Vitalik Kvashin: bikepacking in Armenia and Georgia, dogs and preparation for the mountains

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Useful from the issue

1. Do not force the volume after injury

   Tendinitis after the first hike knocked Vitalik out for six months. He returned to the distances gradually, with stretching and yoga, listening to his feelings.

2. Bikepacker bags instead of a trunk

   On the mud and in the ascents, the bicycle racks on the trunk carry the bike. Bags on the frame, handlebar and seatpost distribute the weight more evenly.

3. Train a bike-a-bike

   Before the mountain route it is worth walking several times with a fully loaded bicycle: so it is clear how it is more convenient to drive it and what can be thrown out.

4. Spend the night at the height in advance

   An overnight stay at the maximum altitude of the route a couple of weeks before the start checks the sleeping bag and clothes and helps acclimatization.

5. Before the start — rest

   The last weeks before the trip Vitalik slept off and did not go. Tired, he has already started earlier and believes that freshness pays off.

6. A dog nearby is a bicycle between you

   Stop, put the bike as a barrier, speak calmly or pick up a stone. The stun gun, according to Vitalik's experience, works only in half of the cases.

7. After the bite — immediately to the emergency room

   Even if the dog has only skinned, an examination and vaccinations are needed: the infection is also transmitted with saliva.

8. In the mountains, count the time for the descent

   Going down the serpentine in the dark is a common cause of falls. Plan the ascent so that you can return before dark.

9. Ready-made routes save exploration

   Run-in tracks like Caucasus Crossing on bikepacking.com you can redo it for your vacation and not be afraid to get stuck in the unknown.

From commuting to long distances

As a child, Vitalik rode short distances, at a university in Moscow — up to 20 km with friends, and in the fourth year he began to commute to work and back almost every day on the old Merida hardtail, in which he did not understand anything. Then I wanted to go out with a tent for the weekend.

The first serious trip ended badly: Vitalik got hypothermia, overloaded his knees, and got tendinitis, from which he recovered for about six months — ointments, stretching, yoga. He rode his first century on asphalt only a year later, on a new road bike along the Oka River, and for him it was overcoming a psychological barrier after the injury.

Then he came across a project with ready-made, already explored routes for multi-day trips: it's convenient that everything has been run in before you. The "easiest" section, with the start in Konakovo, turned out to be not at all easy for him, but he was satisfied with the trip. In 2020, passing Veliky Novgorod, he met Ilya.

Bicycle with welded frame and bags

Since 2020, Vitalik has been driving a Kona Rove gravel. His upper pipe is overcooked: in Moscow, on the bike path at Mosfilmovskaya, the car turned sharply into the courtyard, and he did not have time to brake. We managed to group up, and the driver's hard hat covered the full cost of the bike. In the Moscow workshop that repairs the frames, the geometry was restored: the upper pipe was cut off and digested, the lower one was reinforced and repainted.

He started with classic bike racks on the trunk, but the bike skidded on the forest mud, and it was uncomfortable in the ascents. With bike bags, when the weight is distributed over the bike, it turned out to be easier to ride. For a long time he traveled with Apidura Expedition bags, and after the dogs tore the frame bag in Georgia, he tries to Restrap — he likes the frame bag more in terms of volume, fastening and material.

A loop through Armenia and Georgia

Vitalik planned a two—week vacation with friends, but in the end he went alone - he was used to it. As a basis, he took the Caucasus Crossing routes with bikepacking.com and I converted them for a vacation: from Gyumri towards Dilijan and the beautiful Lori region, further to Tbilisi, west to Batumi and back to Armenia. It turned out about 1100-1200 km and about 15,000 m of set in 14 days, with a rest day in Tbilisi and half a day in Batumi.

It took a day in Tbilisi to replace the front wheel: the rim cracked, and he drove it to the city, because it was not possible to find a replacement on the way. Due to the prolonged rains, the route had to be rebuilt on the move, throwing out dirt plots and reducing loops, so that the soils mostly got on the way back. The highest pass is about 2200 m.

The last thing he liked was the long asphalt stretches: from the Armenian border to Tbilisi with almost no roadside, with trucks and under the scorching sun. The hardest day was at the Tsalka and Paravani lakes, where he got wet and very cold, put bags under his knee pads and warmed up at the gas station, where an Armenian worker treated him to coffee and cookies.

