RARU 2013: Technical issues

The course of the race and the pair exchange

It is basically a race relay. Four racers are going in pairs. One pair which started in Moscow was riding replacing one another every hour, which means that one biker was always riding.

One of the maintenance crew went forward to Kostroma. On the outskirts of Kostroma, they stopped to have a snack. Sergey at that moment was preparing the equipment.

Andrew does massage to the bikers riders before and after the start, first to those who is on the start and then to those who have already overcome their distance. When the time comes to replace each other the bikers shake hands and go ahead with the escorting car. That's how the pairs are being exchanged technically.

About the roads

Many roads have a lot of potholes. This especially can be dangerous for the bikers, because they have specialized very thin tires. Russian bikers, the couch and the masseur are still surprised that there has not been a single puncture, because as a rule tires with such a low profile require a perfect coverage. They have been very afraid that at night when the visibility is poor and it is almost impossible to see cracks, potholes, pits in the road, more over in some places there is gravel on the side of the road, some part are being repaired and it is very easy to fly off.
Another problem are the deep ruts in the road when the bikers ride on a high speed.

A lot depends on the pavement because the racers try to go at a certain pace in a kind of optimal power consumption. Thus, well-trained athletes go with the speed of 35 km / h traveling on approximately 75% of their maximum effort. The general plan is broken: they ride for one hour and they recover for another hour.

The travelled distance affects the people and the fatigue is accumulated. The road will not be better for the next days, and the weather will become only more severe. The environment will improve, which means there will be more biting insects in the air.

The pairs have been divided so that each pair has one young and one older athlete. Thus they are more balanced in terms of physical forces..

Andreas, a man who has participated in more than one race of the kind has the highest psychological stability. He now makes it all easy hoping to ride evenly for a week and not to show any signs of fatigue. But very likely he might have some kind of physical crisis. It is interesting to observe the athletes to experience all these difficulties very emotionally.

Mobile kitchen

During this trip all the participants spend a lot of energy, the bikers get tired physically and the accompanying support group gets tired emotionally. It is therefore very important to refresh and restore energy on proper time. There is a cook in the support team. For the snack on the way Artem prepares mostly light salads and sandwiches (sausage, cheese, mayonnaise, mustard). During longer stops the team eats goulash, vegetable and fruit salads.

The people’s good nature and ecology

The bikers were delighted with the number of people who had gathered on the Red Square. Some bikers came to support them. There was a friendly atmosphere! The start went well. On the road the team did not have any particular problems. The only negative experience for all was the air pollution by trucks, the smog was choking them. Especially it is hard when you ride very fast with a lot of effort behind some air polluting truck. In Yekaterinburg the athletes were greeted with great cordiality. Three dozen local girls staged a fiery flash mob in honor of the bikers RARU 2013. Just on the road the bikers were also greeted by their fans with banners and cheering cries. Such events are motivating athletes to victory.

To follow the latest news you can download the application RARU 2013. It is available for Apple and Android devices.

Android https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ru.moslight.raru2013

Apple https://itunes.apple.com/ru/app/raru-2013/id667245891?mt=8

Also you can follow the news online:

www.raceacrossrussia.com