Sasha Nimova: how to win a gravel series on an aluminum bike

Guest

Useful from the issue

1. An indoor trainer is more important than carbon.

   A beginner with an aluminum bike will benefit more from winter on a trainer with a coach's plan than from a new frame. Sasha won the RGS on aluminum.

2. The wheels feel stronger than the frame

   If you upgrade one thing, start with the wheels: even on an aluminum frame, good carbon wheels noticeably change the course of the bike.

3. Drinking on a long race

   For 250 km Tsar Grader Sasha drank less than 700 ml and considers it his main mistake. At multi-hour starts, you need a drinking plan.

4. Follow the cadence

   The habit of turning 60-70 rpm, which happens to many beginners, loads the knees. Sasha specifically monitors her in training.

5. Prepare for the last hours

   The fifth and sixth hours are decided on the Tsar Grader: train so that at the end you can still give out power on the grader.

6. Do not overload the calendar

   16 races during the season ended with illness and September. Starts should be planned in advance and put recovery between them.

7. Intervals — on the trainer

   In the city, traffic lights break intervals, so Sasha does intensive work at home, and goes outside for volumes.

8. Check the helmet after impact

   The crack can only be inside: Sasha rode with a cracked helmet for half a season without knowing it. After a fall or impact, the helmet needs to be replaced.

9. Service — in the off-season

   There are no queues in the workshops now, and in the spring everyone comes at the same time before the camp. It is better to repair the bike in winter.

A season of sixteen races

Sasha works in consulting, collects solutions on a BI platform, and in the summer, like many around, she was out of work for several months. Her cycling season turned out to be much denser than it seems from the outside: in addition to the gravel series, she set herself a challenge to ride all stages of the cycling marathon cup on the gravel, went to time trial and road race at the beginning of the season. A total of 16 starts, after which she spent almost the entire second half of September ill.

She didn't like road cycling: you ride, ride, then sprint — and it's over. The most nerve-wracking thing is crossing clusters when strong groups overtake at twice the speed. On gravel, the risk of flying into a ditch scares her less.

Sasha was not going to go the whole CSG: after the Tsar Grader and Schultz, she saw herself first in the standings, excitement won, and on the last day she bought a slot on Gravel Instinct. Her conclusion: you can not burn out by the end of the season, but then later you regret that you were not somewhere.

Gati, mud and country bike marathons

Ilya and Sasha are arguing about where it was worse with gatami — at Schultz or at the old Sluggish Marathon. For Sasha, the hardest race of the season was the Galicians: 120-130 km mainly through soaked agricultural mud, without understanding how much is left, because the bike computer has not updated the route. She admits that at some point the logs and boards became an easy part of the track for her. The wish of the organizers is to publish the route at least a week or two before the start.

At the same time, she calls the St. Petersburg country bike marathons on gravel very fun: there the whole track is one continuous special stage, and on steep descents you overtake those who are standing below with trembling knees. She got off the Walnut bike marathon, but still remained delighted with the forest around. She likes CSG as an excuse to travel to other regions, and she offers to invite races to the series from beyond the Urals - Ilya in response invites the organizers to write: there are free slots in the series.

Tsar Grader and why do the fans of the team

Sasha was preparing for the Tsar Grader with precision: last time she overestimated her strength, drove on narrow tires and was ridden by everyone, which gave motivation. This time she stayed in a group with strong rivals, and the outcome was decided by teamwork: two girls from the same team accelerated sharply at the right moment, and Sasha could not resist. She doesn't consider it meanness — it's allowed in amateur races, but she didn't have enough strength to resist. For the last couple of hours she had been driving alone along empty roads where the sand changed color from white to blue and red.

For her, the CG is more like a road race with a specific surface, like Paris — Roubaix: there is no tinkering in tactics, powerful racers with large absolute watts win. She herself prefers technical races, which she started with. Her main lesson: you need to train in such a way that in the fifth or sixth hour you can give out normal power on the grader. Ilya talks about the plans for the CG: the start in the district center and the separate start of clusters instead of the general mass start, and road closures over such a long distance are unrealistic — they will ensure safety on their own.

Hence the talk about teams. Sasha recently joined Endless Summer and invites those who want to go there. Ilya analyzes the types of teams: gathered around the coach, for the sake of the community, or with a regional task, like his team, where they gather the strongest from a small town and region. Both agree that the future of amateur cycling belongs to the teams: it is difficult for amateurs to agree to work for each other, but the example of the CG shows that sometimes it turns out.