How did he prepare

At first Vitalik wanted to train according to a six-month plan from the book of ultra-remote MTB racer Kurt Refsnider, but he did not plan the race, so he took mostly theory from the book. The preparation itself — volumes on weekends, trips before work or at lunch, workout and volleyball.

It was important to train a bike-a-bike separately: to walk several times in the mountains with a fully loaded bike in order to understand how it is more convenient, and at the same time to lighten the bike as much as possible. Two weeks before the start, he went with a tent to Lake Arpi at an altitude of about 2100 m — this is both acclimatization and checking whether it will be cold at the maximum altitude of overnight stays. And the last few weeks he just slept off and rested from the bike — and he believes that it was not in vain.

Dogs

The most frequent danger in Armenia and Georgia is dogs. In Georgia, four dogs ran out to Vitalik on a primer to thermal springs, guarding the belongings of workers in the field. He put the bike between himself and the dogs, pressed himself against the thorny bushes and called for help until one of the workers drove them away. One of the dogs managed to tear the frame bag.

In his experience, there is no single solution. The stun gun worked in about half of the cases — it only provoked some dogs. It helps to lift a stone, stop and put the bike between yourself and the dog, and he calls affectionate conversation the most effective: sometimes you can stroke even the biggest dog that way. One day the dog still bit him by the ankle and tore off the skin - he immediately went to the emergency room to get vaccinated, and Ilya agrees that even with a small wound it is mandatory.

Ultra races and the community of Armenia

On the way back, Vitalik met participants of the ultra—remote race who had a checkpoint at a cafe in Gyumri, including a 17-year-old American who performs well at such starts. It was interesting for him to see live people who have been driving at the limit for several days. He himself dreams of something like a race along the Silk Road - not for the sake of places, but to keep within his limits. The next plans are to try a night ride with lack of sleep from Friday evening and drive a 200—kilometer log in the mountains, where it is not at all the same as on the plain near Moscow.

In Yerevan, there is a large and friendly community, mainly road cycling, with several regular routes; in Gyumri, few people ride actively, and Vitalik rides on gravel mostly with one local. Drivers are not used to cyclists and often cut them off, so he prefers gravel. On the climb to Lake Kari on Aragats, around 3200 m, a popular challenge from Yerevan, people sometimes miscalculate the time and descend the serpentine in the dark — there have been falls with fractures.

Tsar Grader through the eyes of the organizer

Ilya says that the Tsar Grader went great: he came up with the track about five years ago, when there were some of the heaviest graders around the city, but since then a lot has been rolled up, and as a result, about 40% fell on asphalt. The fastest traveled 180 km in about five hours, although he expected about six. There were no serious injuries: one participant, who had not studied the legend, hit an edge on the bridge, but everything went well.

Ilya also drove the Novgorod highway — about five days for 200 km with overnight stays in hotels — and by the end he had sunk a lot. I also went to the Modder gravel race, where I was sixth in the absolute. In the autumn, cyclocrosses and a SLUGGISH MARATHON on a 20-kilometer ring in a pine forest are waiting for him, and next year he thinks to lose weight, train more structurally and try to compete for prizes in cross-country.

Timestamps

1. 00:00Acquaintance: Vitalik in Gyumri
2. 01:42The first long trips and a knee injury
3. 03:20The first hundred and ready routes
4. 05:46Bicycle with welded frame
5. 07:30Bags for bike packing
6. 09:07Drivers in Armenia
7. 10:56Route through Armenia and Georgia
8. 14:10Preparation for the mountains
9. 16:39The hardest day
10. 19:09Dogs and how to protect yourself from them
11. 25:46Ultra races and meeting with racers
12. 29:02Cycling Community of Armenia
13. 33:13How was the Tsar Grader
14. 37:20Dangerous descents in the mountains
15. 38:10Ilya's plans and the Novgorod Tract

Mentioned in this episode

bikepacking.com · Caucasus Crossing · Kona Rove · Apidura · Restrap · Tsar Grader · Novgorodsky Tract · VYALOMARATHON · Strava