Roma Fakabush: how a 17-year-old racer gathered a team of Coffee Riders and puts on gravel

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Useful from the issue

1. Composition for local races

   Roma rebuilt the team under gravel, because there are almost no road races in St. Petersburg. Specialization of the composition for the real calendar of the region, in his experience, makes the team stronger even with fewer people.

2. Don't order a form at all

   A big team, where many pass a couple of starts per season, wastes money. Roma is betting on a smaller but dedicated group.

3. Technique at Tsar Grader

   Escort vehicles are allowed if they do not interfere with the participants, do not dust on them and, if possible, help any rider with water.

4. Sponsors from within the team

   At FATRACING, sponsors are the riders themselves with their own business: they are interested in the team, so it's easier to negotiate. Slots and uniforms are divided between sponsors and participants.

5. Search for race partners from other races

   Ilya found the first partners of the Tsar Grader on the websites of other races and wrote to them blindly. With the growth of the race, some brands began to get in touch themselves.

6. Instead of money — goods and certificates

   Tsar Grader has no money sponsors: partners give products, certificates to workshops and services.

7. Common coffee shops of different clubs

   Roma believes that the community grows faster from joint visits of clubs and collaborations than from the fact that each club pulls a blanket on itself.

8. Winter break is expensive

   Roma has not trained all winter and admits that now it is difficult for him to catch up on the missed load for the main races of the season.

Where did the command come from

Nick Fakabush has been reaching for Rum since childhood, and he doesn't like to call himself the founder — he prefers "one of the organizers." The idea of the team appeared in December: the owner of the St. Petersburg bike store was ready to allocate a small amount for the form and movement, but hesitated for a long time. In January, Roma took matters into his own hands and began to look for more sponsors. The store did not like the neighborhood with another workshop on the form, and he left the project, and the Arcade workshop came in its place with a larger amount. Roma added the rest from his own, and in March the team's channel appeared.

The main goal, according to him, is to develop the St. Petersburg cycling community without personal gain. He lacks the common races of several clubs, as in Moscow: in St. Petersburg, he says, only fixers gather like this, and road clubs live by themselves. Ilya admits that it was the example of 17-year-old Roma that prompted him to assemble his FATRACING team in Novgorod.

New lineup: less road, more gravel

Last season, the team had 17 people, but it was the former captain's lineup, selected for road racing — and there are almost no road races in St. Petersburg. Roma thinks it was pointless to order uniforms for everyone who would do a couple of starts per season. Now the team is smaller and gravel-focused: three or four riders, in his estimation, can get into the top five in any St. Petersburg gravel race, many bought gravel bikes, and Roma himself gave his bikes to teammates so they could ride MTBs.

He explains the departure of some of the riders with different views on how to develop the team and the conflict over the payment of slots. Now Roma personally pays the team for slots and meals for important races, carries people and motivates — from the riders, he says, it is only required to train and come to the start. Getting into the team is simple: just write to him, the level and age are not important.

Why not go to fight with Muscovites

When asked in the chat why not come to Moscow and beat the locals, Roma responds that Moscow's road cycling scene is too strong for now: you need to start winning locally first, and trips are expensive. On gravel, he thinks, there's a chance, so the team is registering for gravel races like Sport-Marathon in Galich and Pokrovy. Ilya agrees: logistics, race entries, and overnight stays make a trip to Moscow difficult, it's easier to get to St. Petersburg or Novgorod.

Technique and tactics at Tsar Grader

Roma wants to put six to eight people on 250 km plus an escort car with spare bicycles - following the example of how a large team won road races. His logic: there is asphalt and tactics on the Tsar Grader, and the team can sort out strong singles. The leader has not yet been chosen: they will decide on the form after the first races of the season.

Ilya explains the rules: technicians are allowed if they behave adequately, do not interfere and do not water the participants with dust, and ideally remain neutral and can give water to any rider. He supports teamwork, although there are opponents in the comments. Roma adds that with a normal prize pool, everyone can find helpers. Then the interlocutors sort out the favorites of both distances, and Ilya shares the idea of doing one 200 km distance in the future so that you don't have to choose.

Money: sponsors, lubricants and donations

Coffee Riders has one main sponsor who gives a fixed amount once a year; the rest — posters, designer, some slots — Roma pays for himself, and the team has a button for donations. Also, through a personal acquaintance, the team gets Nanoprotech lubricants, and Roma services almost all of his six bikes with them. He promises to reinvest future training revenues back into the team: for a copywriter, design, Instagram.

At FATRACING, Ilya says, sponsors are team members with their own business: Loft Monopoly workshop, which made a wooden bike, and Novgorod blind factory. There are no monetary sponsors for Tsar Grader: partners send goods and certificates. At first, Ilya wrote to brands blindly, finding them on other races' websites, and now some partners come on their own.

Coffee Runners, workouts and plans

The team is launching the Coffee Runners running direction: the idea is that on Thursday mornings some go coferide, others run, and at the finish line everyone gathers together. Igor, a former professional racer with coaching qualifications, will conduct road training — volumetric with technical, interval and technical, cornering and bicycle feeling. Roma does not want to conduct MTB training sessions in order not to look like an infocygan, but arranges joint MTB races, which can be attended by a gravel road.

Ilya calls for the Tsar Grader route to be rolled up in May, announces an experimental criterion in the center of Novgorod and a 200—km Kremlin brevet around the Kremlin, as well as a possible autumn Sluggish Marathon. At the end, he answers a question from the chat about moving: working remotely, he does not see the point in Moscow or St. Petersburg, and from the center of Novgorod he reaches the suburban highway in 10-15 minutes.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Preparing for the stream
2. 01:41Races in St. Petersburg and Vyborg tour
3. 05:00Why not go to Moscow to race
4. 06:36Who is Fakabush
5. 10:36How the Coffee Riders team appeared
6. 13:02St. Petersburg community and collaborations
7. 20:19Old and new line-up
8. 27:34Technique and tactics at Tsar Grader
9. 33:13Gravel plans for the season
10. 38:00The community in Novgorod and the arrival on May 1
11. 46:07Favorites of the Tsar Grader
12. 55:58Coffee Runners and running plans
13. 1:02:28Sponsors, lubricants and money
14. 1:28:21Team training
15. 1:43:52Why doesn't Ilya move to Moscow

Mentioned in this episode

Coffee Riders · Coffee Runners · Tsar Grader · Vyborg Tour · Sports Marathon · Pokrova · Nanoprotech · Loft Monopoly · Kremlet · Vyalomarathon · Specialized