Carbon fiber, wheels and tires

Ilya, who recently switched to a carbon gravel bike, believes that carbon rides better, but a beginner with an aluminum bike needs a trainer and a winter of training more. Sasha confirms this with her example: she won the RGS on an aluminum frame, although everything else on the bike was rebuilt. At her power, about 200 watts FTP with a weight of 56–58 kg, technique doesn't matter yet — first, you need to pedal.

Where the iron is really felt is in the wheels: the used Zipp 303 Firecrest of the last generation, according to her, are noticeably livelier than lightweight new carbon wheels. On tires, she praises Maxxis Re-Fuse as almost slicks for bad asphalt, scolds last year's tubeless tires for constant punctures, and put mud Continental on swamp races. Her gravel is a Giant Revolt with a flip chip, a two—inch-wide tire fits into the frame, and he has survived many falls.

Track, trainer, and coach

Sasha calls the St. Petersburg bike track a wonderful leisure: all friends are there, training three times a week for an hour and a half. Last winter she went there just to see people, with two remote jobs and sewing, and in winter she rolled more than in summer. At track competitions without big ambitions, she has collected several cups, and the main benefit of the track for her is the bike control skills and the clean feel of the equipment. There are also more girls there than in gravel.

Sasha does intervals mainly on the trainer: traffic lights and cars interfere on the street. Her coach writes the plan, and this scheme suits her — she needs a sign with tasks, otherwise she skips training. In winter, it was about 15 hours a week. She knows what to work on: drinking during the race — for 250 km of Tsar Grader, she drank less than 700 ml — and keeping the cadence above the usual 60–70.

Backpacks, techies and hats

Sasha has always loved to sew, and in 2020, tired of backpacks that diverged along the zipper, she made patterns, ordered cordura and sewed the first backpack on a regular home typewriter. After a couple of years, she found a St. Petersburg production that was satisfied with the quality and timing, and released the batch. The backpack can withstand serious weight — friends carried about 35 kg of equipment in it. The second version introduced a Velcro patch panel and ergonomic silent pullers.

She also has a seatpost, which was invented together with a familiar fixer: it is attached with a sling to the seatpost and saddle rails and accommodates a normal hand pump. Sasha drove the whole CSG with her without any problems. For cyclists, she sews linings on the frame, prepares a steering wheel bag and hats made of leopard reflex.

Equipment, motivation and cyclocross

In form, Sasha is a pragmatist: it is important that nothing presses and does not drag. Tight women's shoes for a lot of money turned out to be uncomfortable, and old shoes, bought with her hands for a penny, she rolled back the whole season. The helmet turned out to be a separate story: after the car hit in front of the CG, a crack went in it, and she drove the whole gravel series in a split helmet, and at the end of the season she bought a new one with MIPS. Electronic switches and power meters haven't convinced her yet — she likes the bike as an analog thing.

Sasha speaks honestly about motivation: she doesn't fully understand why she wins, because she doesn't train like a pro. In the women's competition, according to her, after a year of training, you can get on the podium, but it won't work out for men. She sets goals for herself through specific rivals. Cyclocross is the only discipline after which she does not want to get on a bike: she can spend five hours in an anaerobe on a CG, but not an hour. On the contrary, he likes time trial in a team with girls at 50 km — they set a track record there.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Acquaintance and work of the guest
2. 04:07A season of 16 races
3. 08:12Gati: Schultz, Vyalomarathon, Galicia
4. 13:58How did the victory in the CSG come out
5. 18:02Carbon versus aluminum, wheels
6. 22:06Bike Track
7. 24:33Tsar Grader and teamwork
8. 29:23Tyres
9. 31:50Indoor trainer and indoor races.
10. 36:42Fall, Coach and weaknesses
11. 40:43Why do we need commands
12. 48:04Backpacks, techies and hats
13. 55:30Cyclocross and TIME TRIAL
14. 58:46Bicycle uniform, helmet and electronics
15. 1:13:32Cross-country and plans for the Tsar Grader

Mentioned in this episode

Russian Gravel Series · Tsar Grader · Schultz · Sluggish Marathon · Gravel Instinct · Time Trial · Giant Revolt · Zipp 303 Firecrest · Maxxis Re-Fuse · Endless Summer · St. Petersburg bike Track