Tanya Ustinova: how a runner put together a cycling community and why to spend the winter in Argentina

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Useful from the issue

1. It is easier for a beginner to enter through a camp or a coferide

   Tanya came to road cycling through a camp, where they immediately explained to her what to buy and how to sit. Coffee rides have the same effect: you can come even on a rented bike.

2. Runners and cyclists are united by informal

   Joint training did not take root, and the club's general celebration gathered everyone. For a mixed audience, do separate activities and a general get-together at the end.

3. Briefing before each group race

   There is always a briefing at Sputnik's coffee events, and Tanya bluntly says to those who do not accept the stated pace and rules that this is not their format.

4. A long tour requires trained people

   More than 500 km in four days is a serious challenge. The organizer should honestly warn about the load, and next time it's worth considering more stops.

5. The repetitive format gathers people

   Ilya sees from the experience of the weekly "Time Trial" that regular events are better than one-time ones. Once a week is a convenient rhythm for social rides.

6. Marathon — only with preparation

   Tanya ran the best marathon, well prepared, and the next day she walked calmly. She remembers the run without preparation in Chicago as hell and does not advise anyone.

7. Plan flights with a bicycle in advance

   For each transfer you have to pay for a bicycle and keep an eye on it. Tanya sets the route so that there are as few transfers as possible, and adjusts flights for the weekend.

From running to cycling

Tanya has been running for seven years. She quickly got bored running alone, she began to call friends and friends of friends — that's how the Sputnik club grew up. She had been looking at the bike with delight for a long time, but it scared her how much she needed to buy and understand. Everything was decided by a trip to a bike camp in Turkey: knowing almost nothing, she got into a road club, where they immediately explained to her what to buy and how to sit, and the mountains and the sea did the rest.

When Tanya returned, she bought a bike in a couple of months, even though it was winter, went to Ilya's race and realized that she wanted to gather people again. At first, the trips were made inside the running club, and then, together with Olya Chudakova, they launched mass coffee rides. When asked what is cooler, she answers honestly: running is when it's raining and you just need to put on sneakers, cycling is when you want to explore and see what you can't get to on foot.

Community entry with minimal investment

The meaning of the coffee rides, Tanya explains, is the same as she had at the camp: a person can even come on a rented bike, and they will tell him everything. From the outside, the bike hangout seems scary and closed, and such formats remove this barrier. It is difficult to travel in a large group around the city because of traffic lights and risks, but the interest of people is worth it.

In the running club, the experience is even wider: weekend camps, organized trips to the starts with shared accommodation and a program, running parties after major races in St. Petersburg and after the Moscow Marathon. One of the parties, the most memorable, was held on the ship.

Is it possible to make friends with runners and cyclists

In the summer, Tanya tried to do a co-ride and a jog from the same place with general gatherings after. Three or four such meetings showed that these are still two different universes: people seem to be similar, but they talk about different things. In addition, fewer people came for a morning jog — it's psychologically easier for people to ride in the morning than to run.

But informal events unite perfectly: runners and cyclists came to the club's fifth anniversary, sang songs, and jumped over the fire. Ilya asks if he can invite runners to his gravel race with a camp. Tanya thinks yes, but organizationally these should be two separate events with a common informal part at the end.

Cycling winters: Turkey, South Africa, Argentina

For about fifteen years now, Tanya has been leaving for the winter: she loves St. Petersburg, but becomes completely unproductive there in winter, so she restructured her work to be remote. This season there were three big blocks — Turkey, South Africa, and South America. In South Africa, the conditions are ideal for sports, with mountains, ocean, and diverse routes, but she felt uncomfortable just walking around. In Buenos Aires, it's the opposite: it's flat and lacks mountains, but she walks around the city calmly, although it's better not to leave your phone on a cafe table.

To carry a bicycle through several transfers is difficult and expensive, so she arranged the route so as to get closer gradually. I found an apartment with a common roof through a realtor in two days. There is a cycling community in Argentina, but small: people rarely go there just to ride, mostly they move permanently. The time difference turned out to be the main difficulty: the working day ends at one o'clock in the afternoon, but you have to get up early, the locals have dinner at eleven in the evening, and you hardly have time to call friends and parents in Russia.

Why not move

Tanya was seriously thinking about moving, but so far she has not found a place where she would be better off than in St. Petersburg. Alone, without community and friends, the move seems unrealistic to her: after more than two months in Argentina, she is already covered with flashbacks from Petrogradka. Ilya puts it this way: there must be not only a force that pushes, but also one that attracts to a new place. Tanya agrees — you need to go not from somewhere, but somewhere, and the running club is practically a family for her.

Tour from Pskov to Veliky Novgorod

Olya Chudakova had the idea of the tour: she drove the route from Pskov to Novgorod and offered to do it together. Tanya was afraid of responsibility — more than 500 km in four days, more than a hundred a day, and someone may not understand how hard it is. After all, we decided: we painted a plan, Tanya put together a website on Tilda, rented a car and called a photographer.

There was a lot of interest — there are few tours and camps in Russia, and they are usually in wild places. Olya was the ride leader, Tanya drove the car and was responsible for the life and atmosphere. The participants rode smoothly from the first day and passed the shifts as if they had been riding together for years, and by the end they did not want to part. The conclusion is to repeat the format, but to think over more stops so that not only strong amateurs can do it. Another idea is weekend camps outside the city.

Group safety and plans

Ilya admits that watching the video of the pack on the Tour de Selishchi is scary, and this is one of the reasons to hold it for the last time. Tanya argues that there is not enough training for security: there was a briefing on the tour, and along the way the participants were constantly prompted, but for a pack of forty people, a whole cycle of classes is needed. There is always a briefing at the co-meetings, but sometimes people come who do not want to accept the rules of the game and tear up the group. Her position: if you don't want to go at the stated pace with the group, why come.

Of the running results, Tanya calls the best marathon in 4:11 in Budapest, run for fun and without consequences, and a top ten in about 46 minutes. A marathon in Chicago without preparation was hell, and she does not advise doing so. Ilya says that he has not worked for more than six months, lived on savings and calls it a micropension in 30 years. Now he goes to interviews and thinks about regular social rides in Novgorod — according to the experience of the weekly "Time Trial", the repetitive format is the best.

Timestamps

1. 00:00What is the issue about
2. 00:41Greetings from Buenos Aires
3. 01:16How I got into cycling
4. 07:12Sputnik, running and partying
5. 09:08Running against a bike
6. 10:55South Africa and Argentina
7. 15:24Community in Argentina
8. 16:28Wintering in warm countries
9. 19:33Association of runners and cyclists
10. 21:41Housing in Argentina
11. 26:56The way to organize events
12. 29:06Tour from Pskov to Novgorod
13. 34:15Tour de Selishchi, Tsar Grader and safety
14. 39:50Marathons and travel
15. 48:05Micropension and social rides

Mentioned in this episode

Sputnik · Tour de Selishchi · Tsar Grader · Time Trial · Tilda · Strava