XC News · Lembolovsky Marathon · Red Bull Rampage · Zwift · Lastrada